Trope fits

Thanks, Xylas. That’s what we’re going for!

If this was animated I’d be thinking that this is some realistic WW2 alt universe flick where the only changes are the level of tech advancement, the Japs surrendered with just one bomb being dropped on them, and the Nazi’s have magic powers in adition to successful-ish biological enhancement expermentation projects.

(it’s a very believable What-If story is what that’s supposed to be saying.)

Yeah, but let’s be honest, that’s sorta fitting the tropes going on here…
or was that the cliche of every war plot that involves one of the main greenhorns loosing a war buddy in combat due to seeing what a real war battle is like and freezing up, hating themselves for that reaction when all is said and done after?

Granted, this is a very natural cliche that only happens because no one is every truely prepaired for war and the shit that happens in it.

… or wait is cliche not the right word… well I’ve got no inkling of another word that fits the bill here so I hope so.

And it’s certainly better than slapping Max or some shell shocked soldier, so he’s up on one of the most famous generals of two World Wars.

I’ll say it’s healthier, at least. Healthier than setting himself up for exposure out of self-pity and self-hate. Perhaps, along the way, this could end being something that nudges Max down a different bad path, but in the here and now, it’s fairly good advice. And of all of Luke’s problems, this is probably one of his better and more rational coping mechanisms.

Hm? Nah, I think that short and to the point wins this. I mean, sure, the message between the two is the same… kinda. yours leaves out the whole “it’s alright to hate yourself so long as you can keep going to make sure that no more people end up like Ox.” section. That and Luke’s a grunt soldier commando turned super soldier, not a philosiphising wise cracking leutenant turned super soldier.

That and you can’t really HAVE an eloquent way of saying “it’s not your fault” for a war buddy’s death that you MIGHT have been able to prevent… it’s the whole “should-a/would-a/could-a done” scenario that you would never be able to get over without forgetting, and there fore defacing the memory of, your friend who died.

And honestly, some times the best way to bring someone around is to hit them upside the head in a manner of speaking.
In this case, metaphorically.

“it was even worse in the 1940s” is not really nailing it. People fled the battle field in a such deep rooted panic, they apathetically accepted being called deserters and got executed for simply having a nervous breakdown. BTW this is often a reason for hit-and-run-drivers to fled the scene of an accident and they often get harshly punished for the same reason without anybody taking in consideration that they acted in shock.

I caught a blast wave in an exercise and people were wondering why I removed my ammo clip, unloaded the chamber of my gun, sat down and waited for somebody to pick me up. Because I had gone into a mild form of shock and I had lost my orientation senses and was completely out of clues what to do next with my ears filled by the most annoying tinnitus I’d ever experienced.

Thank you, ThunderWalker! It’s great to have a veteran’s perspective on this subject. As badly as PTSD is handled today, it was even worse in the 1940s, when it was so poorly understood (at the time, it was called “shell shock”). Too often, soldiers are expected to simply “man up,” which is not always a realistic way to deal with the horrors of war.