Military Deployment Research Paper

The main point of this article is about service members deployed specifically to Iraq and Afghanistan with back to back deployments and the stress factors that it produces on the families and the service members themselves.

The United States from the Cold War and into the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) continues to face challenges in translating military might into political desires due to its obsession with raising an army, electing politicians and assembling a diplomatic corp that continue to gravitate towards State-to-State engagements that if not rectified could lead to substantial delays in fighting terrorism and non-terrorist adversaries or worse total failure of the United States Military’s ability to properly carry out it’s politicians objectives due to being blindsided.

There is a large amount of military families around the world. About Forty- three percent of active military members have children (Website). These children face so many challenges and struggles in their life while having a parent in the military. Children of Active duty military members exhibit anxiety, depression and stress just as much as the service members and spouses experience. For instance the children experience going through multiple deployments, long separations, frequent moves and awkward reunions when their parents return home from deployment. Even more so if the parent has been physically or mentally traumatized from overseas.

Military service members who are and have been deployed to the middle east show high levels of emotional distress and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Both active duty and reserve component soldiers who have experienced combat have been exposed to high levels of traumatic stress. As a consequence, many have gone on to develop a wide range of mental health problems such as PTSD. “According to researchers, PTSD is a long-term reaction to war-zone exposure that can last up to a few minutes, hours, several weeks, and for some a lifetime.” Common symptoms include: emotional numbing, anxiety, feelings of guilt, and depression. If the disorder turns chronic veterans may experience functional impairment (Friedman, M. J. et al., 1994, p.

Long absences can very often lead to complications in marriages and in relationships with children. Soldiers can miss very important moments because of a war, such as holidays and birthdays. The parent who is not at war also has to take on all of the responsibilities for home, children, and finance while their significant other is deployed. In addition to this, the parent who is left behind often finds themselves dealing with a change in behavior from their children, which is very likely a result from their other parent’s long absence. Many returning veterans blame the complications in their lives after their life in the military on their time deployed. It may seem insignificant, but this is a big reason why military force has an impact on the everyday lives of Americans who do not even serve for a military branch.

Intro: There are almost two and a half million Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF ), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND) veterans in the United States (DoD, 2014). Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are signature wounds of these military operations, and are commonly referred to as “invisible wounds of war” (Tanielian et al 2008, from bello have another?-). OEF, OIF, and OND consisted of the longest and most frequent deployments in U.S. History with forty-eight percent of veterans having served at least two deployments (DoD, 2013). Children’s and non-deployed parent’s ability to cope and adapt to the deployment decreases as the length and frequency of deployments increase (Chandra, Martin, Hawkins, & Richardson, 2010; Lester et al., 2010). Children 's and partner 's stress, anxiety, and symptoms of depression increase as the length of their loved one 's deployment increases (Gorman, Blow, Ames, & Reed, 2011; Mansfield, Kaufman, Engel, & Gaynes, 2011; Lester et al, 2010). Support from within the military branches, Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, extended family, health care providers, schools, and other social infrastructues/institutions within the community is critical for healthy family functioning and the future of military-connected children (MC).

In this story I will be telling you about the person I interviewed. This story i’m going to be talking about is worth telling. Why ? Because of all the interesting facts and details that’s going to be shared. Kim Hollinshed is the person I interviewed. She explained to me that the most important moment in her life is when she had her 5 kids. But the interesting thing is she had her kids in different locations. Her and her husband were both in the military when they had their 5 children. Kim’s first two children were born in Washington , but when they got assigned to different stations that’s when they had kids in different locations.

In 2001, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 significantly changed the need for military personnel in the United States of America. Since then, over 2.4 million soldiers have been deployed due to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, better known as Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) (U.S Department of Veteran Affairs, 2012). These wars changed the expectations in regards to “deployments” as we once knew them. Military deployments are temporary jobs away from home and family, which may or may not take place overseas (Allen & Staley, 2007). Military deployments today are seen more frequent, with longer durations spent deployed, and less recovery time in-between redeployments (Tanielian, & Jaycox, 2008). Almost

Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) has affected service members and their families more adversely than previous wars. Many members are coming home with increasingly severe serious injuries and trauma-related mental health needs, specifically co-occurring Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Substance Use Disorder (SUD) (Flynn and Hassan 2010; Frey et al. 2014). SUD refers to all substances that can be abused, including alcohol. Military culture makes it hard to address these issues because of the stigma attached to having mental health issues. Studying Military families as a whole opposed to just the service member is a new concept in military culture, researchers are finding that treating the whole family

Most military families face the possibility of a loved one returning to service which can also cause a great deal of fear and unpredictability within the family. Studies also prove that family members struggle with emotional distress and children often have behavioral issues as a result of parents deployed to serve in the military. “The strain of war deployment with associated risk that the service member may be harmed or killed, adds to the stressors inherent in military family life, even in times of peace” (Link, P. E., & Palinkas, L. A. (2013). This also suggest that family separations due to irregular tours and training deployments. Often impact the relationships in the family and can change the family dynamics often leaving one caregiver with a majority of the responsibility of raising a family. The military culture can adversely affect family functioning with inflexible hierarchical relationships, expectations and of obeying rules and

Military children, the most affected by the deployment, get fearful about their military father’s deployment, and will eventually rebel in his absence, thus adding more stress to the non-deployed mother. However, the experience will help them forge stronger bond with their mother and gain maturity and flexibility in their daily lives.

Deployment and integration are one the greatest challenges military families and children have to face on a daily basis. When a family member deploys or reintegrates within the entire family, it not only affects the service member but it affects the entire family. Deployment can often lead to families and children, experiencing a negative mental health outcomes and compromised wellbeing. Bello (2015) found that most families and children (80.5% required less than one month to adjust to the return of their deployed parent (Bello, 2015). Accordingly, the families and children are often quick to adjust to having their family member back in the home. Interestingly, discoveries are surprising in light of the fact that when contrasted to another family, the discoveries are definitely unique. Boberiene (2014) found that three out of every four families feel that reintegration after the first three months is the most stressful phase of a deployment (Boberiene, 2014). This is because the family experiences many emotions while the member is away.

MILITARY SPOUSES AND THE CHALLENGES OF MILITARY Abstract Army life is unique to say the least. The subculture, with its own language, rules, acronyms and ways, is foreign to the general population. The Global war on Terrorism has brought more awareness and certainly more curiosity about Army life. (Krajeski, 2006, 2008, p. 5).Today, more than ever, the military spouse is a pioneer who travels to strange lands, rears her

Lt. Taijeron’s story is one that is mirrored by many other service-members. Many deployed parents also feel guilt when they miss significant events that occur in their children’s lives. Many resources suggest that loved ones should send many pictures or videos of the children, so that the service-member does not feel totally excluded in their children’s life. Even though the Department Of Defense and many private organizations have many resources and also have started many support programs to help military families, many families still struggle to cope with the separations during long deployments.

The military impacts the lives of the women in combat and it affects the lives of their families. Families face a number of challenges before, during, and after deployment. When military women are deployed it causes difficulties within the family, and even more so if she is a single mother. Children of servicewomen have different reactions when their mother is deployed. Some children tend to have behavior changes or increases in irritability. The reaction of children with a military mother depends on their age, and any mental health problems the child might have. Children that go through a mother’s deployment may experience the same effects as children of parents who are getting a divorce. Children also have to manage living with a parent who returns with changes from being in combat.