Nicole Perrone
Marian Gagnon
9 February 2015
English Composition A great deal of service members have been to war in the past decade. Over half of these soldiers have been deployed more than once. Deployment does not only effect the soldier, but also his family, friends, and doctors. War affects everybody and it changes some people’s outlooks on life in general. There are many different situations that soldiers and their families must face upon returning from war. Psychological and physical difficulties due to the intensity and horrors of warfare have been recorded in history since the Trojan war and in all American wars. Even though the physical damage may heal, the mental stresses do not lessen over time. Psychological disorders from deployment ranges from insomnia to poor dieting. Mental illness has become so common in returning soldiers that there is officially a name for it which is, “post Deployment Syndrome,” and affects many different people who are around the returning soldier. Like war, PDS symptoms affect everyone around them. There is no specific way to test and see if someone has a mental disorder, so they are tested through direct interviews. Almost half of a million U.S. troops have been affected by PDS and can have any of the following symptoms: polytrauma, combat stress, blast injury, hypersensitivity, PTSD, post concussive syndrome. No matter how mentally strong each soldier is, PDS is very hard to avoid. Soldiers have to deal with the aftermath of killing others and watching others get killed, but they also have to deal with physical pain as well since most soldiers do come back with permanent injuries. There are many causes of PDS and other aftermath effects of being deployed that effect not only the soldier, but the ones who love him and want to help him get through the rest of his life after war. Soldiers can come back with a variety of different injuries. Some soldiers may come back without a single injury while others may come back without legs or arms. This becomes a daily struggle once put back into their communities. Many soldiers have to deal with hypersensitivity upon returning from war because of the extremely loud sounds and strong, disgusting smells. The causes of physical effects are very direct and are known right away. Many people have to live through life with a prosthetic leg or arm because of what they endured in the war zone. Higher chances of suicide is also apparent in most soldiers because they do not want to deal with the constant pain and reminder of what they have been through overseas while battling. “War’s stressors and injuries change neurotransmitters in the brain and hormones in the blood, causing the neurotransmitters to be out of sync and can cause sensations, feelings, and real world difficulties,” (Post Deployment Syndrome). This is the scientific way of explaining why an experience might cause physical harm to someone. Another physical effect of returning from war has to do with drug use. Many soldiers get used to taking certain drugs or drinking a certain amount while deployed because it helps the with the stress and pain of being away. There is a higher chance of these soldiers becoming drug abusers or dependent on alcohol because of what they are used to. This is what makes them feel normal now. The worst physical effect of war is irritibility. This causes soldiers to snap and sometimes even try to resolve conflicts with using violence. Child abuse and neglect becomes something that a soldier might also be dealing with. Since the soldier is used to using violence, it is easier to irritate them and help them get to a point where they think they need to respond with violence. This causes a very big stress on the children in the household because they are scared of who their parent or guardian has become and they know it is not fixable. Deployment leads to a lifetime of disabilities and hardships that do not go away over time. Even though one can have their organ or limb replaced with something, the memories of what happened will never leave their mind. This leads to many mental issues that soldiers also have to face upon returning from war. Mental illness cannot be tested or fixed the way physical injuries can. The diagnosis of mental illness is based on interview that are used to evaluate, which is known as “neuro-psychological evaluations,” (Common Diagnosis, Medications & Side Effects for Combat and War Trauma). The biggest mental illness that is caused by deployment is Post Deployment Syndrome, or PDS. PDS causes anxiety, depression, slow processing throughout the brain and numbness. More specifically, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. This disease can be obtained by anyone who has gone through a bad experience. 19% of the three million people who served in Vietnam, returned with Post-traumatic stress disorder. This causes them to have nightmares, lost concentration, guilty feelings, and major depression, (Mental Casualties of Vietnam War Persist). Even though these horrors do lessen, they never reside entirely. PDS and PTDS are caused by many different things taking place at the warfront. Mainly, soldiers obtain mental scars by seeing others killed or injured. It is a horrifying sight to see bodies drop and and dead bodies on the ground. The only thing that could possibly be worse, is seeing someone close to them get shot or ambushed and pass away. Another big cause of mental issues that are dealt with after war is being shot at or being ambushed. It is a scary feeling to know that someone wants to harm another person and has intentions of doing so. It’s also a very scary feeling to have to shoot at someone else or have to kill them. This leads to PDS and depression. About 3-25% of soldiers who come back from war face depression, (Mental Health Effects of Serving in War). This sometimes results in suicide or being deployed once again. One must remember that they are not the only one being effected by the horrors of war and the hardships of returning to normal civilization. When a soldier comes back from war, it effects his friends, community, family and health care workers who are struggling to help. The most drastic way that the community could be effected would be if the soldier suffers enough at home where he takes his own life. This would cause mourning and disbelief across the community and would hurt everyone immensely. Another way that the community could be effected is if the soldier decides he does not have a place in society and decides to go back to deployment. About 2.5 million services members have been to wards and returned in the last decade. Almost half of them have been deployed more than once for this specific reason. They feel out of place once they return to their community, and do not want to burden others with their constantly pain and negative outlook on life, (U.S. Veterans and Military Families). The wife of a marine was interviewed in the article Iraq, Afghanistan War Veterans Struggle with Combat Trauma, and had this to say about her husband who had recently returned from deployment, “Before, he wasn’t perfect, he could get mad, but now it’s like he’s always angry and irritable. The least little things sets him off. Or he just sits there watching TV and won’t even talk to me.” Things seem to fall apart between families after a member returns from deployment. Some women and men cannot put up with the struggles they are faced with upon their spouse’s return. Many feel as though they do not have a relationship anymore, or are not in love anymore and they move on. The events and suffering that the soldier has to face and remember, directly effects all of the individual’s lives around him. Being away from home for very long periods of time causes many problems at home and at work. Upon returning, most soldiers are a completely different person. They do not have the same traits that others probably enjoyed about them and they have a negative outlook on things. This prevents old friends and colleagues from wanting them to be part of what they are participating in, whether it be work or an event taking place in their town. Soldiers sometimes destroy their own families upon returning. As discussed previously, a report that was conducted in July of 2010 found that child abuse in families who have had a member deployed, was three times higher, (U.S. Veterans and Military Families). This could be caused by alcoholism or the natural response of violence that was put forth many times during deployment. One in five of two million U.S. soldiers have come back from the war zone with many mental and physical preventions and disorders. Their lives will never be the same. Their lives become extremely complex and sometimes are not suitable for the people around. Many soldiers end up divorced, because they are not bearable or fit to have children anymore.

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