Anticipatory anxiety?

Strategy Page says that desertion rates are down 24 percent in the military this year but has this interesting data point.

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All of the services see desertion as a failure of someone to adapt to military life. For example, most of those who desert and say it's "because of the war" have never been in combat or been exposed to combat stress. They just don't want to be in the military anymore. It's long been a problem, even after the U.S. went all-volunteer in the 1970s.

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I know from my own experience that the anxiety level was much greater before a mission than during the actual mission. That was the time when I also had to be alert for those troops who might try to get lost before we headed out. It is interesting that those who have never experienced combat are the most anxious.

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