Topic: Soldiers using gambling to cope with stress. - page 6. (Read 1219 times)

Eight Hundred years ago King Richard enacted a law that restricted his soldiers from gambling during wartime. This was because it was observed that soldiers used gambling to overcome the stress of war.

Recently Ukrainian Pavlo Petrychenko soldier put forward a petition calling on Kyiv to address concerns about gambling among its battle-worn soldiers. Online gambling and access to mobile phones have made it very easy for soldiers to engage in betting under any condition.  His concern was that soldiers were falling into debt; of gambling firms using patriotic-themed advertising and tactics to target soldiers' business, and of possible security threats from Russian casino sites.

His observation was supported by many Ukrainians who signed the petition and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saw the need to control the gambling behavior of soldiers. Ukrainian higher authorities have since ordered officials to ban soldiers from all gambling activities and to put Ukraine's gambling industry under tighter control.

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?


https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-war-soldiers-gambling-industry-1.7189835

I personally think that soldiers should not be allowed to gamble at first place.
Soldiers are there to protect the country and its people and there should not be anything that should distract them from their duty.
Gambling might not sound like a big deal but it is something that can get anyone addicted easily.
Even if 1 soldier gets addicted or lets say distracted then it might cost lives.
Just imagine a soldier getting late to a place where he should be just because he was playing a game and it ended up enemies getting into their zone and killing someone.

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?

I agree with the idea that the government should take up the onus to provide stress relief. But the soldiers themselves should engage themselves in sports and activities to relieve the stress while off duty. I am sure the governments do their part from what I see in my country.

At times they will try to relieve themselves with porn and gambling and drinking and what not. These things if kept under moderation should not do more harm. As long as they dont become addictions, it should be good.

That’s not surprising to me at all. Soldiers are human beings with feelings, beneath that super soldier persona they have built I think they are just like us. Gambling affects them the same way it affects civilians, I would even argue that military personnel because of the discipline they have can be more responsible gamblers than most people. Responsible gamblers do not let their gambling habits affect their personal lives or work and they never bet amounts that would make them lose their cool.

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?


https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-war-soldiers-gambling-industry-1.7189835

That's why we must keeps learning about self control because that will useful not just when we playing gambling but in other things. We will not breaks our limitation or doing something wrong that can harm us and will not playing gambling excessively. Although we have different levels of greed but we have the same chance to learn self control and have a good control over ourselves.

But those soldier can gets more stress when they lose their money when playing gambling. They can angry when see their money is gone because of playing gambling. Those soldier needs the other ways to solve their stress and stay away from gambling because that can ruins their lives if they lose control. The government must gives a way for them to relieve their stress.

It is not easy indeed to control yourself so as not to exceed the predetermined gambling limit.
This is because everyone has different levels of greed as well as how they think about gambling.

Whether it's a soldier or not, don't relieve stress with too intense gambling without good self-control, it will instead become a new problem again.

There was a time I had a long journey which was so hectic that I couldn't get to my destination before nightfall and because of the security situation of the place, I begged the soldiers I saw on duty that same night to allow me spend the night with them and continue my trip the next day of which i was lucky enough to be granted my request. That night during my stay with them, I noticed they were very familiar with online gambling in some gambling sites because they were discussing about their experiences as well as share among themselves the best methods to use win their gambles and out of curiosity, I asked them why they're engaging in gambling. In their response, they told me that gambling is their best recreational engagement and because they get a lot of money from it, they'll continue with that practice. In their bid to further explain how they do not allow their gambling engagements affect their primary duties, they told me that they only engage in gambling at nights when they're just watching over the provinces assigned to them but never engages in gambling during the day.

It is not easy indeed to control yourself so as not to exceed the predetermined gambling limit.
This is because everyone has different levels of greed as well as how they think about gambling.

Whether it's a soldier or not, don't relieve stress with too intense gambling without good self-control, it will instead become a new problem again.

Permitting soldiers to gamble as a stress-relief method is what I believe will work in the opposite way. Gambling can swing both ways, instead of aiding in stress reduction, it has potential to lead some soldiers into more stressful situations and thus exacerbate their issues. I think this is not a wise approach to managing stress among soldiers.

Even though there are weird tales about generals' orders during warfare, and this might just be one of them, I question the efficacy of using gambling as a stress buster. Ironically, gambling can often result in more stress, particularly once it leads to financial losses which exacerbate an already stressful situation. The army may not be so rich that it can afford to overlook such losses; thus, the proposed solution might end up adding fuel to fire.

That is a dangerous venture to indulge soldiers to gamble to remove stress,that is as a minimum a double edge sword as some soldiers instead of having fun and lowering stress can become even more stressed and can cause damage more than add value to the army so I don't fully agree with this way to cope with stress yet nowadays we are hearing a lot of strange stories from army generals in ongoing wars giving strange orders and this to me is no exception from those strange rules.Anyway if it has proven to be bringing better results then it is a good choice but I would highly doubt this,gambling in most cases brings further stress and I don't think soldiers are rich enough to not care.

It is a tricky and very sensitive topic to talk about soldiers and the mental burden there is on them, because of the stuff they witness everyday and they horror they have to overcome every night.  So I believe I would support measures like this one to restrict active combatants from gambling while in the front and also ,I would be in favor of enhancing the access to mental health facilities and services to those who are currently dealing with depression, or trauma because of the thing seen in the front.
Leaving a side note, I would be okey with soldiers who are retired and are back home to have access to gambling and casinos, but after they are psychologically checked and are believed not to suffer from any lingering effect because of the service they gave to their homeland.

I don’t believe soldiers gamble to ease boredom. When you consider the effect that war has on the mental health of soldiers, I think gambling for them is a means to escape the horrors that they face everyday on the battlefield which I, as a civilian cannot begin to comprehend. Prior to this article and developments that led to the Ukrainian government taking measures to control the gambling of her soldiers, I don’t think I have ever heard this being a problem in other countries. Sure the army may have its way of handling such matters within the military but for the President to be concerned then it’s a serious problem.

-snip-
Our minds can asks us to keeps playing gambling to recover the lost money in gambling so we will forget our limitations and not obey our rules. That's why we must learn self control to holds ourselves from keeps playing gambling.

Now, do you think soldiers who have left home for a long time and are going through boredom should be restricted from engaging in gambling which helps reduce their stress? If gambling does not have any effect on their performance on the waterfront and they gamble responsibly, do you think there should be restrictions?

Soldiers jobs are really that isnt that the same into those other jobs on which we know that when it comes to risks then they would really be having that much more compared into other jobs on which it would really be understandable that when it comes to stress level then they would really be having more but having that kind of gambling thing on the moment that they are on duty? This would really be something that
shouldnt really be done and just like been said by others that making up some gambling on duty is never been that allowed and never been that tolerated just like anyone else. This is why
if someone do get caught on this aspect then it should really be that dismissed or having those warnings. Also, it would really be just that too much of a risky thing when you do gamble
when you are on duty. It would really be just that putting up your life in line.

We are all that stress or having those own problems but this isnt really just that the right time for you to have such gambling thing or activity or whatever you call it.
Everything should really be done on the right place and on the right time.

I also disagree with such arrangements where indeed this can have a negative impact on the soldiers themselves, I feel myself when I lose from gambling getting mental pressure too and upsetting sometimes in one day I can think about why I lost last night, and it is enough to interfere with the learning process or my daily activities such as work and study, this causes self-focus on the obligations that must be done every day.

Especially when it comes to soldiers who must be busy training and fighting, their mental stress will increase if they experience two bad sides, first because of the war and second because of losing gambling, it will be more severe.

More often I see soldiers relieve their stress with parties and women after fighting.

That is a dangerous venture to indulge soldiers to gamble to remove stress,that is as a minimum a double edge sword as some soldiers instead of having fun and lowering stress can become even more stressed and can cause damage more than add value to the army so I don't fully agree with this way to cope with stress yet nowadays we are hearing a lot of strange stories from army generals in ongoing wars giving strange orders and this to me is no exception from those strange rules.Anyway if it has proven to be bringing better results then it is a good choice but I would highly doubt this,gambling in most cases brings further stress and I don't think soldiers are rich enough to not care.