world war I

So far in life I've managed to avoid military duty. If I had been a Briton alive 100 years ago I would most likely be charging a machine gun nest somewhere in France under the command of an upper class officer who had been raised to believe that war was a sure path to glory. I like to believe that we've made progress since then. Our modern wars seem to be affairs of attrition. Sporadic criminal activity that is covered by grim faced journalists. Property damage and civilian misery are the rule, as they always were. I am disturbed how some communities--in Afghanistan and Israel--have developed a type of siege architecture. What type of mental effect can this have?