Death, Not Embarrassment, Curbs Boldness

Soldiers behave far more cautiously when recklessness carries a real risk of death than when it risks only embarrassment in training. Instrumented ranges that substitute lasers for live fire may systematically understate lethal risk and so fail to produce the same risk‑aversion that actual combat does. — If common training methods underprepare troops for lethal risk, policymakers and military planners should reassess how simulations are used and funded to avoid mismatches between readiness claims and battlefield performance.