Some vets cope with things very differently.
........... It is also not always about actual stress from combat. It is the stress of being away from home and being helpless to control what may be happening there too. Many spouses, girlfriends run wild, spending the Joe's money, screwing other dudes, taking their kids from them, etc, and the Joe is on the other side of the planet, not able to do a thing about it.
Maybe that would legitimize a PTSD claim?
Absolutely. The stress of feeling helpless is far worse for most than the stress of actual back and forth shooting. This may sound strange or "off" to some, but I will try to explain a little from my perspective. The back and forth stuff can actually be a stress
reliever. What can absolutely drive you nuts is being hammered night and day by indirect fire (mortars and rockets). The vast majority of the time you don't get the opportunity to fire back. Often you just roll off your bunk, throw on your PPE (helmet and vest) and make a mad run for a bunker or safer location, all while listening for the tell tale sounds of one that is going to be close to you. When that happens, you lay flat, and hope for the best. Other times, if you are asleep and the rounds are falling you just roll off your rack, throw your gear on top of you and wait for the explosions to stop, hoping that your number is not up. It can be rather stressful, and not being able to do anything about it usually pisses you off and builds the stress up.
Being able to shoot back at a spotter or someone who is adjusting fire is actually a stress reliever. Getting into a back and forth type thing can actually burn off some of that stress too, under the right circumstances. It just depends on what the circumstances are.
For a soldier having to deal with the stress of a deployment, and knowing that things are not good at home, makes things doubly hard.
