This scenario played out 14 years ago, as the USS Constellation prepared to deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and I remember that morning like it happened yesterday. On October 2, 2002, my son joined a new generation of heroes that left to safeguard our country.
During the week of Veterans Day, 7-11 November, the Center for Deployment Psychology was proud to support the fifth annual Joining Forces Wellness Week (JFWW). Over these five days, CDP provided technical assistance, logistical support and personnel to a series of hour-long webinars. These webinars featured presentations from numerous organizations focusing on the unique needs and overall well-being of Service members, Veterans and their family members.
Most military couples would agree that military life offers a fair number of challenges. I reached out to some “real life” experts – military couples who have been around the block a time or two – to learn from their wealth of experience. Their marriages have collectively seen hundreds of deployments, PCSs, TDYs, and other major military family events – they have experienced ups, downs, and in-betweens – and they have some amazing stories to tell. I asked them to share the greatest challenges they have faced as military couples and the survival strategies that have kept them going.
While conducting workshops for decades around the world for many different types of individuals, both professionals and laypeople, the answer to the question I frequently pose to attendees—“Who here had a week recently devoid of problems?” leads consistently to an absence of raised hands. We all have problems—some small, and unfortunately at times, some being quite overwhelming. Based on this common sense consensus, we would all further agree that it is not abnormal or unusual to have problems.
When I was finishing up my clinical training on internship, I was co-leading a therapy group for WWII Veterans who had all been POWs while in theater. Here it was over 50 years since their military service and they all had the same complaint; they had not been able to get a good night of sleep since that time. This is unfortunately a common problem for Veterans and active duty Service members. There have now been several studies reporting high rates of sleep problems, in particular insomnia and nightmares.