COURAGE

Courage Is a Skill, Not a Gift

Every soldier feels fear. The British psychiatrist Lord Moran, who studied men in two world wars, wrote that courage is like a bank account: it is spent under strain and must be built up again. Nobody is born without fear. Brave men are the ones who act anyway.

Psychologists call the method exposure: facing a fear in small steps makes it weaker. The soldier who stands in small fights grows the courage he will need in big ones. The soldier who runs from small fights teaches himself to run.

Fear is also contagious, just like morale. When one man breaks and runs, the men beside him feel the pull to follow. History is full of battles lost not because the enemy was stronger but because a panic started in one place and spread down the line.

Courage spreads too. Studies of groups under threat show that one calm, steady person makes everyone around him calmer. The man who stays becomes the reason others stay.

From the commander's view, a unit is built on the promise that nobody faces the enemy alone. The coward breaks that promise to save himself, and leaves his brothers to pay for it.

You will be afraid again. When you are, remember: stand. Move forward. Never run.