When watching war movies you’ll often see people behave in very strange ways. Behavior that flies in the face of the reality around them. It seems that people reach a threshold of trauma where they break and just cling to any normal seeming activity even though it makes no sense in the current cirumstances. A great example of this is this snippet from an article on MSNBC about David Williams a recued Iraqi war POW:

Were there any lighter moments?
In the third prison, a guard came to the door and blindfolded and cuffed me and took me down the hallway. They sat me down and ripped off the blindfold, and there was a guy standing there with rubber gloves and a tray of utensils. The guy was like “Please. I am dentist and I want to look at your teeth.” I’m like, what the hell? With bombs and firefights, you want to worry about my teeth? After he examines me, he goes, “Please please, I am a dentist and you must brush your teeth.” I’m thinking, dude, I haven’t showered in 20 days and you want me to brush my teeth?