I'm not sure this information exists but it's something I've wondered about.. Does anyone know if one branch of the military - Land, Air, Sea - has a higher percentage of PTSD casualties than another? Like does land forces (army) for example have more cases of PTSD as opposed to the navy? Or are they all pretty much same percentages across the board? You certainly hear about PTSD in the land forces more often, but that doesn't mean anything. Just wondering..

I have actually seen these stats before, and land has the majority. It is rare to see from sea and air from what I have read before as I once wondered the same thing.

Hey thanks Anthony. Thought it might be land forces. Makes sense it's the majority, everyone in our family who had it was land forces. Like you said I don't often hear of anyone in the Air Command with it.

My brother-in-law was a Navy medic, and he has PTSD from seeing the troops when lifted upon ships for medical treatment, though never faced combat himself as such upon land. He even said its quite rare for any Navy personnel to get PTSD.

sapper if your intrested google v.a of the usa, they have some intresting stats......mj

I'd guess it would have a lot to do with the war we were talking about. I'd guess in WW II any air crew of a bomber would see their friends spread all over the inside of their bomber. Navy had their huge losses to Kamikaze's in the pacific. Foot sloggers are always on the sharp point.

I saw a study once on public tv about a researcher who determined the best way to minimize PTSD or combat fatigue was to make sure that the guys/gals that were fighting around you you knew and trusted and had very strong bonds with. That is say a combat division trains together, goes over seas together, fights together, pulls out to rest and then gets replacement. So the men/women have time to make that strong bond with their squad. One, variable anyway.

In the current environment where the navy, and air force are more detached from the fighting . . . and I hope I don't step on anyones toes . . . they are probably less likely to develop PTSD.

Speaking for myself, I was on a ship that landed marines and army units on beach assaults, and the firefight on shore, the bombardments, the bombing by the F-4, and the threat of Cong sappers mining the ship kept my attention I can tell you.

I agree Doug, past wars where different. Other services had more involvement compared to nowadays with modern warfare. If a ship got attacked, I could understand a percentage of those sailors would get PTSD. No issue. If a pilot got shot down or had constant fire fights with fighters, could understand that also. With technology now, ships and planes see very little direct action against them. Missiles launch from hundreds of kilometres, thousands even depending on the missile. A plane can shoot down another plane or target from hundreds of kilometres away, never even see the target or only a small image.

I guess this comes down to the individual again. If you had someone who thought further than their job of pushing that button, really processed and analysed the impact of their actions, I would say they could legitimately get PTSD from giving themselves the traumatic thoughts of their own actions. I would still agree though that the numbers would be extremely low. The only reason the Army has higher rates is because of their duty.... land force. Planes and ships bomb land forces. Land forces fight against land forces, all of which land forces are humans. We don't have protective shields, radars or the like. No early warning system for land troops... just the bomb or crack thump of the bullet passing you by.

Hey anthony -


I'm gonna post twice just so this one is highlighted 'cause I want you to see it by itself.

I see you are living in Melbourne, Australia so I assume you are an Aussie.

I've read my history. I know what the Aussie's did in WWII, especially in North Africa.

I got a lot of respect for the Aussies. A lot of respect. Talk about brave . . .

Walkin' out in the desert with the barrage rolling in front . . . then takin' the trenches with just grenades and the bayonet? Bloody brave I'd say.


I've got more respect in my heart than you can imagine . . .


I just love men like that and a country like Australia that can raise them. That's one reason I read WWII history. The hero's . . . just your common every day bloke but a hero in war. Brings tears to my ears.




Just wanted you to know that anthony.

Hey anthony -


(PS I don't know . . . what's below gets into some rather gory battle stories. If you edited it I would understand . . . I'm not askin' you to 'cause its what I want to say. Somehow it makes me feel better talking in this way. Maybe it's just because I'm totally isolated and I don't have a person to talk to. And I don't feel so lonely. . . . when I write it out. But in case it could set someone off. I also tend to curse . . . my father was a sailor, I was a sailor, my brother was a sailor, so .. .. . If its bothersome I can cut it out although I didn't read 'nothin against it in the rules. I sure feel more eloquent when I curse lol)

Thanks for the reply . . . you always have something knowledgeable and interesting to say it seems. Everyone is so nice here.

I remember a story a friend at church told me. Goes like this.

His dad, 18 yrs old at the time during 1945, was a loader on a 40mm anti-aircraft mount (think it was the British Bofors twin mount) on a US Destroyer at Okinawa or the Philippines (WWII battle in the pacific), but you know that. During the middle of a long Kamikazi attack . . . say an hour into it . . . they just kept coming and coming and coming . . . one of the sailors down in the boiler room started yelling up through a hatch from the boiler room asking them what was going on. Obviously, the guns were not firing at the time. The suicide planes came in waves, eh. But you know that.


So this poor guy down in the boiler room was just scared silly 'cause he couldn't see what was going on. You can imagine hearing all the guns going off, explosions, parts of planes scattering around the deck, but all he could see was a tiny portal of blue sky through the hatch from the boiler room.

Well, finally, and tragically, this fella just broke down into a crying hysterical mess and was taken to the sickbay and later off the ship. Total combat fatigue case.

I read a fact in a history book I'm reading . . . I'm a war history buff. 38 ships sunk on the allied side during the invasion of the Philippines if memory proves correct. Almost 6,000 sailors killed. Usual ratio in ground actions is 2 or 3 wounded for every one killed. So maybe 15,000 sailors wounded.

I remember what a dear friend of mine told me during one of my worst periods when I was homeless and had 20 bucks and an old truck to live in.

He said, Doug, it doesn't have a ****ing thing to do with how much actual danger you are in for ya 'ta get the PTSD. The deal is just how much ****ing danger you think you are in.


He went on to say, the guys in the army say, s*** I'd never want to be on a ship on the water. No place to hide. Can't dig a bloody foxhole on the ocean ya know. Man those sailors got it tough.


Sailors say the opposite. ****ing bloody hell, I'd never want to be in the army. Dirty stinking mess all the time, freezing your arse off or boiling in yer tin hat, eating them k-rations for weeks at a time, flies, snakes, snipers, gotta use a bloody ditch in the jungle for the crapper and ya got the s**** all the time. Man those GI's have it tough.


This friend, quite a tragic figure, he used a lot of drugs and booze to cover ya know . . .
He said the worst memory he had was this time when there were a lot of civilian casualties, civilian dead laying along a road. I don't know . . . 50 or more dead men, women, children all blown up. And the army didn't want to have to report the civilian casualties. So the bloody bastards ordered him and his squad to throw the bodies into the ditch, throw gas on them and burn them up. So that's what they did . . .


The worst part was that when a human body burns up it moves around 'cause the heat shortens the length of the muscles and tendons . . . looks just like they were alive in those flames.


The thing he remembers and has the most guilt about is that it just wasn't fair. It wasn't fare that the families of all these people that got burned up would never know what happened to their family members . . . their father, mother, sister, child, grandfather . . . it just wasn't fair. And he did it. It was his fault. That was the guilt he bore. Just 'cause some bloody ****ing officer didn't want to report civilian casualties.

Hey thanks for all the replies to this thread.. really enlightening thoughts. It would be interesting to see older stats on the military, numbers in the world wars and so forth.. though I doubt they would be very accurate, considering PTSD wasn't even considered a proper disorder back then. Lots went unreported I'm assuming, because of the stigma. I know there was a lot of shame over my grandfather's illness (he was in WW2 and Korea).. it's only in the last couple of years that we've accepted he was likely ill with PTSD and it is not shameful.

One thing I will say though.. JMHO.. whilst WW2 was worse in many ways, more combat for all and so forth.. it was also better. At least the troops were fighting for something tangible.. "real" freedom from the nazis. The nazis were a real threat. Whereas the "wars" we are fighting now.. I don't know.. in a way its harder to be deployed on a so-called "peacekeeping" mission.. Harder to go over there without any clear purpose, spend months just sitting around twiddling your thumbs basically, and when there is something to do, someone to save, you are ordered not to. I know that happened to my brother in Rwanda.. his unit had to sit by and watch the genocide unfold and weren't allowed to assist civilians.. that is a different level of trauma IMO.. to physically have the power to help but not be allowed because it's against "policy". So you just stand by, helpless, while civilians are tortured and killed.. that can really f*ck you up.