Self-inflicted wounds in the military

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Self-inflicted wounds occur in various contexts in the military. Most self-inflicted wounds occur during wartime, for various reasons. Potential draftees may self-injure to have a health deferment to conscription. This was practiced as conscription abstinence by some Jewish conscripts in the Russian Empire. Deployed soldiers may injure themselves in order to be temporarily evacuated from the front lines for treatment, and possibly receive a medical discharge.

In prisons and forced labour camps, people sometimes self-injure to avoid forced labor and spend time in the relatively less stressful conditions of the infirmary or barracks.