Is survivor's guilt a common trait with service members who have seen combat?

Yes. Now get out there and make their deaths mean something. Be a good citizen, treat people better, help others whenever you are able and never forget them.

Yes, it happens to most Servicemembers, in my case I had to attend Behavioral meetings to overcome it.

Yes.

And for those who have deployed, but not seen combat.

And less common, but still occurs in those who did NOT deploy while others did.

It is with me.

SSG Karim Majid Combat veterans face a number of challenges. The VA or a Vet Center can provide help.

https://www.va.gov/health-care/health-needs-conditions/mental-health/ptsd/
https://www.vetcenter.va.gov/Eligibility.asp

I would say it is. Training generally makes most service members strive to serve and do their best to accomplish the mission while bringing us home. The training makes the US Military a force to be reckoned with but it also pushes a specific mentality you see across the Military that we all push doubt onto ourselves if that mission wasn't fully successful in our eyes when someone doesn't make it home. Could I have done more? Why me? All of those are real feelings and I think many of us struggle with that at some point.

Probably more than we know.

I myself have felt survivor guilt over my combat deployments. I never experienced any direct "force on force" encounters but I was extensively exposed to the aftermath of such events. I never really understood why God allowed me to come home when so many others did not. All I can do now is try to be the best person I can be and make their sacrifice not be in vain.

I like to think my career as a Paramedic post military service somehow puts back a little bit of "good" for al the "bad" I saw in the world. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Time will tell in the end.

I’ve found more than any survivor’s guilt in my case,was the guilt I felt years later after I left the Army and wondered did I do enough,instruct and teach enough to the trainees who were going to that place I had just returned from, Vietnam,I was a very young NCO without any teaching experience and probably scarred by my tour in an Infantry company,so that’s my version of guilt, Welcome Home Brothers.

It is with me.

I am a veteran and yes it definitely has and still does happen to me.

I think survivors guilt means you care. It shows up different for all of us, just like the other commenters said.

For me, I was at a Memorial Day event 4 years ago and had an overwhelming sense of gratitude for everyone who died while I was there. It doesn’t mean I’m not sad/grieve those guys, but I respect what they did and what happened, whether I like it or not.

Everyone in my unit never said it, but we all agreed we would die for each other if we had to. I just didn’t have to, and also was lucky.

I had done some work on other guilt-related PTSD stuff, so that probably helped shift from guilt to gratitude.

Hope you feel better — sadness/grief is better than guilt any day. Take care, PTSD treatment works for most of us. It’s worth doing just for survivors guilt, even if you don’t have other symptoms.

It varies to each individual who served in combat. Been in survival mode long before joining service.

I was scheduled to go TDY to Saudi but was pulled at the last minute because of medical clearance. The guy that took my place was severely injured along with plenty of others in my unit when Kobar Towers was bombed. I still think that was supposed to be me almost 30 years later.

Heck, I got out after 11yrs in 89 before things kicked up and felt a lot of guilt later over not having stayed in and deployed with my brother and sister vets. I can't even fathom suvivor guilt from surviving combat. When I see a fellow vet wearing combat patches I always approach and thank them profusedly.

YES!!!

YES!!!