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

nytimes.com

561–570 of 599 posts

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

#561
post #552
post #427

Qualifier: Former US special operations operator that served in multiple wars. My anecdotal take is there are many ways that shock and trauma can accumulate through training and war that are far beyond the minimal effects of an M4. Firearms: While the primary weapons systems are the M4 and side arm (pistol), there are many weapons systems utilized by special operations such as sniper rifles, crew serve weapons, and n…

That's so disillusioning it must be true. The special forces tale is heroism - being brave and tough in dangerous situations. That the danger comes from your own equipment, used as intended, is just sickening.

Why is the danger sickening? Of course the equipment is dangerous -- it all exists so you can kill people and not die well beyond any natural level, and there's no such thing as a free lunch.

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

#562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a rather scathing study on it here. [1] In short the government's own internal investigations realized the obvious answer, a mass hysteria event, was the most likely culprit. But politics got involved and so then they classified reports mentioning this, and released reports suggestive of foreign adversaries attacking people with some mystery weapon, even though their own internal reports put the chances of…

The pentagon is funding $750k in testing to re-create the effects of Havana Syndrome on ferrets and more studies without the details. “It is necessary to use an animal like a ferret that has brain structures resembling the “gyrencephalic nature” of the human brain; mice and rats do not fulfill this criteria, according to the summary. The brain tissue of gyrencephalic animals, like humans, ferrets, pigs and primates,…

Past tense - that study was supposed to run from September 30 2022 to September 29 2023. [1] It ended up being cancelled with most of the DoD's money being returned by March 20th. [2]

[1] - https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_W81XWH2211105_210...

[2] - https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_W81XWH2211105_97D...

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

#563
post #427

Qualifier: Former US special operations operator that served in multiple wars. My anecdotal take is there are many ways that shock and trauma can accumulate through training and war that are far beyond the minimal effects of an M4. Firearms: While the primary weapons systems are the M4 and side arm (pistol), there are many weapons systems utilized by special operations such as sniper rifles, crew serve weapons, and n…

Side question: Why are round chutes so much worse than rectangular ones?

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

#564
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the US can fight three peer wars at the same time. that's their military doctrine.

>US can fight three peer That's never been doctorine for the simple reason US hasn't had (near) peer rivals until PRC in last 30 years. Peak hyperpower US 90s doctorine was calibrated for 2 "major" wars, when major is with adversaries who were frankly all medium powers (IRAQ tier). Then in 00s-10s it shifted to 1 "major" war, 1 holding war, i.e. actively fight 1 major war, fix another major war in place so resources…

I think they now have 3 carrier groups out in the world at the same time. each of these is basically enough to best a foreign military excluding nukes.

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

#565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They need to implement weight limits in football just like are in use in most other contact sports. You don't force boxers to go up against guys 50+ lbs heavier than they are, over and over, daily in practice and weekly in games.

How about just change it to flag football? That would prioritize speed.

NFL fans don’t want to watch flag football, generally

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

#566
post #427

Qualifier: Former US special operations operator that served in multiple wars. My anecdotal take is there are many ways that shock and trauma can accumulate through training and war that are far beyond the minimal effects of an M4. Firearms: While the primary weapons systems are the M4 and side arm (pistol), there are many weapons systems utilized by special operations such as sniper rifles, crew serve weapons, and n…

[flagged]

Combat troops, and especially SOCOM, have lower rates of PTSD than other troops. That data doesn’t seem to align with your guilt hypothesis.

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

#567
post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's so disillusioning it must be true. The special forces tale is heroism - being brave and tough in dangerous situations. That the danger comes from your own equipment, used as intended, is just sickening.

Why is the danger sickening? Of course the equipment is dangerous -- it all exists so you can kill people and not die well beyond any natural level, and there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Sickening like working a construction job. When you're killing yourself in slow motion (the impact, the noise, the chemicals!), and there's no way out.

Most injuries involve an element of luck or skill, and the ego serves as a natural buffer.

Consistent, unavoidable, permanent, self-inflicted damage is different. It hurts in its own (sickening) way.

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

#568
post #531
post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on psychological research we know that early childhood trauma can help develop sociopathy. It's easy to see the effect of perpetual violence in terrorist hotspots like Palestine where children grow up to become terrorists because of the violence they experience in "counter-terrorism", which their existence as terrorists of course feeds into, repeating the cycle. As the saying goes "hurt people hurt people". I t…

You spelled "occupation" and "resistance to occupation" in ways that make them hard to recognise. Might want to not do that next time you bring up the subject.

I'm not sure what you're talking about. If you're talking about Palestine, you should try to judge an argument by its content rather than by whether it uses words that offend you. Your time is better spent addressing other people than me, trust me.

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

#569
post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on psychological research we know that early childhood trauma can help develop sociopathy. It's easy to see the effect of perpetual violence in terrorist hotspots like Palestine where children grow up to become terrorists because of the violence they experience in "counter-terrorism", which their existence as terrorists of course feeds into, repeating the cycle. As the saying goes "hurt people hurt people". I t…

You're talking in some absolutes here, but I don't think any of it is so set in stone. If a city vegan doesn't think about where his food comes from and isn't mentally bothered by this, then he's healthy. If a farm boy slaughters livestock casually isn't bothered by it, he too is healthy. Each are well adapted to their circumstance and is healthy so long as they remain in that condition. What other people think about…

That pattern of reasoning is also used by people who defend hitting their children because "my parents hit me as a child and I turned out fine" when arguably the fact they think it's okay to hit their child demonstrates they're not fine.

Yes, there are people who aren't "bothered" by killing animals. There are also people who aren't "bothered" by killing people. I'm saying that's a bad thing. I live near an industrial slaughter house, in fact one of the biggest "meat factories" in Europe. The people who work there are not okay.

I'm not saying "don't eat meat". I'm saying if eating meat literally doesn't bother you, you should consider that a warning sign.

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

#570
post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think new companies would form and employ all women and end up undercutting the sexist ones who pay men more?

Huh. It's almost like these bigotries are structural, embedded throughout the system and making it much harder for anyone subject to them to get into the "owner class"...

it implies an unlikely homogeneity of thought process. it only takes one person to think different and they would end up making bank.
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