Effects
Disability-adjusted life year for war per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004[46]
no data
less than 100
100–200
200–600
600–1000
1000–1400
1400–1800
1800–2200
2200–2600
2600–3000
3000–8000
8000–8800
more than 8800
The Apotheosis of War (1871) by Vasily Vereshchagin
On military personnel
Military personnel subject to combat in war often suffer mental and physical injuries, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, disease, injury, and death.
In every war in which American soldiers have fought in, the chances of becoming a psychiatric casualty – of being debilitated for some period of time as a consequence of the stresses of military life – were greater than the chances of being killed by enemy fire. — No More Heroes, Richard Gabriel[28]
During World War II, research conducted byUS Army Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshallfound that, on average, only 15% to 20% of American riflemen in WWII combat fired at the enemy.[16] In Civil War Collector’s Encyclopedia, F.A. Lord notes that of the 27,574 discarded muskets found on the Gettysburg battlefield, nearly 90% were loaded, with 12,000 loaded more than once and 6,000 loaded 3 to 10 times. These studies suggest that most military personnel resist firing their weapons in combat, that – as some theorists argue – human beings have an inherent resistance to killing their fellow human beings.[16] Swank and Marchand’s WWII study found that after sixty days of continuous combat, 98% of all surviving military personnel will become psychiatric casualties. Psychiatric casualties manifest themselves in fatigue cases, confusional states, conversion hysteria, anxiety, obsessional and compulsive states, and character disorders.[16]
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