Eb

Professor Olivas

English 103

30 May 2017

Problems On The Home Front

War is hell, but thats not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure

and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love (OBrien 59). War

does not have a binary black and white set of morals, but a muddled mix of grays, which leaves many

in and out of the combat confused. Now, many wild things happen in a war, events and decisions that

leave lasting damage upon veterans. In their return home, veterans lives can become a hectic mess,

filled with various problems with limited solutions. In todays day and age the shift from war and

soldier to peace and civilian is a heavy burden wrought with hardship, mental illness, and alienation,

with which society is ill equipped to deal.

Soldiers return from war is riddled with hardships and difficulties. Often people think fighting

in a war is hard enough, but at times the transition to home life can be just as daunting as battle. Once

home finding housing, employment, and medical care can be a rough thing to manage right away.

Attempting to get a hold of a job is often difficult since many soldiers have Insufficient education or

specialized military training that does not necessarily translate to the civilian world, which was noted

in James L. Peases Military Culture and the Transition to Civilian Life: Suicide Risk and Other

Considerations (84). Without a job many are left with the possibility of homelessness, which in turn

creates even more problems with veterans who have sustained physical injuries at war. Another issue

that comes into play in holding veterans back from getting help with these hardships is the reluctance of

actually searching for help. When transitioning to regular life Military culture may unintentionally

instill beliefs that help seeking is a sign of weakness, and veterans may view themselves as a liability or
burden to others (85). This avoidance of seeking help can lead to many problems within veterans

lives. Shedding more light on this is Tim OBriens The Things They Carried. This refusal to seek help

because of looking weak can often make many things about transitioning difficult and hard, They were

afraid of dying, but they were even more afraid to show it (OBrien 22). Besides these beliefs being

pushed by military culture, what can also push these ideas can be the regular civilian society people live

in which make difficulties for soldiers to speak about their problems, Hows you like to hear about

the war? he might have asked, but the place could only blink and shrug. It had no memory, therefore

no guilt (98). This policy of holding everything in can and will create problems and fissures within

oneself, which is all in the name of looking brave and not scared during the battle and war, but when

coming home can grow to new heights. At times returning from war can be just as hard for soldiers as

fighting them.

Mental illness is a serious issue many veterans face when returning home from war. Soldiers

are often at higher risk for psychological issues and substance abuse, which in turn can lead to higher

risk of suicide among veterans. In Sebastain Jungers TED Talk, Our Lonely Society Makes It Hard

To Come Home From War, even though the art of war has become less violent than past wars, more

issues have risen in these past few wars, Every war that we have fought as a country, starting with the

Civil War, the intensity of the combat has gone down. As a result, the casualty rates have gone down.

But disability rates have gone up (Junger). PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder, is a major issue for

those returning to their home life. This disorder can often lead veterans to believe dangers and threats

are present when there is not, About 20% of peoplewind up with chronic, long-term PTSD. They

are not adapted to temporary danger (Junger). This in turn can lead to problems with family, friends,

and others around. Society is often poor to understand people with mental illnesses, although can be

even more so with those who have recently returned from war. Mental health is a rough and difficult

road for many veterans to walk.

 A large problem many veterans deal with once home from war is feelings of alienation and

isolation from society. These feelings of isolation are a huge factor in the way veterans settle back into

normal life away from war. A major way this can take effect is through veterans interactions with their

own families, Some families may believe that the veteran will be able to easily reintegrate into the

familys norms and expectations, which can increase feeling of isolation or alienation (Pease 83).

When soldiers leave for war there are high energies and excited people at and throughout their

departure, but the same cannot be said for once they return home. In a 60 Minute episode, Coming

Home, Scott Pelley interviewed several Marines who had served in Afghanistan, in which this issue

came about, I joked I am never more popular from deployment than right before the bus door opens.

Supermans coming the door opens and Oh, its just him. And they expect you to fall back into

those roles, husband, father, nephew, cousin, uncle as if nothin changed (Pelley). These feelings of

isolation created by the veterans family is difficult. Many of these problems reintegrating back into

society can be found in the differences between military culture and regular society. The military places

high priority on being a cohesive and tightknit unit, whereas other societies outside the military can be

drastically different. This difference can lead to a kind of culture shock when veterans return home to

their loved ones, Scott Pelley: Is there anything that you miss about Afghanistan? Jonathan

Quiceno: Absolutely. The brotherhood. Theres no question about that. You miss the sense of purpose

(Pelley). America and most other modern societies, for example, have a tendency to be very separating,

isolated, and private manner of living. And these separate qualities play havoc upon the people within

them as a whole, not just veterans returning, but can be extraordinarily destructive towards

homecoming soldiers. This sense of isolation and being separate from everyone else can cause trauma,

emotional and physical health problems to continue far longer. In other societies where having

close-knit bonds with those around one another, trauma and specifically emotional problems take far

less time to heal:

 And maybe what determines the rate of long-term PTSD isnt what happened out there,

but the kind of society you come back to. And maybe if you come back to a close,

cohesive, tribal society, you can get over trauma pretty quickly. And if you come back

to an alienating, modern society, you might remain traumatized your entire life. in other

words maybe the problem isnt them, the vets; maybe the problem is us. (Junger)

The sense of alienation on any person can take a huge toll, but to veterans who have just came

home and are transitioning and reintegrating back into a society, it can be much more difficult.

Alienation is a massive and dangerous problem for veterans returning home.

Others would think veterans troubles with transitioning to home life as easy and just a matter

of adapting back to normal life, but it is far more complicated than that. There is often a disconnect

between what non-military people think is the problem and what actually is the problem. And what

people think is the problem when soldiers come home from war is just getting back to normal life.

But what is actually the problem is there is not a normal life to go back too. When veterans are away

from home many things change, the society, the people, the veterans themselves. There is a difference

in what they left and what they came back too. These differences and changes are what is actually

called the homecoming theory:

Homecoming theory -- developed after World War II -- serves as a valuable framework

for understanding the challenges in the transition from military service. Homecoming

theory posits that a traveler such as a military service member is separated from home

by space and time. The service member and family members and friends at home have

unique experiences during separation, and thus each will be in some ways unknown

and unfamiliar to the other upon return. The difference between expectations and

reality for the returning veteran and family and friends at home can result in a shock on
 both side; navigating homecoming involves reestablishing connections despite these

changes. (Ahern 2)

Expectations of what veterans come home to and what roles they are supposed to fill right away

when back can be faulty, but with that comes some hope for ways to avoid these sorts of cultural shock.

This, For many veterans, family(was) an important foundation that offered help However,

veterans often found it hard to engage (with)individuals who had not shared the experience of

military service (7). In these situations, Veterans who had help from a veteran peerto navigate the

transitionhad substantial advantages (7). A supporting family and other veterans to help, along side

the simple need for time to heal is able to aid in the transition from soldier to civilian. Another issue

with non-military people there is often a disconnect between what movies and television show as what

war is and what it actually is. Which only serves to create a false picture of what soldiers go through at

war, and thus allows for a larger separation between civilian and soldier, and a greater sense of

alienation and isolation, They think Saving Private Ryan. And thats not trueso every time I talk to

civilians I have to explain. Its like giving a lesson (8). Often what is able to help here is taking media

with a grain of salt and realizing that it is not an accurate portrayal of what goes on in a war. These

changes on both sides have the ability to make or break people. Transitioning home from war is a far

more complicated issue with many needs.

The people fighting in a war have an exceedingly hard job to do with many peoples lives on

the line, but working for that goal of keeping others safe, keeps soldiers sane. Yet, when it comes time

to return home to a society, family, life that seems foreign and estranged from oneself; the grip on ones

sanity can slip. Difficulties and hardships plague soldiers in their welcome home in the possibility of

being jobless and homeless. Mental illness and the stigma of that holds the weight of many problems.

And Veterans feel alone. And in that aloneness, problems which were once small can become deep and

raw and terrible, especially when a society whose specialty is being separate from one another. Society
does not know fully how to fix these issues because they do not know how to fully come together as

one.
 Works Cited

Ahern, Jennifer, et al. "The Challenges of Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans Transition from Military to

Civilian Life and Approaches to Reconnection." Plos ONE, vol. 10, no. 7, 7/1/2015, pp. 1-13.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128599.

Junger, Sebastian. Our Lonely Society Makes It Hard to Come Home from War. Sebastian Junger:

Our Lonely Society Makes It Hard to Come Home from War | TED Talk | TED.com,

www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_junger_our_lonely_society_makes_it_hard_to_come_home_from_w

ar.

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: a Work of Fiction. Bridgewater, NJ, Distributed by Paw

Prints/Baker & Taylor, 2012.

Pease, James L., et al. "Military Culture and the Transition to Civilian Life: Suicide Risk and Other

Considerations." Social Work, vol. 61, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 83-86. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1093/sw/swv050.

Pelley, Scott. Coming Home. CBS News, CBS Interactive, 11 Mar. 2015,

www.cbsnews.com/news/combat-marine-vets-scott-pelley-60-minutes/.