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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. By 1971, what percentage of evacuations from Vietnam was related to psychiatric problems?

2. According to Grossman in Chapter 3, what is the difference between military killing training and that provided by video games?

3. According to Grossman in Chapter 3, what does the army use in rifle training?

4. Who is Caspar Weinberger?

5. In the beginning of Chapter 4, Grossman says the highest estimate for the number of Vietnam vets with PTSD is what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the defining characteristics of a natural warrior?

2. How does Grossman apply the killing process to the national mood in Chapter 2?

3. What solution did the American military devise to deal with low firing rates in World War II?

4. According to Grossman in Chapter 3, how can PTSD be treated effectively?

5. What factors contribute to a soldier's decision to commit an atrocity?

6. What surprising insight into Vietnam does RB Anderson make in Chapter 1?

7. What examples from Chapter 6 illustrate a problematic relationship with women in the military?

8. How did John Foster rationalize killing a VC in Chapter 1?

9. Describe the strange dichotomy between nudity and killing in Western culture?

10. What hypothetical situation does Grossman relate in Chapter 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the book, Grossman has argues that conditioning has been the key to increasing shooting rates in combat zones. It bypasses the conscious mind's inclination to avoid killing. Write a three-part essay analyzing the types of conditioning used in a military context:

Part 1) What is standard conditioning, and how is it connected to Pavlov's work with dogs? How does this type of conditioning manifest itself in military training? What specific defenses is it trying to overcome? What is its goal?

Part 2) What is operant conditioning, and how is it connected to Skinner's work with rats? To what extent is military operant training more subtly employed than traditional conditioning? How does this conditioning alter soldier behavior in chaotic combat?

Part 3) In military emulation of a role model, who is the standard soldier's role model? What does this role model represent to the soldier, and how does he wish to emulate him? What aspects of aggression and manhood does this affect?

Essay Topic 2

Much of the beginning of ON KILLING deals with the issue of non-firers, a concern the military did not realize it had until after World War II and has been struggling to deal with effectively since. Write an essay in three parts dealing with non-firers and the military's response to them:

Part 1) Approximately what percentage of soldiers in World War II never fired their weapons? Discuss why, from a noncombatant's point-of-view, this seems absurd. What were these soldiers risking by not firing, and what sort of essential drive compelled them to risk this?

Part 2) Discuss the examples given from Rhodesia, the American Civil War, and the two World Wars that countless of soldier chose not kill. What kind of attitude was taken by fellow soldiers to non-killers? Why was the American military surprised by the firing rate of World War II?

Part 3) Upon learning of the low firing rate in World War II, the military made increasing this rate a top priority. What tactics did they use to do this, and how successful were they? How did this success manifest itself in Vietnam, and how was the process refined after Vietnam?

Essay Topic 3

The likelihood of a soldier to kill in combat is markedly improved if he feels he is not the only culpable party to the killing. Write an essay about this diluting of guilt. What is group absolution, and what components of a group dynamic make it possible? Why is a soldier comforted by the sense that others around him are also killing? What is a crew-served weapon, and how is it effective in dispersing guilt for killing?

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