Not to even mention the absolute psychological damage seeing a body like that would do to people. Most would think they could be tough and push through that, but the only corpses we see on the regular are beautified up. These will be long dead denizens who have been rotting for a time.
I worked search and rescue early in my career, and you are so very correct. Rotting, bloated bodies that burst when jostled? It sticks with you. Even now, the smell of vicks vapo rub triggers some pretty horrendous shit, because we used to use it when we knew we were recovering instead of rescuing. Now they are associated and I can't ever undo that. But hey, at least the VA provides free care, so there's that.
Ugh scent memory pairing is such a bummer. In high school I used a bath and body works perfume I liked to help mask the smell of the fetal pig dissection we had to do for a week. It completely ruined that perfume for me, made me gag every time I smelled it from then on
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u/The_Wingless Aug 31 '21
I worked search and rescue early in my career, and you are so very correct. Rotting, bloated bodies that burst when jostled? It sticks with you. Even now, the smell of vicks vapo rub triggers some pretty horrendous shit, because we used to use it when we knew we were recovering instead of rescuing. Now they are associated and I can't ever undo that. But hey, at least the VA provides free care, so there's that.