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Needles notes that some writers on psychiatric combat casualties stress the poor family and environmental backgrounds, while others on the contrary consider immediate external factors more important, with even the most robust individuals breaking down under the intolerable stresses of war. He attempts to assess this problem by a study of one hundred fresh psychiatric casualties from less than a month of combat in the Normandy invasion, using the questionnaire method, and compares this group with an equal number of medical and surgical casualties who had otherwise stood up well in the same combat area for a slightly longer period. Both groups were roughly of the same age and educational level. The neurotic group showed (1) about twice the incidence of poor family background and poor early environment, (2) a higher average number of neurotic traits, (3) a much higher incidence of previous treatment for 'nervousness' (29% versus 7.2%), (4) a greater tendency to 'nervousness', worry, dependency, seclusiveness, and religious feeling, and (5) a much lower incidence of ability to obtain relief through discussing combat experiences (5% versus 41%). The control group showed more conflicts with the law and more alcoholic habits. The application of (2) and (3) for screening purposes would have eliminated 52% of the neurotic casualties and 12% of the controls.