disgrace
What...a disgrace that soldiers in combat would feel joy that enemies who were trying to kill them in a firefight would feel joy at their the annihilation of their enemies?
Honestly, to me, that seems like human nature, especially for a 19 year old American soldier whose buddies have been freshly killed. It may not be right, or even appropriate to feel “joy”, but I suspect there are a lot of combat veterans out there who did indeed feel “joy” that they lived and their enemies died.
I saw a video of Marines in Iraq whose buddies had been killed by a strongpoint (fortified house) they were trying to assault, and when two iron bombs they called in demolished the house and turned it into rubble killing all inside, these Marines jumped up and down, whooping and hollering like they had just scored the winning touchdown in the big game.
I don’t think this reaction is somehow restricted to Marines in Iraq. I am pretty sure nearly every combat veteran who has faced death on a battlefield has had some variant of this emotion that seems like joy, even if in reality, it is only relief.
Having not been in combat, I refuse to judge men on this. Perhaps some other vets can comment on this. To those of us who have never served in combat, the things they find funny or joyful might seem totally deranged to the rest of us, or even disgusting as you say.
But who am I to judge that? It is just my opinion on that.