Responses to Danger: Freeze

In combat, soldiers often face split-second choices: fight, flee, or freeze. A friend of mine, Vietnam veteran (Navy Corpsman and later a SEAL) told me how some men froze in battle—staring blankly, dropping to the ground, or lying still as if invisible. He called it “hiding in plain sight,” it was as if they thought the danger couldn’t see them.  However, the bullets still found their mark.