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I have a particularly strong head canon. I believe that Combine soldiers think just as much as you and me, but their memories are consistently wiped. Some of the Combine soldier lines from HLA supports this, promoting the idea that they're still "human" in there, but at any sign of questioning orders - "cognitive dissonance" - their memories are wiped, crushing any resistance they may have had. Imagine being in that scenario - you need to be completely compliant, both physically and mentally, because any rebellious thought you have leads to a significant wipe in memories. Maybe you still have some of your human memories left? Maybe they purposely left some intact to give you something to protect? You'll make sure to quell any rebellious thoughts you have in the future to make sure you get to hold onto any vestiges of humanity you might have, but it's difficult to control your thoughts. Time after time, your memories are ebbed away. Each passing day, you keeping forgetting things that were once meaningful to you. Your friends? You knew you had them, and they meant a lot, but you can't remember their names or faces now. Your family? Just a hole in your mind where you knew they once filled. Slowly, you manage to stop thinking for yourself. You comply, fall into line, perform atrocities against your own race; none of it matters to you now. All that matters is keeping what you have left intact.