Quote Originally Posted by Skott View Post
Discipline will also teach the soldier not to turn and run at the first volley as well. A good example is that American militia had problems in the beginning against seasoned British troops during the Revolutionary War. Takes a lot of nerve to walk up to within 100 yards or less (often less) of someone and and boldly stand there and take a volley while you reload or wait for a command to fire. Nothing like watching a line of men not too far away take aim at you and fire to scare you silly.
Yes. And one other point worth mentioning: the tactics of the day didn't focus on standing there and blasting away at each other all day (didn't carry the ammo supply, for one thing). The shooting was just the prelude to the Main Event -- the bayonet charge. It was the close-quarters work, "making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country," (as Gen Patton put it, so eloquently) that caused the routs and decided the issue.

Greenhorns don't do so well with that.