Bureaucracy of Courage

A representative of the Defense Department's Advanced Research Project Agency appeared before a House subcommittee to argue for a $700,000 appropriation for its "Human Performance Program," a study to determine whether a U.S. fighting man can be taught to understand and control his bodily functions in time of stress or combat.

For instance, when someone is shooting at him, a soldier's temperature varies, and his stomach tightens. If he understands these changes, it is assumed he will be better able to control his fear. Through some psychological self-regulation, soldiers on night patrol might learn to master their visceral fright or their bodies' call for sleep.

Courage in battle has fascinated writers from Homer to Hemingway, precisely because it contained a human mystery, an almost perverse will to rise to impossible occasions. Perhaps no modern army can rely upon the mysteries of heroism. But there is something odd and poignant in a bureaucracy spending $700,000 to try to make the fear of death manageable.

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