Conflict How Soldiers Make Impossible Decisions by Neil D. Shortland

"This book is about decisions in military conflict, and the psychological conflict they cause. It explores how Soldiers choose between seemingly impossible options where all outcomes look horrendous, by drawing on interviews conducted with real Soldiers about real situations they faced. Their vivid and sometimes upsetting stories were part of the experience of war and became part of their identity. The book describes the processes that make choice selection so difficult, the psychology of decisional conflict, and the immediate, short, and longer term behavioral consequences of these actions. Special attention will be directed to the concept of 'decision inertia' - one of several kinds of 'failures to act' in which decision makers are unable to calculate and/or commit to a least-worst course of action. By referring to many real cases we invite the reader to consider their own responses to choosing between difficult options, in order to help them understand what it might feel like when you are faced with making a least-worst decision at war"--