British Officer and author General Sir John Hackett observed that the military makes demands that few if any other callings do. While emotionally disturbed people talk about being “trained to kill,” the whole essence of being a soldier is “not to slay but to be slain."
Ideologies become real to the extent that people die for them. Any death will do—will serve the same purpose: enemy deaths, the deaths of one’s own soldiers, or civilian deaths.
Sacrificial death "gives witness" to the depth of devotion to a sacred ideal. Dying constitutes a principle of verification—testifying to the truth and power of the ideal.
Rudolf Hess on sacrificing for the German God:
“The stream of blood which flows for Germany is eternal—the sacrifice of German men for their Volk is eternal—therefore Germany will also be eternal.”