Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 599 posts

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

#51

Post by mathsmath »

jrmg wrote: post #46

Artillery crew members who fired thousands of rounds in combat came home plagued by hallucinations and psychosis Could this problem also be affecting civilian gun enthusiasts? Or is the order of magnitude of the exposure just wildly lower compared to the military, even in the most enthusiastic?

I think it depends on the shockwave. Maybe someone can math it out, but it’s like the sound leaf blower makes vs standing right next to a jet engine. I have never seen a shockwave on the ground behind a “normal” firearm, but it seems commonplace with artillery.

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

#53

Post by Aurornis »

jrmg wrote: post #46

Artillery crew members who fired thousands of rounds in combat came home plagued by hallucinations and psychosis Could this problem also be affecting civilian gun enthusiasts? Or is the order of magnitude of the exposure just wildly lower compared to the military, even in the most enthusiastic?

Artillery is orders of magnitude more powerful than guns.

Doing something is a stressful situation (combat zone) is infinitely more likely to lead to stress-related disorders than doing it in a safe, controlled environment (shooting range)

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

#54

Post by Bjorkbat »

jrmg wrote: post #46

Artillery crew members who fired thousands of rounds in combat came home plagued by hallucinations and psychosis Could this problem also be affecting civilian gun enthusiasts? Or is the order of magnitude of the exposure just wildly lower compared to the military, even in the most enthusiastic?

I used to shoot competitively. We always wore ear protection. Even without it though, I would imagine there's a huge difference between an artillery shell and a .45 round.

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

#55

Post by p51-remorse »

jrmg wrote: post #46

Artillery crew members who fired thousands of rounds in combat came home plagued by hallucinations and psychosis Could this problem also be affecting civilian gun enthusiasts? Or is the order of magnitude of the exposure just wildly lower compared to the military, even in the most enthusiastic?

If you ever get the chance, go shoot some small caliber weapons. I think everyone should at some point to have a baseline in their head for what guns are. Plus, I think it’d be good for people to know 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.

And then if you have a chance to be around some small artillery, do that too. It’s hard to describe the difference.

(“You” here is used to address HN in general, not you personally)

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

#56

Post by chasd00 »

steve1977 wrote: post #28
nunez wrote: post #23

What an incredible article. The other articles referenced within are also excellent. My concern: given that this is becoming more common knowledge, in a world in which other, potentially adversarial, countries are more than fine sending their soldiers through the mental meat grinder, how can we prevent outcomes like the ones shared here while retaining hard power?

Technology. Let the adversaries’ soldiers fight against your machines.

“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” - Patton

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

#57

Post by ceejayoz »

mc32 wrote: post #14
toomuchtodo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet another reason to not join the military. You’re just fuel for the machine. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/06/14/armys-recruit...

These days we have a senate committee approving a bill that would register women for the draught… it’s getting closer. Men aren’t enough, for this machine, apparently.

We haven't drafted people since the Vietnam War. There's plenty of draft fodder to dig into without having to expand the eligibility criteria.

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

#58

Post by mlindner »

jrmg wrote: post #46

Artillery crew members who fired thousands of rounds in combat came home plagued by hallucinations and psychosis Could this problem also be affecting civilian gun enthusiasts? Or is the order of magnitude of the exposure just wildly lower compared to the military, even in the most enthusiastic?

Guns don't make shockwaves that damage your brain. Damage your hearing without ear protection, sure, but they're not sending shockwaves through your skull.

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

#59

Post by moron4hire »

Hnrobert42 wrote: post #20
LorenPechtel wrote: post #7

Of course it doesn't reach them. Same with any black project, the dangers get swept under the rug.

The article doesn’t say why. It alludes to bureaucracy. Either way, I don’t think unsubstantiated cynicism is productive.

I suspect it's like a lot of DoD-funded research. The work gets done, the report gets written, and then it goes on a shelf (or rather, some ancient SharePoint site on a classified network with no functional search ability). When a crisis occurs, the word goes out to everyone, the one lifer analyst spending too much time in windowless rooms at the Pentagon pipes up about something he remembers, and then everyone is satisfied that the work got done, "the problem is understood". Everything goes back to normal until it happens again.

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

#60

Post by tomComb »

Aurornis wrote: post #53
jrmg wrote: post #46

Artillery crew members who fired thousands of rounds in combat came home plagued by hallucinations and psychosis Could this problem also be affecting civilian gun enthusiasts? Or is the order of magnitude of the exposure just wildly lower compared to the military, even in the most enthusiastic?

Artillery is orders of magnitude more powerful than guns. Doing something is a stressful situation (combat zone) is infinitely more likely to lead to stress-related disorders than doing it in a safe, controlled environment (shooting range)

But this isn’t about stress related disorders.
Post reply on HN