How Deployment Stress Affects Children and Families Keith Kovach Daymar Institute BMG 124 December 11, 2013

With all the frequent moves of military families, absence of either parent to a combat zone represents a challenge of a different magnitude. The one that stays behind (usually the mother), more responsibilities, finances, loneliness, and fear for the deployed soldier’s safety can cause anxiety, isolation, sadness and feelings of being overwhelmed. In my experience during my deployments, my family has felt isolation, loneliness, and stress of handling daily tasks without me. My son has taken his anger out on his mother because I wasn’t there to be with them. Studies have showed that Post-traumatic Stress Disorder not only hinders the soldier’s wellbeing, but also the spouse and children for soldiers with families as well as that of soldiers that are single because they take their frustration out on girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, and family. In Archives and Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, children, whose parents serve in the military have different reactions when one of their parents deploys. Stress varies with age and presence of preexisting psychological or behavioral problems and how one deals with the problem. Young children can show separation anxiety, tantrums, and changes in their eating habits. Older children can change in how they perform in their academics and develop some behavior issues or physical complaints. They can become angry and act out or withdraw from their normal everyday activities when the adult figure in their lives is gone on a deployment. Another way children cope with their parent being gone is hanging out with the wrong crowd which can lead to alcohol and drug use. In my experience, upon my return from deployment, my son would be angry with me for leaving him and would hit me with anger and would also seclude himself from me and ignore me, when it was time to go outside and play with his balls.

According to Mr. Batten, Veteran Interest in Family involvement in PTSD Treatment, when Veterans from Vietnam returned home, they developed a rise in marital problems, usually violence and partner distress. Their children developed more behavioral problem. The Veterans that are having difficulties with experiencing emotions and their sense of detachment may make it difficult for them in their family relationships. PTSD may even lead to behavioral issues on the part of their children. When my mom married my stepdad, neither me nor my brothers knew that he had served in Vietnam because he never talked about it until the mid to late 80s when war broke out in Panama. That is when we noticed that something was wrong with him, because he would start breaking down in tears and isolate himself from us. We had asked him what was wrong several times, and he finally told us that when he served in Vietnam, him and a buddy of his were sitting by a camp fire when a grenade was thrown and it blew up, killing his friend. He said he did everything that he could to save him but there was too much damage from the grenade. Upon his return from Vietnam, he turned to alcohol to hide his pain and suffering which led him to a divorce from his first wife. The more he talked about it, the more we learned about what Veterans went through in Vietnam and also the more we understood the trauma and its effects on our men and women that served over there. Studies from Mr. Nelson Goff, have also shown that Vietnam Veterans demonstrate war-related Post-traumatic Stress. They (Vietnam Vets) tend to have higher level of relationship issues. The children tend to present more behavioral problems than do those of Veterans who don’t suffer from PTSD. Most soldiers that deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom have looked at family functioning during the post-deployment period. Mr. Chartrand, Effects of parents’ wartime deployment and the behavior of young children in military families, states in some cases, disassociation problems, intercourse issues, and sleeping disorders had the most impact on Veterans’ relationships. In a study done by Madigan Army Medical Center in Joint Base Lewis-McChord, seventy-five percent of Veterans with partners reported that they had problems with readjusting to family life. Fifty-four percent of the returning Veterans have reported an increase in shouting, pushing or shoving current or former partners. Veterans with children have reported suffering with more severe Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and depression were said that their children have become afraid of them. I will admit that upon my return from my first deployment to Afghanistan, I felt that my children were afraid of me because they didn’t see me as the same dad that they knew before. It does bother me that my own children felt afraid of me upon my return from a combat zone where I was constantly on guard and it probably did follow me home because I became very jumpy when startled. Many experiences during deployments have made families and service member, more responsible. Mr. Levin, CNN health, states that new challenges are made during each reunion. Each one can be a happy reunion or a stressful reunion. There is a phase called the “honeymoon” phase shortly after the soldier returns from their deployment. Families are affected by what is called “family stress reactions, that can occur after their service member spends time in a war zone. These symptoms have more to do with the deployment than with family, but it does take time to readjust to normal everyday activities. Most of the problems that soldiers have upon returning from deployment is trouble with sleeping or problems with knowing who or where they are and sexual problems. Families might feel angry because while the soldier was away they had to endure the hardship of taking care of the kids, paying all the bills, making sure that they were taken care, staying in touch with the unit representative so that they can stay up to date on their loved ones, and ensuring that they can get help and where they can find it if needed. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder can make it extremely hard to live with someone who is suffering from it because you can’t always tell what they are thinking or going through. In a study by Col. Beth Ellen Davis, author of “Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics,” soldiers that have been deployed, whether it’s one deployment or multiple deployments, can be easily startled, have nightmares about what they have been through or what they have seen. Many of the soldiers that suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, upon their return from a deployment, avoid social functions either with family or their friends. That is because they don’t want to be around lots of people for fear of getting angry or possibly reacting to loud noises. Family members who live with someone who is suffering from PTSD may feel sympathy, which may help them understand what the soldier is going through. Families have to be very careful to not treat their loved one like they are permanently disabled because they are not. They can still perform their everyday routine and be able to get the necessary help to deal with the PTSD and overcome the many obstacles that they might face. In an article published on CNN health (September 2009), military children of parents who are deployed were surveyed and were to be at “high risk” for psychological problems according to a study by military doctors and researchers. The study was published in the “Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics”. It surveyed spouses of deployed soldiers with children between the ages 5-12. Results were found that stress levels were high for children and spouses of deployed service members. Doctors and researchers surveyed over one hundred families in what was the first such evaluation since September 2001. It was to focus on families of active-duty soldiers stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Washington. Col. Beth Ellen Davis, who is one of the authors of the study, stated that more studies would have to be conducted to understand what the impact on military children in other services is when it comes psychological problems. Those parents that were surveyed said their children experienced a number of symptoms including “internalizing symptom” like anxiety, frequent crying and worrying. Most of the time, it is the return from deployment that is most stressful, according to three quarters of those surveyed. On reunification, there is a mixture of excitement, anticipation and relief, and occasionally followed by emotional conflict as the service member reintegrates back into the family. “Trying to relinquish some of the responsibilities that spouses have had to take on and then give back to the service member”, said Gia Ellis whose husband is deployed to Afghanistan. Ellis also stated that it is very difficult to let go and very difficult to share the responsibility with your spouse. Mr. Frederic Medway, who is a distinguished professor emeritus of psychology at the University of South Carolina, has studied the effects of family integration in military and non-military families, has agreed with the new study’s conclusion that there is a greater chance of family issues he the soldiers come back. The service member tends to return home and doesn’t feel like they are a part of the family and returns with his own baggage.

References
Batten, S.J., Drapalski, A.L. (2009) Veteran interest in Family Involvement in PTSD Treatment
Chartrand, M. M., Frank, D. A., White, L.F., and Shape, T.R. (2008) Effect of parents’ wartime deployment and the behavior of young children in military families. Archives and Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
International Demographics 2007 Profiles of Military community (2009) Veteran interest in family involvement in PTSD treatment.
Levin, A (September 2009) CNN health, Experts: Parents’ deployment puts kids at high risk for problems.
Nelson-Goff, B.S. (2007) The impact of individual Trauma of deployed soldiers on relationship satisfaction