My Story Of Resilience Essay

Military children learn to give up things starting at a young age, but it makes them strong. The boys become the men of the house, while their fathers are away and the girls become women. They learn to adapt to all the different situations that they may come across, but "at the same time, these kids have a sense of overwhelming pride" (Reese, 2004, p. 2).

To summarize (Kaplow, Layne, Saltztman, Cozza & Pynoos, 2013, p. 322-340) this article looks at how grief through exposure to loss due to combat fights, loss of fellow unit members, or the loss of a service member can affect a service member or military family during deployment and reintegration phases. The article goes on to discuss some of the stresses that can increase due to deployments such as martial conflicts, abuse or neglect, and mental health problems stemming from both spouses or children. More military children function equally as well as their civilian counterparts, except during times of deployment where they experience more emotional and behavioral problems. The article looks at three key areas Separation distress characterized as missing the deceased. Existential/Identity Distress finding meaning or fulfillment, or taking on roles left by the deceased. Circumstance-Related Distress characterized as emotional pain brought on by how the deceased passed. The article furthermore looks into how the age of the military children plays into their separation distress. Followed by their existential/identity Distress may be disrupted by new

Has there ever been a point in your life that made you feel like a failure? If you have ever felt this way, you are not alone. Several well-known people, such as Wilbur Wright and Steve Jobs, have dealt with adversity. Wilbur Wright and his brother created the first successful airplane, and it definitely was not easy. Steve Jobs was the founder of Apple, and dealt with many difficult events along the way. We have all had moments in life that we found difficult to overcome. When these events occur, we must choose to be resilient. When times get tough, resilience is key to overcoming adversity and achieving success.

Children are affected by everything around them. They are small sponges waiting to absorb all the information they can. What happens to children when they are faced with traumatic incidences? There are many possible outcomes, but the outcome that is always hoped for is resiliency. When a child cane become resilient to their past, they have a greater likelihood of developing loving relationships later in life.

I was forced into a situation where I had to grow up very quickly and had to be strong. Those days sparked a fire in me that has carried with me throughout my life with determination and dedication to be the best I can be, not only for myself, but from where I am from. I have kindled this fire inside of me from those events and lived off of it, breathed it. I have seen devastation and destruction in my very own front yard, and it only pushed me to become something great, for those days caused me to open my eyes and see the world for what it really is. It caused me to realize that life can be very hard, and can throw us for a loop, but no matter what through hard work and dedication I can achieve my goals and dreams. Through my hard work and dedication I can build up success from the ground up, just as the city of Waveland has done. Throughout the eleven years after Hurricane Katrina I have seen the world around me rebuilt, and with it I have built myself. I have created a structure that supports a mindset of dedication, commitment, and hard work to reach my goals. I have persevered through the struggles of living in a ghost town, of coming home to no

Over the years I have received numerous medals and awards for outstanding athletic and academic achievement. Yet, I believe that my most meaningful accomplishment is something completely different: my resilience. Coming from a socially, economically and educationally disadvantaged background I have had to overcome hurdles that many

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

As we look at the over, arching aspect of family implications, the most common aspect associated to this is the number of service member deaths. By the numbers alone, those killed in conjunction to the operations of the past 14 years do not hold a candle to the sheer numbers of World Wars I and II, Korea, or Vietnam. We must look past these numbers and look at all injuries, which will then significantly increase the casualty numbers. Many of the millions of wounded warriors resulting of their service, both the physical and emotional trauma, will affect them for the rest of their lives. (Morin, 2011) With casualty rates today we can no longer only look at the service members themselves, the burdens and joys of life continue even in their absence. Now, in today’s families, the decision to serve, or the continuation of service affect everyone within the household.

These problems and challenges listed above are not experienced by all military families, many of the families are able to adapt well. Military families and children have a great capacity for adaption and resilience. In the military resilience is very important in all stages of deployment, it helps lessen the stress and improve the capability to adjust. About 74% of children become closer to friends and family. The children also become more responsible, and independent. When families function positively they find a meaning in military life and are able to accept the work of the soldier; this helps the morale of the soldier, as well as the ability to carry out the given mission. The strength of most military families can be a source of pride and inspiration for many non-military members.

Military children and families face multiple challenges just for being part of this culture, these challenges are not limited to disruption in family routines, extended separations, mental health problems and parenting difficulties that be related to exposure to traumatic events (Paley, Lester, & Mogil, 2013). One such challenge is deployment. What is deployment, it is the sending of military personnel and materials to a specific destination from their home installation (Military, 2015). Deployment encompasses the preparation and personal needs that are needed before, during and after deployment. All families preparing for a deployment separation go through a process defined by the stages of preparation, survival, and reunion and with each stage comes with different stressors and adjustments for the military member and family members left behind. The stages are predeployment, deployment, sustainment, redeployment and post deployment ((Devoe, & Ross, 2012), within these stages are the seven emotional stages of deployment anticipation of departure, detachment and withdrawal, emotional disorganization, recovery and stabilization, anticipation of return, return adjustment and renegotiation and reintegration and stabilization (Morse, 2006).

This being said, I have met some resilient people that against all odds obtained an education and/or landed a job making a pretty good salary and they attribute their success to remaining positive through difficult times and using their struggles as lessons from life that happens.

The United States Army’s master resilience training is used to grow and thrive in the face of challenges and bounce back from adversity. Build core competencies that enable mental toughness, optimal performance, strong leadership, and goal achievement (Reivich & CSF2, Master Resilience Training Version 3.1 Participant Guide, p. 7). The Master Resilience Trainer Course (MRT-C) trains resilience skills in order to provide the Army with a cadre of resilience and performance training experts (Army Regulation 350-53, para 4-3 (a) (2)). The MRT-C is what is known in the Army as Train the Trainer, meaning when the Soldier graduates the course he/she then is a subject matter expert. Students must pass the written exam (multiple choice and True/False) on Day 9 with a 70% score or higher in a 1 and 1/2-hour period. This test is closed book and covers all course materials. Students who fail to score 70% or higher will receive additional training at the end of class on Day 9 and will retest on Day 10. Failure to pass the exam with a 70% or higher in the second test will result in class drop and the student will not be awarded the 8R Additional Skill Identifier (ASI) (Army Regulation 350-53, para 4-3 (a) (3) (c)).

What does it mean to have resilience? when I think of the word resilience I think of Bethany Hamilton. shes so strong, even after getting her arm bit off by the shark she continues to surf. shes fearless to, instead of being afraid of the water and telling people to stay out of it she gets back in it as soon as she can and helps other amputees learn to surf. She’s also confident, when she got attacked instead of setting in her room feeling sorry for herself and letting people feel bad for her she tells them not to feel bad about what happened and she learned that when life throws you curve balls in life to hit a homerun.

As a military dependent, I have experienced adversity that the average person may never have to encounter. However, without these hardships, such as deployments and constantly moving around the country, I could not say that I would be the same person. For the better part of my life, I have been a caretaker, housekeeper, student, and sometimes the third parent. Although at first glance it seems overwhelming and near impossible to ask so much of an emerging adult, I have grown in confidence and I have a steady moral fiber as a result.

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.