You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This little book, based on the experiences of the author as psychiatrist with the Eighth Air Force during World War II, is well
worth the attention of anyone interested in the problems of military psychiatry. It is vastly superior to most of the output on the subject because the author, psychoanalytically trained and oriented, has a respectable grasp of dynamic psychiatry, is intellectually honest and, writing now as a civilian, does not require the imprimatur of higher command for his utterances. This happy combination of circumstances helps account for such heretical statements: 'In line with this trend of thought, one would expect to find many of the outstanding combat heroes men with character defects who derive too readily enjoyment from instinctual expression and who have a poorly developed sense of social responsibility. This expectation is borne out by our observations.' For those who are curious about the inner workings of men whose unique lot it was to deal out death and destruction from the air, this book affords fascinating clinical sketches. The libidinization and 'aggressivization' of the machine and of the act of flying, as well as the defenses set up against them, are clearly portrayed. The book goes further than this, however, and, within the limitations imposed on study by wartime conditions, it attempts a metapsychologic formulation of the reasons for success or failure in flying combat.
To the reviewer the latter part of the book that deals with the treatment and disposition of fliers who broke down is of particular interest, since his own recorded impressions1 of the dismally low functional level of military psychiatry met with the objections first, that the observations were not accurate; second, if they were accurate they relate to a negligibly small segment of the army and hence could be disregarded. The impartial reader can judge for himself whether or not this additional documentation—drawn, be it noted, from a totally different an