Like his father said, this is the normal, I'd even say adequate reaction of somebody seing someone be killed in front of them. He'd have reasons to be a lot more concerned if he actually would react calmly.
For a normal foot soldier this would not be as much of an issue, but any commander cannot be swayed by death, and ordering people to die himself. It was correct to leave him home, or they would risk potentially catastrophic damages if he panics and makes a bad decision.