We've all heard it said that soldiers who experience battlefield trauma are victims of "shock" trauma or regular, plain ol' PTSD. However, what's really going on is that a soldier on tour in a battle zone normally experiences multiple instances of battlefield horror. The trauma becomes ingrained not because of what the soldier experiences, but because the soldier is expected to maintain decorum in the aftermath and s/he is part of a culture of machismo where emotional display such as crying (how humans release trauma) is just not allowed. The solder is, in effect, held hostage by their branch of service which is akin to the abusive family or lover where emotions are punished, and without a way to release trauma is highly subject to internalizing future traumas no different than someone diagnosed with cPTSD. WDYT?
The VA recognizes CPTSD and has pushed to get it included in the DSM. With soldiers doing more and more rotations into combat it has been seen as an issue.
My cptsd arose from being isolated, unable to get out of a potentially life threatening situation for a couple of years and betrayed by my employer.
If someone is in a war zone for a period of time that would be similar, for soldiers they could easily feel held there by the military, control is taken away by officers, no perceived chance to escape until the tour ends.
Isolation is often part of it, if you don't fit with your peers that would be a risk factor. If that led to onerous duties it could also lead to feelings of betrayal.
It has all the ingredients for cptsd without any actual combat.
I can't help but want to add that officers get PTSD too. Especially when they feel so responsible for their soldiers. Often when something happens to one of their soldiers they feel a tremendous about of responsibility and guilt. That is in addition to multiple deployments and combat exposure themselves.
I've included the link to the VA's page on CPTSD.
https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/PTSD-overview/complex-ptsd.asp
I wasn't suggesting all officers have it easy Dee, but you are right to defend their interests, even if I wasn't attacking them.
Ironically my own job title contained the word officer, misnomer as I was lowly within the organisation.
I suppose it is called the chain of command for good reason, it must weigh heavy.
In my (non military, enforcement) experience my managers deliberately threw me under the bus for their own benefit.
And my managers might have been stressed by the pressure of their job but they weren't ostracised, isolated or held helpless in a dangerous situation, I was.
As to feeling guilt, they are still busy defending a situation where they caused my cptsd, and we are all heading for court because of that defensive attitude (I.e. more trauma for yours truly).
I suppose I see potential parallels between my situation and military ones, my old managers are somewhat protected from developing cptsd because they are a controlling part of the organisation rather than being controlled/abused by their own superiors, though that is possible.
Anyone can become a victim if there is someone with the power and inclination to victimise them.