Stress is a necessary, almost daily, phenomenon in the life of all human beings. However, events that include life danger, serious physical injuries or a threat to one's mental or physical integrity can cause trauma in some people, and consequently also the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The reason why some veterans develop PTSD after experiencing the battlefield and others not can be better understood if we take into consideration the factors that enable the development of the disorder or the protection against it. For example, studies show that war veterans who use strategies of confronting directed towards the problem have less severe PTSD symptoms than the veterans who use strategies directed towards emotions or avoidance strategies, as well as that veterans with more severe PTSD symptoms have a lower quality of life. The aim of this research was to explore the connection between the quality of life, current PTSD symptoms and strategies of confronting stress in Croatian war veterans with and without a PTSD diagnosis. Fifty-five veterans of the Croatian War of Independence took part in this research. The results displayed a significant contribution of strategies of confronting by avoidance to the level of severity of PTSD symptoms in veterans with a PTSD diagnosis. The level of severity of PTSD symptoms has proven to be a significant predictor in the explanation of the quality of life of veterans with a PTSD diagnosis, while with higher levels of severity of PTSD symptoms, the quality of life drops. The results can be used by researchers in further studies aimed at improving the understanding of the relationships between the PTSD symptoms and the use of stress copig strategies, as well as in practice as help with designing concrete activities in the preventive programmes, group and individual therapeutic interventions for PTSD patients.