Insight from an Iraq Veteran - Transition from Combat to Civilian Life

The stressful and frustrating transition from combat life to civilian life isn’t easy, and can be made more difficult by financial stresses, unemployment, relationship crises, physical wounds such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), and untreated mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

After navigating and negotiating the dangers of combat, there are hundreds of people returning home to find figurative land mines while trying to transition back into civilian life, returning to or applying for jobs, applying for benefits, or simply reaching out for help.

Every person who has been in combat is significantly changed as a human being and about one third or more of returning vets experience a more severe PTSD. This interferes with our lives, our work and our relationships.

I know to be fact after having served 12 years in the Military, that I have the training to be in the combat zone, but having been in combat has diminished my perception of civilian life, and civilian people. Now, I feel like I don’t have the training or the know how to be a civilian again.
One of the problems with our perception as combat vets is that we feel that there is no safe place anymore and that we won't be understood by families and friends. One of the fears that I still carry, and the fear of a lot of combat veterans is that if I tell you what I really did over there, you’re not going to like me anymore or you're going to judge me. I currently have friends who call me "the merc" simply because I worked as a security contractor in Iraq and Kosovo. And from trying to reach out and navigating around the comments and perceptions made by friends and family, I find it more and more difficult to open up and take the step to transition and heal. I feel that If I tell you the brutal truth and the reality of what happened while deployed, you simply wouldn’t understand. So I can’t say what I really feel and this prevents me and thousands of others who have seen war from transitioning back into civilian life. This prevents us from healing.

Written by a private security contractor veteran from Iraq.

Recovering from the War: A Guide for All Veterans, Family Members, Friends

Learn about what your veterans faced, the normal effects of war, how Post-traumatic stress disorder affects families, and how to recover from ptsd.
Reviews
"A book every veteran will want to give his or her spouse, and every spouse will want to give his or her veteran. A systematic investigation of the costs of war for active duty service members, veterans and their families, including information on how to recover from combat trauma. The examples are from Vietnam, but the experience is universal: I am reading your book right now. I picked it up in Kuwait coming back from leave. It has been very good ... I have learned a lot. I just want to say this book of yours is just awsome it brings tears to my eyes as I write this to you. I wish I had it long time ago. I have to tell you that I truly believe as a kid of a vet that we, ourself, end up with ptsd. I act so much like my father it is scary. -Iraq "IED hunter" combat engineer."


"I am writing because I recently read your book, and it brought to light a few areas that were lacking in my Family Readiness Group discussions and re-integration training. My platoon leaders and platoon sergeants have all read the book, and (against copyright laws, sorry) we have photocopied appropriate excerpts for all soldiers to read. I have 26 of 100 soldiers still married (deployed at 38 of 100, 2nd deployments are tough on young couples) and I plan on personally buying each of them a copy of your book and mailing it to the spouse before we re-deploy.  Thank you so much for your help.-T R, Captain, writing from Iraq."