I worked in a war zone for a few years. Gallows humor was the norm there and got us through it. I remember once when mortars were landing very close to and rocking our office trailer, we were all under our desks (like particleboard is going to do any good, but it made us feel safer…LOL) and one of the guys started taking pictures of us from under his desk. We found that hilarious for some reason and it generated much needed laughter from us all.
I think emergency medical service people have a lot of ‘gallows humor’ too.