non-ejection health issues
I'm one of those people who rode around in bang-seats for years and never had to use one. But after riding around helmeted in everything from Vampires through Macchis, JP's, Hawks, Mirage, Tucano's, Strikeys, choppers, PC-9's and a few other g-pulling types I can't recall at the moment, I eventually inherited a very bad C5/C6 cervical vertebrae problem. There were a lot of my fellow pilots who had the same thing. Some got grounded or took themselves permanently off flight status.It manifests itself in a quite acute (but intermittent) back-of-the-neck ache that travels in pulses all the way down to the right fingertips.
Being dumber than most, I used to try and make it go away with Panadol overdoses until I eventually gave up in agony and went to see a quack who prescribed the anti-inflammatories (Brufen and Voltaren). They worked like magic and the problem settled down to a recurrence every few months. That would be hellish until the scar tissue again re-formed on the spinal cord around the C6/C6 bony spur (that causes the problem - and grows solely due to bad seated posture/heavy helmet). Then the problem always subsided but each time with a greater residual loss of sensation in the right forefinger and thumb. The quacks told me off the record that it was a well known problem for those who'd done a lot of time in seats with top-handles (vice just crutch handles). In a number of a/c I used to find that sitting in the back with the seat up (and heavy helmet hard against the canopy) always forced the head forward and if you do enough time under g in that posture you get this C5/C6 cervical spine problem.
The reason I mention it is that IMHO it is for sure a Service-related injury (and they privately admit as much) - but I found that each of three Air Forces' doctors all said that it was classified as a CJD (chronic joint disorder/disease?) - although one called it a "degenerative" JD (i.e. allegedly age-related). So if you realise one day that you've got it, you'll know what caused it, how to treat it and that you will surely be shafted as far as any service-related disability compensation goes. An RAF retired Dr orthopod at RAF Halton told me not to bother fighting it - their airships had decided NOT to pay out on it or recognise it for what it was back in the late 60's, once it started assuming epidemic proportions.