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From: Jasper
Date: 6/20/01
Time: 1:27:24 PM
Jean,
What you said about experiencing some odors as pleasant that you wouldn't normally think of that way struck a familiar note. I don't know why I didn't think about this when I was responding to Charlie's question. I wrote about it on this board and I wrote about it in detail in Invisible Warriors. It's a big part of why I zeroed in on the Bundy killer as someone who reveled in blood and wanted the experience of the kill to last. It's called a "combat high." When I first experienced it, the smell of blood was a big part of the experience. Only long afterward did I connect the odor with something decidedly unpleasant. I guess it doesn't take a shrink to figure out why I tried to put it out of my mind.
The reason I wrote about it was to make damn sure that I didn't forget as well as to tell the things I knew about combat that other veterans who experience the same thing would not tell. In the end, though, we don't really forget anything, we just put it in a place in our minds where it doesn't get in the way. --Jasper