comradeship

[Janet Valentine <valent03@bellsouth.net>]

I'm hoping that list subscribers will be willing to share their
experiences and opinions with me regarding the emotional bond they felt
with their fellow unit members.   In my reading on unit cohesion and the
role of comradeship there are general points of agreement among all the
authors.  The two most important, as I see it, are that comradeship does
not involve what we commonly recognize as friendship and that it is an
uniquely intense experience.  In his book, _War_, Gwynn Dyer quotes a
former Army officer's assertion that the closest comparison may be the
strengh of the tie between parent and child.  As to this, I wonder if
that comparison is accurate for enlisted member/enlisted member
comradeship.  While I understand that small unit officers develop a
particularly close relationship with their men, he remains by
designation and responsibility an officer, and I wonder if that is what
prompts the parent-child analogy?  

So, is there an emotional bond that non-combat veterans have experienced
that may compare with the intensity of comradeship among combat
soldiers?  And, would you combat veterans consider your comrades friends
in the way that most civilians understand friendship?

Cheers,
Janet