undefined | Better HN

0 pointsscott_s14y ago0 comments

Yes, I agree with what you said. However, Grossman also talks about the soldiers who do not experience PTSD. And he posits that those soldiers have sociopathic tendencies. And he further posits that those soldiers tend to self-select into the special forces.

W says up front that he is talking about infantry and special forces: When I say soldier, let me be clear that I am talking about the Infantryman and the Special Forces operator, as I have next to no knowledge about anything outside of this relatively small percentile of service personnel. I suspect that he is special forces, and is reporting mostly on his experiences with other special forces soldiers.

0 comments

1 comments · 1 top-level

run4yourlives14y ago

Like I said, 2%. This is the allowance that Grossman and his research support as being "sociopathic/psychopathic". Infantry units on average would make up close to 10-30% of an Army, depending on the force. The whole book is about the factors that can increase/decrease PTSD occurrences, but his basic point is that killing is so unnatural that PTSD is the normal part of the human reaction to killing. (IOW, everyone gets it to a degree).

He also does not say this 2% is pre-disposed to joining SF units. He does, interestingly enough, suggest that the data does point to this 2% being pre-disposed to mercenary work.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse