Its the combat combined with the other regular life stressors that come into play. Family issues, finances, lack of education, unemployment, substance abuse etc. My strategy is to stay busy all the time and never go idle because that is when the demons come to play. Had a few years in my 20's when I could have easily slipped through the cracks. Was blackout drunk almost every day for about a year. Thankfully, I had strong family support who kept me goal oriented and got me back on track. Now I have a graduate degree and job security. This is def the exception and not the rule for most vets. Also, many vets take on a victim mentality that the world owes them something. They had this expectation of VE day in Manhattan with a ticker tape parade and making out with random women in the streets. Of course that is a complete fantasy at any time post 1945. The reality is that no one cares, and who you were when you were 20 years old, fit, sharp, walking the streets with a big gun getting shot at is not who you remain in perpetuity. You get back to the world and realize you will likely never be that great again. You need to process that reality and be ok with it. You have to rededicate yourself to another purpose and another goal. Your life didn't end with your service, it was just beginning.

Also, I could never leave my kids. For some, even that is not enough. One of my friends left three small children two years ago and I still harbor alot of anger towards him for that. Another left 5 kids back in 2012. Its a weird feeling being angry at a funeral. But you never know what is going on in someone's head. It has to be an unbelievable hopelessness to abandon your children. And we all were right next to each other in combat. So that is not the variable. Its what that experience does to your ability to deal with the rest of your individual life combined with your unique circumstances. It also matters what you came from as to how you interpret and deal with trauma.