This investigation assessed the relationship between traumatic stress exposure and dissociation in male Vietnam theater veterans from three ethnic groups. Subjects were African-American (N = 61), Caucasian (N = 91), and Hispanic (N = 73) veterans who completed the Dissociative Experience Scale and a measure of war zone stress exposure, and who were rated on the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire-Rater Version. Greater exposure to war zone stress was associated with reports of more dissociation at the time of trauma and with more general dissociative experiences both when the data were pooled and when examined separately for each group. After controlling for the effects of war zone stress exposure, the significant differences found in peritraumatic and general dissociative experiences across the three ethnic groups no longer were evident. This investigation demonstrated that among American Vietnam veterans, greater exposure to traumatic stress is related to more dissociative experiences, regardless of ethnicity.