Rainey

Isaiah Rainey
Professor Deby Dagher
UWRT 1102
5 April 15
The Effects of the Military on the Family

Fresh out of the fifth grade and soon to be a sixth grader at Grays Creek Middle School I
experienced what most military families experience in todays world, divorce. Being that I was
only 12 years old I was confused as to why this event occurred and why my family would no
longer be together. After being told several times that the divorce was not my fault and that I
should not worry about the separation of my parents, I refrained from putting any thought on why
the divorce occurred. However now that I am pursuing a career of my own in the military I found
it to be of my best interest to research the effects of a military lifestyle on couples as well as the
family as a whole.
Through my findings I am able to distinguish the different phases of deployment, as well as
be able to inform others of the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Knowing the different phases of deployment is key to understanding the stresses and change
in family dynamic that are implemented into the household during this difficult time of a military
family. To begin, there are three distinct phases of deployment. They are pre-deployment,
deployment, and post-deployment. During each phase the family and service member are often on
divergent paths. Meaning the family wants to achieve one thing while the service member wants
to achieve another. For example during the phase of pre-deployment significant others and family
members will feel the need to spend additional time with their service member. This is caused by

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the thought of losing their service member during their time being overseas. Contrarily, the
service member is trying to detach him or herself from the family mentally and physically. This
means spending more time at work rather than at home with the family. This clash in wants and
needs often results in tension, which is often present in the next phase of deployment (Laser
2011).
During the early stages of the deployment phase the family will feel abandoned by their
service member. The missing piece in their family may cause a sense of disharmony within the
family roles. It will not be until the middle of deployment until the family begins to gain
confidence in their new roles and become acclimated to the deployment period (Laser 2011).
What I found to have been surprising was that during late deployment there is a sense of anxiety
in the household. To elaborate on this, spouses and or children may feel nervous upon being
notified that their service member is returning home. Realizing that there has been a shift in
family roles and feeling obligated to re-organize the roles of the family in order to accommodate
for the service member causes this (Laser 2011). What I found in late deployment to have been
expected was the sense of joy and excitement that familys feel after not seeing their service
member after several months of being over seas (Laser 2011).
The next stage of deployment is post-deployment. It begins with the return of the service
member. The service member returns home and the family is often excited to have their missing
piece back in their life again. Unfortunately what generally tends to happen is that the service
member tries to immediately reassume their position within the household. By trying to change
the workings of the family, tension may rise. Tension can be seen as children preferring the home
parent rather than the service member whom has just returned. This occurs because the children
may have felt abandonment throughout the duration of the service members deployment and

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therefore becoming more emotionally attached to the home parent. The reunification of the couple
can be best compared to those times experienced with in the honeymoon. Couples often bond
physically rather than emotionally during this time. Emotionally reconnection does not occur for
sometime. This can be seen as an affect of war injuries such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
(Laser 2011).
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is a war injury that can be found in over 70% of
service men that have seen a medium to high level of combat (Litz and Orsillo 2014). Those who
suffer from PTSD have a hard time discerning the difference from the combat area to a home
setting. In the documentary Free the Mind Richard Davidson a doctor of psychiatry and
psychology noted that soldiers who have been diagnosed with PTSD have a significantly reduced
hippocampus. The hippocampus is a lobe in the brain that is in charge of storing memories and
retrieving them. However when it shrinks, like in it does PTSD patients, memory retrieval is
spontaneous on the onset of stimulation. In the combat area this spontaneous memory retrieval
may be life saving (Moore 2011).
For example imagine you are a soldier that has been in an area of the war most notorious for
rocket strikes. Your days and nights are often filled with the sound of rocket explosions as well as
their bombardment around your outpost. This continues for several weeks on end. Now it is time
for you to go home and recoup after your chaotic deployment. Months have passed since you
have returned home and you think you are holding up quite well. That is until you are walking
passed a garbage truck lifting huge metal container as it empties it contents into its haul. You do
not think much of it so you continue to walk past this normal daily activity. However, when the
garbage truck lowers the container back to the ground and the empty container makes a great
noise. Despite the normality of the action your reaction is rather frantic. You scurry to find cover

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all though there is no imminent danger in your surroundings. As you can see the action would
have been reasonable if not life saving in a war zone. However in the confines of your community
the action is unnecessary (Laser 2011).
Deployment and PTSD can test the strength of a family at any time during a service
members time in the armed forces. There are several services made available through the military
that help the family cope with deployed family members. Some families and service members
choose to attend therapy sessions throughout the different stages of deployment, which can ease
the transition from stage to stage. Therapy can even help strengthen the well being of a couple and
or the family (Laser 2011). Those who suffer from PTSD can do meditation exercises, which have
shown to be effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD by 40% (Davidson 2012).
To conclude I learned that the service member is not the only one making a sacrifice for his
or her country. In fact it is the family who is making an even greater sacrifice. It is the family who
must provide a strong support front for their service member. It is the family who must find away
to function months and months on end without a key element in their household. And it is the
family who must live with the hanging burden of knowing that their service member may or may
not come home in the same way that they left.
Through my acquired knowledge gained throughout my research I hope to establish a strong
household which can effectively handle the stresses of a military lifestyle for I to will be a future
service member, father, and husband.

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Works Cited
Laser, Julie A, and Paul M. Stephens. "Working with Military Families Through Deployment and
Beyond." Clinical Social Work Journal. 39.1 (2011): 28-38. Print.
Schumm, WR, DB Bell, and G Resnick. "Recent Research on Family Factors and Readiness:
Implications for Military Leaders." Psychological Reports. 89.1 (2001): 153-65. Print.
Free the Mind. Dir. Phie Ambo. Perf. Travis Leanna and Richard Davidson. Netflix. N.p., n.d.
Web. 22 Mar. 2015.
Moore, Micheal S. "PTSD Brain Studies Look at Hippocampus." Pacific Standard
Magazine. Pacific Standard, 6 June 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/ptsd-brain-studies-look-at-hippocampus-33419>.
Litz, and Orsillo. "PTSD: National Center for PTSD." The Returning Veteran of the Iraq War:
Background Issues and Assessment Guidelines -. Veteran Affairs, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 04
May 2015.

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Post Peer-Review
The peer review session allowed me to see where I was in my work.
Despite not having my paper completed I was still able to get a feel of how I
was doing with my research. The comments I have received were mostly pats
on the back. I can use this encouragement in my final stages of revision by
exemplifying what went well in the paper and continuing the trend throughout
the remaining parts of my paper.
I tried to be as thoughtful as possible when examining my peers paper.
In one paper I told the writer to explain what he meant by Airline travel I
asked him to explain what aspects of airline travel have changed before and
after the 9/11 attacks. In another paper I made sure that the reader knew that
his details needed to be supported. He offered interesting facts such as,
video games can be beneficial think faster on the spot. they can improve
motor skills, however the writer does not provide any supporting details.