Live data from Hacker News

Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

nytimes.com

331–340 of 599 posts

Re: Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it would break the neck. Typical AK47 bullet at 100yd has momentum 5 kgm/s, which is about the same as a baseball at 77mph.

Guns are kinetic energy weapons, not momentum weapons. It’s the kinetic energy that matters. Momentum is conserved, recoil momentum is the same as bullet momentum, yet recoil does not kill the shooter.

It's more the area of the bullet that matters. A small bullet or a thin needle require much less momentum/energy to penetrate a body than a big object.

Re: Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People that hunt and shoot guns their whole lives do not commit suicide at high levels. This is what I am basing my statements on. Basically half the people I know in the US fall in to this category.

Men in the special forces shoot firearms much, much more than even enthusiastic hunters. Thousands of rifle rounds in a day. All day long. A hunter (I am one) might shoot a dozen rounds to zero in a rifle, or a hundred shells at a clay range. Actually hunting is never more than a handful of rifle rounds or a few dozen shells.

Shooting suppressed carbines and SMGs generates a completely different level of air pressure than Grandpa's 30-06 or Dad's .308.

Re: Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

#334
post #246
post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pressure buildup in the cranium due to microwave heating? Victims have reported a feeling as if their heads are about to explode.

Huh. I feel like that almost daily nowadays. Maybe I should grab some tinfoil. Unless it's coming from inside the head...

If you believe someone may be pointing a microwave weapon at you, please do not wrap your head in foil like a baked potato.

Re: Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

#335
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i thought the "gender pay gap" was due to different jobs and amount of time worked - otherwise companies would hire only women and have to pay out way less in wages.

This assumes companies are rational actors.

Market forces, spread over long enough time, are usually a strong force of rationality. So on average, across long time, yes. At least according to the level of contemporary wisdom.

Re: Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's important to view suicide not from the "I don't want to live" perspective and rather from the "I don't want to be in pain" viewpoint. I feel this article does a good job of not explicitly saying this when describing what must have been an agonizing existence for David Metcalf before he took his life.

Correct. Pain is the explanation. It's obvious when you realize that opioids relieve depression. They aren't a good long term solution though.

Suffering as a more general term IMHO... I can imagine having no pain per se, but being so bogged down from few well placed catastrophes in life that continuing would be much harder than not.

Re: Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

#337
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Men in the special forces shoot firearms much, much more than even enthusiastic hunters. Thousands of rifle rounds in a day. All day long. A hunter (I am one) might shoot a dozen rounds to zero in a rifle, or a hundred shells at a clay range. Actually hunting is never more than a handful of rifle rounds or a few dozen shells.

Shooting suppressed carbines and SMGs generates a completely different level of air pressure than Grandpa's 30-06 or Dad's .308.

Have you shot anything you mentioned? .30-06 and .308 are both quite powerful, and you can feel them in your chest when fired.

An M4 (the only carbine I can think of in use by the military) is already a step down in boom as a 5.56mm; adding a suppressor makes that even less so. It’s like shooting a .22 at that point. As to SMGs, they’re all small caliber – 9mm, .45, 5.7mm…

Re: Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

#338
post #135

Misc info on weapon sound pressure. The Carl Gustav 8.4cm recoilless rifle now be procured by the Marines has a big back-blast through the typical venturi used by these kinds of weapons. In training, (Sweden at least) they are limited to the number of rounds they can fire. I do not know if this for merely hearing loss, or if there are concussive effects. Also, while "small arms" do not typically have concussive effec…

CG rounds are limited due to the concussive effects without question.

Re: Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

#339
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shooting suppressed carbines and SMGs generates a completely different level of air pressure than Grandpa's 30-06 or Dad's .308.

Have you shot anything you mentioned? .30-06 and .308 are both quite powerful, and you can feel them in your chest when fired. An M4 (the only carbine I can think of in use by the military) is already a step down in boom as a 5.56mm; adding a suppressor makes that even less so. It’s like shooting a .22 at that point. As to SMGs, they’re all small caliber – 9mm, .45, 5.7mm…

All of the above, yes.

I'm saying that a SEAL shooting a suppressed SMG feels nothing after dumping magazine after magazine downrange. There's no way this is causing concussions.

Grandpa's 30-06 will rattle your fillings a little bit after one round - still probably doesn't result in TBI.

Re: Pattern of brain damage is pervasive in Navy SEALs who died by suicide

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can become really hard to hit by all but the best shooters by… walking away slowly in a zigzag. Near impossible if you run. Idk if i would trust my life with that. What if they just spray a bunch of bullets in the general direction I am? Also what is the minimum distance where this tactic becomes effective? I just can’t imagine that zigzagging helps that much when you are 2 meters away from the shooter. And the…

> What if they just spray a bunch of bullets in the general direction I am? From what I understand, real soldiers generally don't spray bullets like you see in movies or video games unless they are in a defensive machine gun nest or on some sort of vehicle. Ammo is an extremely finite and precious resource on the battlefield. You can't carry much with you, and you don't necessarily know when you can resupply, so ever…

A standard NATO soldier should carry 210 rounds of 5.56 ammo. That's 7 30-magazine clips if he actually has all of them in clips.

If you ever saw any combat video, soldiers often fire a LOT, experienced or not (experienced just tend to hit more often). Maybe not a full auto, but nobody thinks in '1 bullet per enemy' mentality, self-preservation makes you overdo it, and they train you to not save on ammo unless you are cut off from supplies.

> U.S. forces have expended at least 250,000 small-caliber bullets for every insurgent killed in the present wars

Think about that number for a second. Technically, 1000 fully equipped NATO soldiers fire all their carried ammo per 1 single dead enemy. Life ain't Call of Duty.

Post reply on HN