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Originally Posted by CDAT
But the human element is not a constant factor, it does not affect everyone the same.
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That's true. Sociopaths don't seem to suffer from PTSD. And I wasn't claiming that all returning vets would be suffering from psychological trauma. Most long-serving combat vets (see StainlessSteelCynic's reiteration of an earlier point), however, very likely would. See my next point for scholarly support.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDAT
From my prospective combat fatigue is vastly over blown, I think mostly due to Hollywood and the media. Based on my personal experience I have served closely with about 1000 or so, and can count on one hand the number that have moderate to severe combat fatigue, and maybe another handful that have minor. So like I said I think it is very over blown, as my personal experience puts it at about 1% (am I am willing to say that it could be higher, but nothing like what you see from media).
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First off, serious military historians have documented the prevalence of Shell Shock/Combat Fatigue/PTSD. Read Ambrose's
Citizen Soldiers (WWII) and
Grossman's On Killing (Vietnam) for just a couple of well-respected authors' reserach on its prevalence.
Second, statistically speaking, 1000 is a very small sample size. Did you know each one of those 1000 vets personally? Did you conduct a longitudinal study (over time) on all 1000 of those vets? Are you a trained counselor or psychologist? If you can honestly answer yes to all three questions, then your observations may have scientific merit. With all due respect, your personal experience is not conclusive evidence of an media-orchestrated exaggeration in the impact of Combat Fatigue/PTSD in long-serving combat vets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDAT
I am not sure that the cultural barriers were that big in the ETO during WWII, German has been one of the major places that immigrants to the US came from, so for a lot of troops it was not that major of a cultural barrier but the culture of their parents (or grandparents).
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Um, most GI's didn't speak French, or Dutch, or German, so yeah, there was a big cultural barrier. Again, I would encourage you to read
The Deserters, by Glass, if you're interested in learning about this topic.