Psyching up and psyching out

From the reports I'm reading (and linking), I understand that very few of the troops lined up to assault Falluja have any actual combat experience. One report quoted an officer as saying they'd get their experience with the first bullet. Another said he was having to counsel his Marines as some were coming to him to say they were scared and didn't want to go in.

LaBelle sends a link from our local news describing some fun and games one battalion has devised to cut the tension.

"These men are about to face the greatest personal and professional tests of their lifetimes," said Lt. Col. Willy Buhl, commander of 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.

"We wanted to lighten things up, take the tension off what we’re about to do," said the 42-year-old commander from Los Gatos, Calif., who dreamed up the "First Annual "Ben-Hur" Memorial Chariot Race."

..."We're ready to go. I'm just ready to get this done. I want to go and kill people so we can go home," said Lance Cpl. Joseph Bowman, 20, from North Zulch, Texas. "Kill them and go home that’s all we can do now."

I wonder if that's one of the pep talk mantras. "The sooner you kill these people, the sooner you can go home."

And thus they were led to their own glorious deaths.