The Mental Health of U.S. Soldiers in WWII by MIA GIST

The Recruitment Office for WWII |1939 - 1940|

gistmia000_2 — 2024-04-23 18:06:59 UTC

This is a recruitment office for WWII. There is a line of men, waiting to get registered for the military. They all had smiles on their faces as they were happy to be able to join the war.

Soldiers Training for WWII |17 Weeks|

gistmia000_2 — 2024-04-25 17:24:17 UTC

American recruits were placed in training camp for seventeen weeks. The first four weeks were for organizing the new recruitment. This was followed by thirteen week of combat training. This training also include training with aircrafts, this ended the lives of more than 13,000 soldiers in training.

Soldiers in Trenches

gistmia000_2 — 2024-04-25 17:59:49 UTC

Soldiers were placed on the battlefield some time after training. There were usually more than fifty soldiers in a trench at a time. The soldiers are there for usually four to six days. They would swap posts after four or six days to get better. During this time, it was dangerous in the trenches. With being in a long ditch, unable to leave easily. This was the beginning of their spiral into madness.

Death Littering the Trenches

gistmia000_2 — 2024-04-26 17:28:25 UTC

While in the trenches, soldiers were exposed to all types of danger. Gas, explosives, etc.. Around nine million combatants died in trench warfare. They were forced to bury all the dead soldier, which ended up attracting rats.

The Downfall of Mental Health

gistmia000_2 — 2024-04-26 17:42:12 UTC

After WWII, many of the soldiers were unable to be discharge immediately. Despite their unstable mental health they were to be in service for a while. The soldiers lived the rest of their lives with either PTSD or any other mental health problems.