Unrelatedly was watching videos of Syria, and people there also have chill attitudes even though many parts of their cities are destroyed. War time is strange.
It was astonishing how quickly we reached a state of "bored adrenaline". By the second day, we were preparing our breakfast and not even looking outside when we heard (real) gunfire or airsoft pellets striking our shack. I remember sitting down, very tired and bored, thinking about nothing, but my hands still trembling from the adrenaline.
The ways that I naturally felt like moving (I think I'll lean on the wall of this shack for a while and watch the street, I think I'll lean against the wall and keep a hand on my gun) I eventually realized were the same poses I've seen civilians take in pictures of war zones.
That is, perhaps, the hedonic treadmill [1].
What a privilege to live in a stable part of the world!
It's no privilege: if these pictures show us one thing is that it was a hard earned right. These men paid the price. Freedom is never granted, it is earned.