Before the war the word "ideals" had grown out-of-date and
priggish--we had substituted for it the more robust word "ambitions."
Today ideals have come back to their place in our vocabulary. We have
forgotten that we ever had ambitions, but at this moment men are
drowning for ideals in the mud of Flanders.
Nevertheless, it is true; it isn't natural to be brave. How, then,
have multitudes of men acquired this sudden knack of courage? They
have been educated by the greatness of the occasion; when big
sacrifices have been demanded, men have never been found lacking. And
they have acquired it through discipline and training.
When you have subjected yourself to discipline, you cease to think of
yourself; _you_ are not _you_, but a part of a company of men. If you
don't do your duty, you throw the whole machine out. You soon learn
the hard lesson that every man's life and every man's service belong
to other people. Of this the organisation of an army is a vivid
illustration. Take the infantry, for instance. They can't fight by
themselves; they're dependent on the support of the artillery. The
artillery, in their turn, would be terribly crippled, were it not for
the gallantry of the air service. If the infantry collapse, the guns
have to go back; if the infantry advance, the guns have to be pulled
forward. This close interdependence of service on service, division on
division, battalion on battery, follows right down through the army
till it reaches the individual, so that each man feels that the day
will be lost if he fails.
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