On Combat

The transition between the world of war and the “real world” back home can be jarring. The US military has come a long way since Vietnam when American soldiers flew as individuals straight from the war back to civilian life. Today, the predominant experience is a communal one, unit rotations mean American servicemen rotate as units; commanders work to ease the transition through decompression, counseling, and briefings before returning home and follow up after getting back. (for details of the Marine Corps program, see Commandant of the Marine Corps message on Operational Stress Control, for the US Army program—including videos, see Battlemind).

Despite all the things the services are doing right, adjustment is an individual experience that goes on between the ears. A recent article by former soldier William Quinn in the Washington Post “I’m back home but Still in Iraq’s grasp” illuminates some of the challenges returning soldiers face. A few quotations:

The only feeling I’ve ever had that was more surreal than arriving in a war zone was returning from one.

The war didn’t just seem to be taking place in another country; it seemed to be taking place in another universe. There I was, in desert camouflage, wondering how all the intensity, the violence, the tears and the killing of Iraq could really be happening at the same time

I’ve been out of Iraq for more than two years now. I have a different life, as a college student. But some of those feelings are still with me.…college feels a bit mundane, and it’s inexplicable to me that people here seem to be entirely untouched by the war.

This is a timeless dilemma for the returning warrior, the family and friends she returns to, and our society. Paul Fussell argues in his book Wartime that WWII was tragic and ironic, and the home front could know none of it (pg 268). Since America was not bombed, the war was inaccessible to those back at home. Fussell was featured in PBS’ series The War, and relates here some of his frustration regarding the gulf between these two worlds.

Despite the 24/7 news cycle, military blogs, digital photography, handheld camcorders and You Tube, people back home can not be expected to appreciate fully the realities of combat. Bridging the gap and adapting to the realities of home have fallen and will continue to fall on the shoulders of American warriors. Hopefully with the support of leaders, comrades, families, and communities, memories of the stark experiences of war will take their appropriate place in the minds of soldiers over time