Comparing the Narratives of Commanders and Ordinary Combatants in the Sacred Defense

An Analysis of Functions and Consequences

Written by Mohammad-Mahdi Behdarvand
Translated by Kianoush Borzouei

2025-11-10


Introduction

The experience of the Sacred Defense cannot be comprehended merely through statistics or official reports; what truly endures from war are the narratives of those who stood upon its frontlines. These narratives, however, vary significantly depending on one’s position, responsibilities, and lived experience. Commanders—who bear the weight of strategic planning and operational decision-making and ordinary combatants who directly endure the physical and emotional realities of the battlefield, represent two distinct yet complementary perspectives.

Exploring and comparing these two modes of narration not only contributes to the preservation of history but also deepens our understanding of the psychological, perceptual, and social dimensions of war, its human and cultural roles, and its pedagogical value for future generations.
This study, through the four analytical lenses of human, strategic, educational, and cultural dimensions, investigates the differences and implications inherent in the narratives of commanders and ordinary combatants.

 

1. The Nature of Narratives and Foundational Differences

1.1. The Commanders’ Narratives: Decision-Making and Strategic Analysis

The narratives of commanders are primarily focused on decision-making, resource management, and the analysis of wartime conditions. They encompass accounts of operations, tactical planning, logistical challenges, and interactions with higher levels of command. Commanders typically possess a macroscopic view of the war, basing their decisions on available intelligence, situational assessments, and accumulated experience.

The main features of commanders’ narratives include:

  • Strategic and tactical orientation: Elaborating on operational planning, attack timing, and decision-making under crisis.
  • Multilayered analysis: Evaluating the political, social, and psychological ramifications of military decisions.
  • Managerial perspective: Discussing the coordination of forces, task distribution, and management of human and material resources.
  • Beyond personal experience: While personal, these accounts embody a collective responsibility and reflect the organizational worldview.

For instance, memoirs authored by brigade or division commanders often analyse the complexities of operations, on-the-spot decisions, and operational outcomes, providing a systematic and panoramic understanding of the war. Such narratives enable researchers, military analysts, and younger generations to grasp the strategic scope and far-reaching consequences of command-level decisions.

 

1.2. The Narratives of Ordinary Combatants: Human Experience and Everyday Life

In contrast, the narratives of ordinary combatants are grounded in the tangible and emotional realities of war. These accounts center on personal experiences—hardships, longings, small acts of bravery, and bonds of camaraderie among fellow soldiers.

Key features of these narratives include:

  • Focus on human and everyday life: Describing the hardships of the frontlines, nights spent in uncertainty, efforts to sustain morale, and the friendships that emerged amidst adversity.
  • Emotional expression: Portraying fear, homesickness, short-term joys, and spontaneous moments of empathy.
  • Direct experience: Reflecting firsthand exposure to danger, survival efforts, and the duty to protect comrades.
  • Individual perspective: Typically limited to personal experience, with less emphasis on broader strategic implications.

Books such as Da or The Foot that left Behind present a profoundly human and tangible image of the war, bringing younger readers closer to its moral and emotional dimensions. Such narratives are vital for transmitting ethical, spiritual, and human values, nurturing empathy and a sense of moral responsibility among the new generation.

 

2. Human and Psychological Dimensions

2.1. Commanders: Decision-Making Under Pressure and Collective Responsibility

Commanders, in wartime, are subjected to immense psychological pressures. Their decisions may determine not only their own fate but also the survival or loss of many others. Their narratives illuminate how the burden of collective responsibility demands focus, composure, and mastery over anxiety—factors that directly influence their judgment and performance.

  • Psychological analysis: Commanders must exhibit resilience under pressure, evaluate risks with precision, and select optimal courses of action in complex situations.
  • Ethical implications: Confrontation with human mortality leads commanders to a deeper appreciation of life, responsibility, and conscientious leadership.

2.2. Ordinary Combatants: Confronting Peril and Building Solidarity

Ordinary combatants, positioned on the frontlines, experience immediate threats and existential danger. Their accounts capture fear, hope, friendship, solidarity, and even humor in the midst of chaos. Such experiences profoundly shape their moral values, empathy, and collective spirit.

  • Experiential learning of values: Witnessing courage, sacrifice, and selflessness among comrades forms enduring moral and social archetypes for subsequent generations.
  • Psychological effect: Direct encounters with death and hardship cultivate resilience, patience, and fortitude.

2.3. Key Differences

Aspect

Commanders

 |  Ordinary Combatants

Narrative Focus

Decision-making and strategic analysis

 | Human experience and daily life

Perspective

Collective and macro-level

 | Individual and immediate

Style

Analytical, managerial

 |  Emotional, narrative, human-   |centered

Educational Message

Crisis management, leadership, strategy

  | Empathy, ethics, resilience, human values

 

 

3. Educational and Cultural Dimensions

3.1. Value Transmission and Identity Formation

Commanders’ narratives instruct newer generations in decision-making, leadership, and the analysis of complex circumstances, while combatants’ narratives cultivate ethical, humanistic, and spiritual sensibilities. Integrating both in educational programs fosters critical thinking and strategic insight alongside empathy, accountability, and a strengthened sense of national identity.

3.2. Role Modeling and Behavioral Formation

Through commanders’ stories, youth learn to make difficult and responsible choices; through combatants’ accounts, they learn perseverance, loyalty to values, and collective solidarity in hardship. This dual pedagogy ensures that learning transcends theory and is reflected in practical behavior and social engagement.

3.3. Interdisciplinary Applications

  • In History: Commanders’ accounts serve for strategic and operational analysis; combatants’ for reconstructing human and social experiences of war.
  • In Psychology: Exploring resilience, stress management, and personality growth.
  • In Social Sciences: Studying group dynamics and the emergence of collective behavior.
  • In Literature and Art: Providing inspiration for novels, plays, and documentaries.

 

4. Challenges and Limitations

4.1. Language and Style

The language of commanders tends to be technical and militarized, requiring contextual explanation for students and younger readers. Conversely, the narratives of ordinary combatants, while vivid and emotional, may lack analytical depth and need to be supplemented with additional sources.

4.2. Bias and Ideological Orientation

Certain memoirs—whether of commanders or combatants—may present one-dimensional perspectives due to ideological or propagandistic inclinations. Researchers and younger readers must thus approach such sources with critical judgement.

4.3. Accessibility and Resource Fragmentation

Both categories of memoirs remain dispersed, with many yet unpublished or inaccessible to the public. The creation of a comprehensive digital archive and centralized database is therefore essential.

 

5. Conclusion and Implications

The comparison between commanders’ and combatants’ narratives reveals that:

  1. Commanders offer macro-level perspectives, strategic analysis, and crisis-management expertise.
  2. Ordinary combatants convey the human, ethical, and social dimensions of war to later generations.
  3. Integrating both narratives facilitates comprehensive education—cultivating analytical, moral, and social competencies while reinforcing national identity.
  4. Existing challenges—linguistic, stylistic, and accessibility-related—should be addressed through rewriting projects, educational workshops, digital archiving, and interdisciplinary analysis.

By engaging with these sources, the new generation can access both the tangible human experience of war and the cognitive skills of analysis, decision-making, and critical thought. This synthesis forms a robust bridge between living history and applied education, transforming the memoirs of the Sacred Defense from mere documentation into a dynamic instrument for identity formation and the transmission of enduring values.



 
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