What I've found is that you generally only get noticeably scared when you're on the lead-up to things happening; when the situation actually starts getting very interesting and exciting, you're too busy keeping track of what's going on to waste time worrying. So being taken by surprise by the enemy is actually less frightening overall than is some big planned offensive. Either way, afterward you're probably going to be jittery for a good bit.Alkarii wrote:Yeah, movies rarely portray or convey that sense of "OH F**K!" that happens in a situation. I've heard that a lot of "pros" had been scared in firefights, but didn't realize it until after the danger had passed. All the training that they go through is intended to make actions like reloading or clearing a jam second nature. Same goes for CQC/CQB, and generally anything combat related.
Training helps to some degree as well. The untrained guy is spending too much time trying to decide what he's supposed to be doing, and so isn't able to spend as much attention on what you are doing and thus tends to get flustered and surprised and panic. Somebody who is well-trained doesn't have to think about his own actions as much, and can spend the fight watching what's going on around him. It's like the difference between somebody who reflexively knows how to walk versus somebody who is trying to walk around while consciously having to plan out every movement of the leg and foot.
Experience is usually an even bigger help, though.
An even better method is to just avoid fights altogether. . .
