Talk:Thousand-yard stare

Dispatches, by Michael Herr
First reference I ever saw to the phrase was in Michael Herr's book, Dispatches. This is one of the books (along with Short Timers) that was the basis of the film, Full Metal Jacket. As of this writing, I still don't see any mention in this article of the first printed reference to the phrase. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.37.251.246 (talk) 12:36, 29 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Dispatches is a 1977 book. The phrase "thousand yard stare" starting appearing in books in 1945. While Dispatches may have been a significant book in terms of the Vietnam War and two movies based on it it does not seem significant in terms of the phrase "thousand yard stare." --Marc Kupper&#124;talk 19:40, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

Need better photos
The photo of the australian group of soldiers showing the guy in the lower left with the "stare" is actually smiling at someone out of view of the camera. That's not the stare, and the photo should be removed. There's literally millions of better photos with the classic despondent thousand yard stare. There's military photos, concentration camp survivors, freed prisoners, refugees, child abuse victims, torture victims, sculptures and artwork of all types, and so on. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.169.54.203 (talk) 23:04, 10 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I completely agree, that photo is absolutely not an example of the stare. Should definitely be removed. Druff (talk) 16:25, 5 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, people with PTSD who have never seen combat can have it, too. Mine is pretty disturbing; I even scare myself when I see it in the mirror. No war experience, "just" intense amounts of downright inhuman emotional abuse.

Fort McNair is in DC, not Virginia...

I second this. --24.184.200.190 (talk) 01:21, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

i deleted the link to http://www.3rdmarines.net/thousand_yard_stare.htm 3rd Marines.net: Thousand Yard Stare

it didn't have any objective information, and accutally stated the "stare" is the defining mark of any veteran, and isn't relatad to anything but combat expirience. it wasn't better than a link to a forum post.

Fortaat (talk) 00:37, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

You should add this one really - Italian soldier after a 72 hour battle: http://i.imgur.com/eV25zsu.jpg 78.53.120.107 (talk) 03:42, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
 * It is a great picture, but do you know its copyright status?  Lova Falk     talk   07:55, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
 * It has been plastered all over the internet for years. It is impossible to obtain its source due to the amount of copypasting and I think it should be considered as public domain therefore. 78.53.124.222 (talk) 18:47, 16 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I doubt that. But I am not sure.  Lova Falk     talk   19:15, 16 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Being repeatedly passed around illegally has no bearing on copyright. Unless you can show that the image is public domain, it is not. Matt Deres (talk) 01:24, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

The photos are not very good at all. TYS is about not maintaining eye contact, not about being tired after combat or something like that. Much better picture would be actually that of Hershel Woodrow "Woody" Williams (the medal of honor Iwo Jima soldier), whose after-war picture on wikipedia shows him staring exactly that way (and his life story mentions long ptsd struggle)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershel_W._Williams 20:38, 12 March 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.73.182.190 (talk)

Afghan Girl doesn't exhibit the thousand-yard stare
In the photo, she's looking sharply, directly at the camera, rather than the relaxed, lifeless, distant gaze that the article actually describes. Despite her "war-torn region" qualifications, I think this photo shouldn't be included in the article.


 * I think you're right. When I do a google images search for "thousand yard stare" I see a lot of intensely focused gazes labeled improperly as the thousand yard stare. There's clearly a difference. I'll fix the edits I made to conform to what you've pointed out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.219.115.168 (talk) 00:29, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Why is the Tom Lea painting not included?
Why is the Tom Lea painting not included? Is it a copyright issue? This seems like fair use to me, since the term originated with his painting. Qwasty (talk) 21:10, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I have no idea, but I will chime in that the article should include the painting so associated with its subject. Wyvern (talk) 22:11, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Contemporary image
The two pictures in the article are both black and white and more than 50 years old. A more recent picture would make it more relevant, imho. Something like this perhaps (don't know about copyright and such) http://imgur.com/ECm61 --BeSherman (talk) 08:58, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Tom Lea painting
I am adding the Tom Lea painting, "The 2000 Yard Stare" to the page, and removing the WWI image. The image seems non-representational of the well known 2000 yard stare, while Tom Lea's painting seems more realistically, and emotionally appropriate. The painting is property of the US government/Army, so it is fair use, and can be used on wikipedia.

Goldenstandards (talk) 05:20, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

Same expression and stare?
Does anyone really see in Thomas Lea's "The 2000 Yard Stare" the same expression as in the picture "U.S. Marine after two days of constant fighting in the Battle of Eniwetok"? Because whereas in the latter I actually see full emotional detachment and unfocused gaze, in the former the soldier's stare is not completely unfocused yet and his expression suggests more confusion than detachment. Could the former be an intermediary step towards the latter? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Binho Gomes (talk • contribs) 14:47, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Alternate names
The Leatherneck, Volume 35 published in January 1952 provides two alternate names for the Thousand-Yard Stare, "Asiatic Stupor" and "Tropical Freeze".

Google for "Thousand-Yard Stare" "Asiatic Stupor" only gets one hit which is the The Leatherneck issue mentioned above.

Google for "Thousand-Yard Stare" "Tropical Freeze" gets 96 hits but a casual skim through the results finds that none seem relevant other than the The Leatherneck issue.

As these alternate names do not seem to be well documented on-line I'll just note there existence here on the talk page rather than adding them to the main article. --Marc Kupper&#124;talk 21:40, 1 November 2017 (UTC)

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Thousand Yard Stare
The information regarding the name of the Marine in this photograph is incorrect. If you refer to the origen if the photograph, it is the National Archives and the soldier is UNNAMED. I have gone through extensive efforts to have my father, John M Harty positively identified by world renowned forensic artist Lois Gibson. If her identification is not validated, then the image needs to appear without a name. 68.195.67.136 (talk) 20:40, 5 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I assume you are User:Ekdoria. Please review two core Wikipedia policies: WP:V and WP:RS. In order to make the change you are suggesting, we need reliable, third-party sources who have published such a claim. In the absence of such sources, we cannot state the identity of the soldier.
 * That said, I see that the sourcing doesn't support the current name, either, so I have removed it from the caption entirely. Grandpallama (talk) 23:14, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Should this page be combined with Combat Stress Reaction?
Not only are the topics incredibly similar, but the CSR page is much more detailed including far more scientific and even more historic background than this page. It seems to me the best info from this page could be transfered and the link should redirect to CSR. Thoughts? Nothyself (talk) 03:48, 3 January 2023 (UTC)