Counseling Services
Resources for Returning War Veterans
The War Experience
Although U.S. military personnel receive extensive
pre-combat training, war-zone experiences tax service members physically and
emotionally in ways for which no training program can adequately prepare them.
While not all veterans have experienced combat, all have experienced the
stresses of a "no front" war in which serious threats to their lives
are present. Among these stressors are:
- Reality-based
fear of their own serious injury or death.
- Constant
concern for serious injury or death of fellow soldiers.
- For
those in combat, the requirement to attempt to kill the enemy.
- Experiencing
the sight, sound, and smell of dead or dying people (e.g., friends,
civilians, enemy combatants) with little or no opportunity to adequately
grieve.
- Handling
dead bodies and body parts.
- Observing
devastated homes and communities and homeless refugees.
Even military personnel who have not been exposed to such
traumatic experiences have endured daily, lower-magnitude events and
circumstances which commonly exacerbate stress in war zones. Among these are:
- Unfamiliar
living conditions that include irregular sleep and eating patterns.
- Heavy
physical demands and long work days.
- Harsh
climate.
- Separation
from loved ones and missing significant family events (birthdays,
weddings, funerals).
- Career-related
concerns (e.g., delayed graduation from college, losing a job, being
denied a promotion).
- Sexual,
gender, or racial harassment (e.g., unwanted comments or sexual touching,
gossip and rumors directed toward individuals, sabotaging of work and/or
reputation, racist remarks).
While these experiences and conditions many not be as traumatizing
as those listed in the first series of bullets, these day-to-day irritations
and pressures further tax service members' available coping resources and may
increase their chances of developing physical and psychological problems.
Resource: James Madison University Counseling Center for Returning War Veterans
