Modern firearms and the collapse of heroism

[The Grand Nudger]

You increase your odds of survival with proper dispersion. Not your odds of dying alone. I think you might need to get your head checked if you think there was ever anything heroic about the way soldiers die in this century or any other. As for the skill it takes to operate a machine gun - have you ever suppressed a position with a belt fed weapon? It takes some effort, and it makes you enemy target no1. The 7.62 guys are a two man team, so I guess they wouldn't die alone anymore than a vehicle gunner would. I can't imagine why a light mg would be more than a hundred meters from his squad either. More generally, since you seem to think it's important, soldiers are a pretty tight knit bunch. I don't think we have more or less comraderie than people from back in the day did. Pretty much the same. It's still the same job, after all. To the point that many of us realize that we have more in common with our enemy on the field than we have with our friends at home. In another circumstance, we'd be the easiest and best of friends. I served alongside the russian units that are currently getting ground to a fine dust in ukraine not very long ago. So you cheer for the one soldier, and weep for the other.

I don't think it's heroic to stay in a city and fight to the last breath. More telegraphing your intention to make the other guy pay for whatever he intends to take from you, and pay dearly. You're not trying to convince the other guy that you're one of the Good Ones™ with something like that - you're making sure he knows you're a hardass with nothing beyond that city to live for.