For the 2% of our population who serves in the military, plus their families, this last decade will be remembered for the repetitive cycle of deployments and homecomings to and from Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
They will be remembered as hard and painful times, and also times families will be proud of for having survived.<\/p>\n
Here’s a comment from a Fort Drum soldier’s girlfriend who posted as “frustrated” at NCPR’s Inbox:<\/p>\n
There is no way a soldier can fully recover from a deployment and prepare for another in 10-12 months. and in those months are weeks\/months of training. it’s exhausting. it causes feelings of anger, detachment, and resentment towards the army itself which decreases their morale. i don’t feel that the effect on our relationship is appropriate to speak about because our relationship is not recognized, which is fine. but the effect this is taking on his family is devastating. his family has to constantly worry about their son for 12 months, get 10 months off, and then go right back to it for 12 again? It’s torturous.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The military itself and the broader scientific community is trying to understand what effect the rapid pace of deployments and the short “dwell time” between deployments is having on servicemembers and their families.<\/p>\n
Psychologists from the University of Connecticut will be studying children at Sackets Harbor school<\/a>.\u00a0 The New York Times reported Monday<\/a> on a study that found children were more likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues when a parent is deployed:<\/p>\n
The researchers found that the children saw a doctor or other health professional about six times a year and about once every two years for a mental health reason. During deployment of a parent, however, the visit rate dropped by about 11 percent for physical problems but rose by 11 percent for psychological complaints. Stress, anxiety and attention-deficit problems were among the more common diagnoses, and mothers were far more likely than fathers to take a child to a doctor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not clear yet whether kids are in fact suffering more mental problems when a parent is deployed, or that mothers are more attendant to any shift in behavior,\u201d Dr. Karney said. \u201cThat\u2019s the next question we have to ask.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Meanwhile, the Army still suffers from a chillingly high rate of suicide<\/a> among soldiers.\u00a0 And an effort to properly diagnose and treat<\/a> post-traumatic stress disorder<\/a> military-wide continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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