Military Personnel face Stress when Returning Home

On June 21, 2011 President Obama announced on live television that he will be pulling troops out of Afghanistan. The plan is to bring home 33,000 U.S. troops by next summer. The first withdrawal of 5,000 troops is anticipated to be this summer and 5,000 more by the end of the year. The remaining 20,000 troops are to follow by September 2013.

The troops coming home will face challenges and the stress of everyday civilian life. Not only will the troops face stress, so will their families and friends. The APA has put together information on stress with military personnel:

Stress will be more difficult for some

“How much stress returning military personnel experience may be affected in part by:

• The extent to which their duty was dangerous (even if they were only awaiting this danger)

• Death or serious injury in their military unit

• Possibility of exposure to chemical warfare or other weapons of mass destruction

• Length of time they spent overseas

• Exposure to dead and wounded (including enemy combatants and civilians)

• Past trauma that can be heightened by the stress of war

• Degree to which family dynamics have changed during their absence, such as a child's or spouse's increased dependency or independence

Families have been stressed, too. The families of deployed personnel have had their own set of problems during the conflict, such as:

• Fear for the deployed family member's safety

• Disruption of established patterns and routines

• Decreased income and financial worry

• Negative reactions from children to sudden changes in the family environment

• Need to develop new resilience skills, renew family relationships, make new friends, and join support groups

• Being overburdened by new roles and responsibilities

Many families will continue to have pressures during the homecoming period, including:

• Being second-guessed for decisions made during a member's absence during war

• Having conflict over new relationships-- such as a new baby and new friends

• Experiencing shifts in decision making

• The fact that family dynamics can never return to what they were before deployment”

Do you know someone going through stress from being away at war? Is the decision making in the home more difficult now? How have you overcome some of these stresses? Please comment, give your thoughts and advice!

Citations:
American Psychological Association. Stress will be more difficult for some. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/ 

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