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PBS series asks: To kill or not to kill?

What does it mean to kill in combat? How are troops changed by that experience? And what makes some dedicated warriors refuse to do it anymore?

“Soldiers of Conscience,” the latest episode in the award-winning PBS documentary series “P.O.V.,” grapples with those questions, stripping away politics to bore down to the fundamental function of combat — one human being taking the life of another.

Filmmakers Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan explore that subject through the eyes and voices of seven soldiers, all Iraq war veterans.

Three view killing in combat as regretful but necessary. Four said they could not do it anymore and claimed conscientious objector status; two received honorable discharges and two were court-martialed and jailed.

The film’s starting point is the famous finding of Army historian Brig. Gen. S.L.A. Marshall that less than 25 percent of American soldiers in World War II fired their weapons at the enemy in combat. The rest could not bring themselves to do it, even when their lives were at risk.

Through the use of “reflexive fire training,” the Army increased that figure to up to 60 percent in the Korean War and up to 90 percent in Vietnam.

But while the Army now trains its soldiers to be effective killers, “we never tell them why it’s OK ... so they can be at peace with that,” says Maj. Pete Kilner, a West Point professor and former infantry company commander in the regretful-but-necessary camp.

The film is a thought-provoking look at the central purpose of war that invites viewers to reflect not only on their own perspective but also on the other side of the coin.

“Soldiers of Conscience” will air Thursday on local PBS stations.