[erva]

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 niche small arms.

The M82 sniper rifle shoots a 50 BMG round. In either the bolt action or semi-auto versions they feel like you are getting punched in the face when you shoot them.

Crew serve weapons like the MK19 and M2 do pack a punch. The MK19 is a machine gun that shoots 40mm grenades. The M2 is a .50 cal machine gun. These weapons systems are mounted, but the percussion of them is still far greater than an M4.

More niche arms like the M249 SAW, M16 HBAR, full-auto AKs, M240 Golf, MP9, etc are not as mild as the standard M4/M16.

Blasts: There are many types of blasts encountered such as Mortars (inbound and outbound), Flash Bangs, Entry charges, IEDs, Landmines, etc. These do make your head ring if you are close enough to them.

In my own personal experience there are many other daily jarring events that aren't nearly as sexy to talk about. Riding in the back of a 5 ton will almost shake your brain out of your head. Riding in an LCAC (hovercraft) is like riding in a 5 ton. Doing boat work in Zodiacs will bounce you all over the place, especially when doing surf passages. Doing hydrographic surveys right where the surf breaks will pound you for hours and make you a little sick afterwards. When your chute opens on a jump, if jumping round chutes, will make you see stars...the landing is not a soft pretty one like rectangle chutes...you hit the ground hard.

There are many more ways your body gets pounded on a daily basis far in excess of the weapons you use.

[bumby]

The article links to a USSOCOM-funded study. In your opinion, are they (as a whole) seriously concerned with mitigating this issue or is it just checking the box? The worry is this can be similar to the buried diesel tank issue contaminating water, which was known for decades but seemed to be ignored (possibly out of liability concerns).

[erva]

I'm not sure how much of it you can minimize. You can only control what you can control...and war/combat is chaos. Honestly it seems most things in relation to this over the years has been on treatment, not so much prevention.

[Gravityloss]

Wouldn't using silencers reduce the pressure peak? The new standard assault rifle has one integrated IIRC.

[jvanderbot]

Thank you for sharing. It's a tragedy that this does not have enough mitigation and follow-up treatment. Armed forces are a necessity, and should not damage a generation beyond repair, and especially not in relative peace.

[vimbtw]

The tools used, as you’re undoubtedly aware, go far beyond small arms. Family members in the Army have talked about training to clear houses where they want to avoid going through a heavily defended doorway so they put an explosive against a wall, duck around the corner, light it off, pick themselves up, and run through the newly created entryway.

[lttlrck]

Thank you. That is enlightening. Not something I had ever thought about, but why I...

[solardev]

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

[robertsibue]

(former - non-US - army airborne captain)

Round chutes (cupolas) are designed to get soldiers from the plane to the ground quickly.

Quickly enough to remain the least possible amount of time in the air where they are an easy target for any ground troop. (This is why soldiers are dropped from very low altitudes; 400m is usual, but some combat drops occurred at even lower altitudes) But not too quickly that too many of the dropped soldiers end up unable to fight from the hardness of the landing. Please note that it is assumed that some will get hurt on the landing, and the calculus is designed to balance the risk in the air with the risk of the landing.

In contrast, rectangular chutes (wings) are designed to be dropped from higher than 900m, steered in the air, and to provide a very comfortable landing (as long as the surface of the wing is adequate for the suspended weight). They were also introduced for skydiving as a sport, and only later found some military use.

[dumah]

Round parachutes are typically deployed with a static line and open very quickly, resulting in significantly higher acceleration.

Ram air parachutes can effectively open in a more gradual manner due to the cellular design.

[solardev]

Really cool! Falls squarely in the realm of "stuff I didn't even know I didn't know". Thank you.

[sdwr]

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.

[seabird]

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.

[sdwr]

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.

[gunapologist99]

Thank you for your service and sacrifice, and for helping us celebrate another Independence Day.