Observation .
J . Peacebuilding and Trauma Awareness Among Military Veterans and Ex-Combatants ( Lesson # 2631 )
Better awareness of service-connected and pre-service trauma by military veterans and their leaders will lead to lower rates of suicide , suicidal ideation , depression , domestic violence , and substance abuse . Increased trauma awareness by service members and their leaders will lead to a culture in which these issues can be dealt with before they manifest in violence , leading to a greater culture of peace and stability within the armed forces , decreasing or ending cycles of violence and acting out during and following military service . This applies not only to military veterans in the United States but also to ex-combatants around the world .
Discussion .
Since finishing my enlistment in the United States Navy in 2013 , I have worked to engage the issues of trauma among members of the armed services in the U . S ., their families and support communities in diverse settings such as university admissions , governmental hiring processes , community engagement , bridging the civilian military divide , and clinical mental health counseling ; and I continue to do so today as a certified mental health worker . The commonality throughout all these settings is the idea that having a basic awareness of the idea of psychical trauma can act as a measure against continually proliferating cycles of violence on ourselves and others , which can follow us home as we return from conflict . I will highlight a few of the cases I have worked on , as well as statistics around these issues in an attempt to demonstrate why greater trauma awareness among service members and their leaders will decrease or end cycles of violence and trauma in the military community .
We can define trauma as an event that occurred in the past that was so dangerous or upsetting that it continues to affect the mind and body of a person today , in a way that causes serious distress and acting out . Perhaps one of the most prevalent statistics around veterans ’ trauma is that of suicide . Somewhere between 20 and perhaps 22 veterans commit suicide every day in the U . S ., and suicide among active duty military remains high year to year , and is a cause of concern for many commands . " The overall suicide rate for active-duty personnel in the Army hovered at 22 per 100,000 during 2009-11 ," and among veterans was 46 per 100,000 in 2009 and nearly 80 per 100,000 in 2011 - the last year the most recent data was available ( Zoroya , 2014 ).
This trend is extraordinarily disturbing when viewed at the macro level of this data and is not diminished at the individual , clinical level . Given that this is a crisis of what we call in the United States " mental health ," I feel it is important to view these issues through clinical vignettes , in addition to the important data gathered by the Veterans Administration and the U . S . Department of Defense .
From Julia Minaudo , an expert on trauma among groups : " Faced with this , I wonder , what is past ? There are two ways to think about it : one-strictly consensual – which sustains that it is about a consensual measure of time in culture , and another is the approach of psychoanalysis . To account for this position let us look at some examples : the soldiers , that much time after experiencing the cruelty of war , continue to hear in any shout of joy the pain of their fellow countrymen ; or those who insistently continue to repeat the noise of bombs in their dreams . It is the experience of a story that repeats : ' once upon a time ...' and another ... and another ... This is an experience – rather than of the past – of the continuous present which affects us here and now " ( Minaudo , 2015 ).
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