Posted on 08/07/2016 8:14:15 AM PDT by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA — After decades of service in the U.S. armed forces, living in a strictly regimented culture of knowing where and when a soldier, sailor or airman needs to be at any given moment, one of the biggest challenges can be adjusting to civilian life after separating from the military.
For generations, this was a step that service men and women had to take alone, with no mandated assistance or guidance from the Department of Defense or the various military services, stretching back to the days of World War II and Vietnam, when soldiers were simply given their discharge papers and that was it, to just 15 years ago, when more courses for transitioning out of service were available, but not emphasized as important by military leaders.
“Even if they served honorably, people were more like, ‘I don’t need to focus on the ones getting out, I need to focus on the ones still in,’ and that’s very short-sighted,” said Bobby Fields, transition services specialist for the Soldier For Life Transition Assistance Program on Fort Huachuca.
Wow. So it is a type of finishing school for soldiers.
Was just discussing this subject yesterday with some childhood friends. One of their fathers was in Europe in WWII. As kids, we remember sneaking up to his attic to look at his Father’s two purple hearts, Distinguished Service Medal, and photos of his Father in his unit, carrying his BAR. The man carried German shrapnel in his hip until his death.
Of course, as a kid, I was greatly impressed by his Father’s service - but we and they were simply NOT allowed to discuss it. The war ended, he was discharged, promptly returned home, and whatever he experienced in Europe was simply buried - and his kids learned it was an off-limits subject.
I don’t recall any briefings on transitioning to civilian life when I got out in 1979. I came in the last morning, got my DD-214, and went home. That was at Camp Pendleton.
I got out of the Army in early 1969. They had a program called Project Transition that was strictly voluntary and I attended classes on “computers”, such as they were at the time, punch card, paper tape, etc.
This would be akin to stone tablets today, but it got me interested. I never felt like I’d been handed my papers and booted out.
Reporters never have any perspective and think everything they find out about is brand new. I retired from the Navy 18 years ago. I attended classes on transition and benefits. We even had a presentation by a group of retired businessmen who were volunteering their services to act as mentors for anyone who wanted to go into business for themselves which I thought was most impressive. Even my father, who retired from the Army in the early 70s partipated in an apprenticeship program where he worked a civilian job half a day for 6 months prior to separation. This is nothing new.
My son is a Marine who was seriously injured in Afghanistan, which resulted in a 14 month hospital stay. While there he took reluctant advantage of counseling and a psychologist . I am so grateful. When I see and speak with the guys he served with who came home whole physically, I think my son was more fortunate. Many of the still suffer from PTSD and it is sad to see the affect it has on them.
My son may need a wheelchair and walk with a cane, but he isn’t mad at the world and self-destructive.
It is a good thing that they are addressing it, in my opinion.
For some portion of them, that was the case. For others, pretending to forget it only led to larger problems with "living" the rest of their lives. As your father pointed out with his question to you, even "good wars" are horrible in the damage done to the human psyche. Some handle it better than others. My father was one who did not handle it well, dying of alcoholism at age 53 when I was a senior in high school.
This is a real issue - not just for military personnel, but their families, as well.
I transitioned from being an Army brat to a civilian kid at the age of thirteen. The adjustment took years, and was tough as hell. It darkened my teenage years in ways that were deep and long lasting. I eventually got through it all, but I wouldn’t wish that experience on any kid.
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