( . . . ) in those moments their higher brain functions decided that the threat required action rather than immobility, and ramped everything up: pulse and blood pressure to heart-attack levels, epinephrine and norepinephrine levels through the roof, blood draining out of the organs and flooding the heart, brain, and major muscle groups.
“there’s nothing like it, nothing in the world.” steiner told me about combat. “if it’s negative twenty degrees outside, you’re sweating. if it’s a hundred and twenty, you’re cold as shit. ice cold. it’s an adrenaline rush like you can’t imagine.”
the problem is that it’s hard to aim a rifle when your heart is pounding, which points to an irony of modern combat: it does extraordinarily violent things to the human body but requires almost dead calm to execute well. complex motor skills start to diminish at 145 beats per minute, which wouldn’t matter much in a swordfight but could definitely ruin your aim with a rifle. at 170 beats per minute you start to experience tunnel vision, loss of depth perception, and restricted breathing. and at 180 beats per minute you enter a netherworld where rational thought decays, bowel and bladder control are lost, and you start to exhibit the crudest sorts of behaviors: freezing, fleeing, and submission.
to function effectively, the soldier must allow his vital signs to get fully ramped up without ruining his concentration and control. / war by sebastian junger
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