Why combat trauma affects veterans differently

Why might one veteran suffer severe post-traumatic stress while another with a grave wound seems able to tell war stories freely?

There is no firm explanation for the individual case. Experiences of loss and rehabilitation may matter, while cheerful war stories do not establish the absence of distress.

Prior experience of loss is one proposed factor in how people respond to combat trauma. Alex Clarke recalls an unnamed British wartime unit selecting men who had kept pets as children, on the theory that they had already learned to process death. Rehabilitation after amputation could also give an injured veteran time to work through an experience, while comparison with more severely wounded patients could affect his outlook. Biological differences are suggested as another possibility, without a specific explanation for the veteran in the question. Humour and apparent composure can conceal distress. One panelist recalls grandparents who lived through the Irish Troubles and felt that men should never show how deeply events affected them.