October 10, 2007:
How do
American troops avoid combat fatigue after multiple one year tours to combat
zones in Iraq and Afghanistan? One of the unexpected reasons appears to be the
ready access to the families left behind. Email, video conferencing and cheap
phone access do something never before experienced in a combat zone. The troops
remain involved with the lives of their families. Spouses can still share
decision making, and comfort each other. The kids get to hear from dad or mom
several times a week, and the absent parent doesn't become a stranger. At
first, it was thought that all this contact with back home would make things
worse for the soldier. You know, after a hard day of fighting, you come back to
base and get a bunch of emails about a leaky roof and kids misbehaving at school. But when surveys
were taken, it was found that the hassles on the home front tended to displace
worries about the combat right outside the wire. In fact, combat stress
counselors are getting more visits from troops upset about family issues, than
about combat experiences. In fact, nearly as many troops are stressed out over
personality frictions with other troops, than with the mental pressure from
combat.
Now all this varies by
unit. Most troops get to Iraq or Afghanistan, and hardly, if ever, leave the
well protected base they live and work on. Aside from an occasional rocket or
mortar shell, they never get involved with combat. So, naturally, these men and
women are going to be more sensitive to pressures from back home, or from
fellow troops. Combat units will be more focused on violence or stress they
encounter outside the base. But even with this group, at least among the
married guys, domestic and peer related pressures are crowding out combat
stress.
It is believed that the
email and cheap phone access gives combat stress welcome competition for a
troops attention, and anxiety. Given a choice between worrying about a child's
illness, or that IED that nearly blew up your truck today, the soldier will
concentrate on the kid's well being. No one expected this, and the phenomenon
will be studied for some time to come.