Drunken War: The Role of Alcohol in Rituals and Soldier Psychology

This text provides a profound anthropological and psychological analysis of the role of psychoactive substances in wartime. The author focuses on alcohol not only as a stimulant, but primarily as a key element of the rites of passage that transform civilians into soldiers. The example of the Polish "Messerschmitt" serves as an illustration of the drastic methods of aviation initiation. The article also examines the function of moonshine as a "liquid artifact" and universal currency, enabling negotiations in inhumane conditions. The analysis encompasses Arnold van Gennep's concepts of the disintegration of self-structures and the mechanisms of narrative disinfection of fear. The entire work sheds new light on the ethnopsychology of war, presenting alcohol as an existential strategy and social bond that helped to survive trauma while permanently altering the psychology of participants in armed conflict.