Can someone explain how servicemen who saw worse over longer periods during WWI, WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam, with easier access to weapons did not engage in this behavior?
The Marines I knew from Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and particularly Korea saw much worse, lost much more, often suffered greater psychological damage, could buy firearms and ammo at the local hardware store yet did not do this stuff. What is the difference?
(And don’t jump on me. I respect these guys and I do not mean to downgrade their experiences, but their reactions are different from past generations.)
I think that older generations you mentioned had faith to guide them. They also had a first world nation in which to return.
In a word, psych meds.
There were no psych meds in WWII.
What you don’t hear about, though, is WWII PTSD, because it wasn’t a phrase yet. Bit they went through it just the same, and so did their families and kids from them.
Also it wasn’t worse in WWII. It was the same.
War is war is war.
Some of them did.
But incidents from sixty years ago are a little hard to find records of today.
Also, look at how small a percentage of those with PTSD ever have such an incident.
The frequency of PTSD resulting in something like this is overblown. PTSD is also not necessarily permanent. The undealt with incidents can be reduced to memories with treatment.
Regarding a second deployment, the man’s memories may have been buried deeper and not effecting him as much when he was younger. Typically the minds ability to repress things degrades as one ages, usually in one’s thirties or forties.
When I returned to the world, most older adult males were veterans.
When a coworker stepped out from a dark stairwell, and I had him by the throat; they did NOT call the cops.
They helped me and were generous to me.
The CEO of the corporation that employed me, was always helpful to me, we only ever spoke of work issues.
Until I saw his obituary, I never new he was a Navy officer of some distinction, I ask around and they said, oh yes, that he took care of me. And I did well.
When I retired, there was one veteran left in the building!
It helps to be among your own kind.
Different people react in different ways. There were guys that cracked from those wars when they came back home and it either wasn’t reported or made very little news. In today’s report immediately environment information is available instantly.
Having grown up in the depression, these men and women from WWII knew that sometimes life deals you a bad hand and you have to suck it up and do the best you can. IOW, they’d lived through bad times and got through it and they did their best to get through PTSD. Today’s kids have very few challenges growing up and aren’t used to bad times. They all had indoor plumbing and a roof over their heads and possibly some video games. I hope this young man gets the help he needs, he’s done more than his share for his country.
I believe it is a question of survival. We lost so many more in those wars and now they come home. Not many at all will respond as Eisenhauer because his case is severe. PTS has many levels and each case is unique because not all have all symptoms. Eisenhauer may also be suffering from a TBI which can be correlated with PTS but not always.
PTS is also deepened with each new trauma. Most times there is little or no time for recuperation. Meds are over prescribed, too. The whole system is a mess.
The night of the event was also unique in that the firemen broke in his door and where thumping around his house. I wonder how many people wouldn’t have drawn a home weapon upon hearing that.
Eisenhauer’s first tour to Helmand was 15 months long. Marine’s tours are 7 months. In WW2 they were 4 years and didn’t come home for leave plus they were shipped home which took a month.
Your post did make me wonder about the difference in the level of stress in our lifestyles during those times.
“Can someone explain how servicemen who saw worse over longer periods during WWI, WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam, with easier access to weapons did not engage in this behavior?”
Yes, I can explain it in detail. I did a presentation in the Naval Intelligence Building for a group in 2002 on this topic. I explained that the PTSD would be worse and it would be more difficult to get the men to follow orders in the upcoming war. It has to do with a state of consciousness as to whether a soldier was “just following orders” or “takes personal responsibility” for their actions.
When they softened boot camp and feminized the military it took away the focus.
My thoughts on this, being both a history fanatic as well as participant in some Middle East ‘vacations’, is that a lot of it has to do with how we came back from the theater of operations back then and now. In 1945, you got on a boat with a couple thousand others who had just been through the same thing as you, with nothing to do for several weeks except decompress and talk to each other about what you had seen and done. You got off that boat knowing that you were not alone. Now, you leave the combat zone, get on a plane, and a few hours later you are back home dealing with friends and family who have no idea or concept of what you have seen. You don’t want to talk to them about it, because they have no frame of reference, and you really don’t want to freak them out. You feel like you are the only one who feels this way. I think there was a better support structure for the troops in WWII era. Since so many of the men in that age group did serve, they felt comfortable around each other. Also, more jobs at that time had a more physical component to them, and doing hard phyical work all day helped sap some of the pain and frustration. Sitting behind a desk all day? Not so much. Did some back then have trouble adjusting? Definitely, but I also think we tended to hush up these sorts of things a bit more back then as well.