Soldiers learning to adjust to life after returning from Iraq
Published Sunday, October 18, 2009
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — It’s a cool Wednesday morning in September in Fairbanks, the type of fall morning on which you might see soldiers at nearby Fort Wainwright out for a run.
But instead of training their bodies, 19 soldiers from Task Force 49’s 6th Squadron, 17th Cavalry and their wives are at the Alpine Lodge, training for better marriages.
For the past three days, Lt. Col Jack Woodford, chaplain for Task Force 49, has been going over tips for a successful marriage at the Strong Bonds Training for Couples retreat. In the closing hour of the session, he reminds the couples, none of whom are in uniform, to “sharpen the saw,” to work every day to improve their marriage, and he leaves them with a parting word about intimacy.
“Intimacy is more than sex,” he tells the group as they sip on coffee and enjoy a continental breakfast. “Intimacy is being open and honest. It’s a free exchange of trust.”
This is the new face of the Army after a deployment, a reintegration process thtat focuses on the family, the mind and the soul just as much as the toll combat can take on the body.
“When a soldier deploys, the spouse has to be both mom and dad,” said Woodford, who has 25 years of Army chaplain experience under his belt. “A healthier response might be to move into a new pattern and not assume things are the same.”
The Army begins marriage retreats and classes about six weeks after a unit has returned from deployment, past the so-called “honeymoon stage” that comes right after a return home. It’s a time when couples are past the point of just being happy, and problems can begin to develop in a relationship.
“The analogy I like to use is scuba diving,” said Major Dwight Broedel, another chaplain on post. “You come up too quickly and you’re going to get the bends.”
At the 6-17th’s retreat, another fellow chaplain performed vow renewals for couples seeking to recommit to each other. As they filtered out of the hotel, most of the couples were all smiles, especially after Woodford told them to avoid work on post for the rest of the day to focus more on their families.
“It’s a pretty good class,” said Staff Sgt. Randy Pullen, who attended the retreat with his wife, Natasha. “It shed light on a lot of subjects. There’s a lot of things you can do to keep the fires going.”
From combat to comfort
More than 600 troops from Task Force 49 returned to Fort Wainwright during the summer. And another group of more than 4,000 soldiers from the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, returned to post in September after a yearlong mission in Iraq. The Stryker brigade deployment was the largest in Alaska military history.
The Army, now used to a heavier deployment rotation after eight years at war, has set up a reintegration process for soldiers that starts even before they set foot back in the United States. With soldiers going on yearlong deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan every 18 months or so, the Army now offers everything from marriage retreats to classes on economic responsibility to help troops make an easier transition from combat to the comforts of home.
“This one’s a little easier,” said Melanie Terrill, a Family Readiness Group leader for Charlie Company, 1-24 Infantry while her husband, Capt. Dale Terrill, was deployed to Iraq. “Sadly, it becomes more normal the more they’re gone.”
This past year with Fort Wainwright’s Stryker Brigade was Dale Terril’s second deployment to Iraq. For many soldiers in the brigade, it was their second or even third deployment. He agrees this mission was easier, mostly because it was less focused on combat. Troops spent more time training Iraqi forces and rebuilding the country’s infrastructure than in years past.
Melanie Terrill and other FRG leaders also play a crucial role in helping soldiers reintegrate into life on post. Such groups prepare food and rooms for single soldiers returning to the barracks, and even months after a unit returns home, FRG spouses continue to meet to share their common experiences and offer each other support.
‘Soldiers are individuals’
Deployment Cycle Support, or DCS as it is commonly called, begins with a brief online health assessment when soliders are overseas. Each soldier is expected to fill out the survey about his or her physical and mental condition after months at war.
The day after soldiers returned to Fort Wainwright, they began half-days of actual reintegration training, mostly short evaluations with doctors, nurses and mental health professionals. It’s during this time that health care workers might discover specific health problems and can refer soldiers to the specifalized care they need.
“The Army has always believed in taking care of one another,” said Col. Leo Bennett, the deputy commander of clinical services for U.S. Army Alaska. “Soldiers are individuals first and foremost.”
One of the major health concerns for soldiers returning from Iraq is post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety problem that can manifest in symptoms from insomnia to combat flashbacks.
The severity of PTSD cases in a brigade varies based on its experiences in combat, Bennett said. The 1-25th’s commander has described the recently completed mission as “less kinetic” in nature than that of the brigade’s predecessor, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
Hard numbers are not yet available on how many 1-25th veterans might suffer from PTSD, but Bennett said he would put the number at less than 10 percent.
Money matters
There’s a lot to complain about being stationed in Iraq for a year, but ask any soldier about the best part of a deployment, and combat pay is sure to be at the top of the list.
Finance has become a key part of reintegration training for soldiers, as many find themselves flush with cash after a year of raking in tax-exempt combat pay and having few expenses while in combat.
Army Community Service at Fort Wainwright offers advice on how to go back to living on a standard soldier’s wage and use the extra money to pay off bills.
“Everybody has debt, and everybody wants out of debt. It doesn’t matter their rank,” said Denise Mitchell, Army Community Service division chief.
Counselors from the Army Community Service at Fort Wainwright meet individually with families, going over their bills and assets to help them come up with a plan to meet their financial goals.
“A lot of soldiers are shocked to find out they’re spending hundreds of dollars at the coffee shop or video store,” Mitchell said.
For most soldiers, financial counseling and maybe an optional class about family or marriage is the last step in the reintegration process.
Troops who have spent the past year in a war zone and have taken weeks readjusting to life at home are now making time for a well-deserved vacation. Most soldiers with the 1-25th are on leave throughout the U.S. and won’t have to return to post until early next month.
“It is strictly enforced,” said Capt. Dale Terrill. “You don’t have to tell guys to go home.”
Community Discussion
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A good article, about some good men and women, who are fortunate to have returned to a good community. Perhaps the best part, one which generally goes unmentioned, is that they've returned to *jobs*... how can a (wo)man fight PTSD and all the rest, if s/he is also unemployed?! Nothing helps like loyalty, and employer loyalty is right up there.
Welcome home!
I'm heartened to see that the post-deployment care & concern have vastly improved from the 60's....these guys/gals stand a better chance for readjustment than we had. It's good to see improvement.
Thank you men and women for your service. We appreciate you!
Welcome home guys, welcome home from an old soldier who understands some of what you went through. And a lot of what you've lived through really does break my heart just thinking about it as there isn't anything is this World like a great deal of what you lived through.
One of those things that really upsets me is the way that they bring you home as there were supposed to have been lessons learned the hard way after Southeast Asia. That guys that were in combat one day and then two days later were walking the streets back home was just plain wrong. This is one of those things where it's exceptionally difficult for me to believe that they are doing basically the same thing all over again the same way.
As far as I know there has never been anyone that has been in constant combat like these young men & women have. Every single day they have been in a combat zone, and some of them have done it for as many as four and fime times now. Kind of makes you wonder what it's going to make life like for them the rest of their lives.
But more than anything else guys welcome home. I just sincerly hope that you are in better shape emotionally and physically than what I am and will remain as such as well.
Thank you soldiers and their families for your sacrifices that you have and are still making for all of our freedom.
I am glad to see that the Army considers soldiers as people. The only thing that concerns me is that the Army still wants to control every aspect of their lives
Right now there are far to many soldiers coming home from the war and finding alcohol as the only way to deal with live. And that, far to many times, leads to suicide.
I know the AF does & I believe the Navy & Marines allow Alcoholics Anonymous on their property without military interference.
My question!! Why won't Ft Wainwright allow AA on their post without military interference. Since the AA is self supporting with no outside interest, or contributions.
I am ABSOLUTELY not taking ANYTHING AT ALL away from what the Army has got for their people. I am merely asking let's put something else in their lives before the soldier sits at a table with a picture of his family on one side of him or her bottle on their other side and a loaded 9mm in the front of him or her.
For those pot heads, drunks and others who hate AA and/or the military PLEASE, PLEASE keep your remark on this letter to yourselves. This does involve the lives of the defenders of our freedom.
I thank-you ahead of time for your respect and for me and our troops.
For the Army officials who read this...You know who I am, and how to get hold of me. I hope we can work together. Our troops whom suffer, will be the recipients.
It's good to see the Army taking care of it's own - as a miltry retiree (Air Force)it does my heart good.
To AK BOB - AA is on many many posts - been to many of em over the years. All it takes is is a person to get the meeting started and coordinate a place to hold it. Good article - great to see the Army taking care of it's own. As a military retiree it is "the right thing" to do.
alaskaphotos..I tried to get AA on Ft. WW. They would not give me a place to have it. They want one of their won to monitor it, AA doesn't work that way. I worked with VA. I know it is on many Posts Ft Bragg is one. FWA would not budge. Va said I came closer than anyone else ever did. I want to try again.
CORRECTED alaskaphotos..I tried to get AA on Ft. WW. They would not give me a place to have it. They want one of their own to monitor it. AA doesn't work that way. I worked with VA on this. I know AA is on many Posts, Ft Bragg is one of them, or it used to be. FWA would not budge. Va said I came closer than anyone else ever did. I want to try again. Now that they are again in tuned to improvement.
Wonderful article Chris. This article shows, I think, that the largest battle in war isn't the actual war itself, but hte repercussions experienced after the battle, readjusting to the life they left.
Very nicely done. Can't wait to read more of your articles :)
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