Does Evidence Indicate that Deployed Troops Were Exposed to Stress in the Gulf?
Available data suffer from limitations including a lack of general applicability to all troops stationed in the Gulf. Nonetheless, the in-theater and postdeployment interview and survey data converge in suggesting that deployment to the Persian Gulf was perceived by many personnel as a stressful life experience. Although potentially stressful exposures were not perceived as stressful by all exposed personnel, data suggest that large numbers of surveyed veterans reported moderate to high levels of stress resulting from exposure to multiple stressful circumstances. Although comparatively few personnel participated in actual combat, deployed service members experienced a wide range of stressful life experiences including–but not limited to–short deployment notice, uncertainty about the mission and length of deployment, harsh and crowded living conditions, long work hours, separation from loved ones and indigenous populations, concern about polluted environmental conditions, fear of miss
