78

The body, like a face, is laden with meanings from a whole host of scientific and cultural areas. Faced with a multitude of expressions and interpretations, what makes the body into a “warrior”? What process makes the soldier’s body unique in the way it is built, in its social expression, its interference with operational functions? A warrior’s body is a measured, standardized, calibrated one. It is the result of training rather than of an inborn structure. It is both an instrument and a war machine, a weapon and a working tool. The way it is shaped by military society results in praxis and habitus that bring warriors closer to other professionals in bodily expression techniques like manual workers, sportsmen, and prima ballerinas. As a carrier of power, the warrior’s body is subject to constant attacks. The contemporary challenge is the paradox created by coexistence between excessive sensorial power given to this body, its dematerialized insertion, into a digital operational area, and the new forms of conflicts imposed on a body that is physically strong, robust and rustic, and ready to face suffering and injury.