"A few gun-crew members were eventually given diagnoses of P.T.S.D., but to the crews that didn't make much sense. They hadn't, in most cases, even seen the enemy."
"Military doctrine had assumed that firing thousands of high-explosive shells from a distance was relatively safe. These troops were far from direct combat, and none suffered physical injuries. Yet the aftermath of their deployments suggests something very different."
"The report argues that military authorities failed to recognise the psychological toll such warfare could produce. Many of the troops described having nig"
"Veterans need care not only for combat injuries but also for what they remember, imagine, and cannot let go."
A Marine returned from deployment and experienced intense fear and distress, reporting sounds in his room despite no visible cause. Interviews with gun-crew veterans who fired long-range weapons found that many had no direct combat, no physical injuries, and no clear exposure to the enemy. Some later received PTSD diagnoses that did not fit their experiences, since they had not seen the damage they caused. The warfare involved firing thousands of high-explosive shells from a distance, which doctrine treated as relatively safe. After deployment, many described psychological effects, including intrusive memories and imagined destruction, showing that memory reconstructs the past rather than replaying it. Veterans need support addressing what they remember, imagine, and cannot let go.
Read at Psychology Today
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