Stress in the aviation industry can hugely affect one's life outside work. Millions of veterans struggle with post-traumatic stress injuries, unhealthy coping strategies such as alcohol or substance abuse and in the worst of cases, suicide, which is very common. Many studies and help programs have been put in place, but there are many different cases and people that it is impossible to help everyone. Stress overcomes even the strongest, most highly training pilots and can take the worst toll. Everyone deals with stress in a different manner, but military pilots stand out on their own with unique stress reducing and problem solving skills. Their
Combat stress reaction almost twice as long as their American counterparts because the British had better rotation schedules and because they, unlike the Americans, "fight for survival" – for the British soldiers, the threat from the Axis powers was much more real, given Britain's proximity to mainland Europe, and the fact that Germany was concurrently conducting air raids and bombarding British industrial cities. Like the Americans, British doctors believed that letters from home often needlessly damaged soldiers' morale. The Canadian Army recognized combat stress reaction as "Battle Exhaustion" during the Second World War and classified it as a separate type of combat wound.