Transition back into civilian life is rarely easy

Returning to Raleigh

By Will Huntsberry • Jan 10th, 2011

Divorce, unemployment, substance abuse and suicide are the most common problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, the most common mental ailments of war.

Even for those who don’t come home with such injuries, the transition back into civilian life is rarely easy.

“It’s a little bit different,” said former Army Captain Chris Creasy of Raleigh, with more than a little irony in his voice. Creasy graduated from NC State University in 2006 and in 2009 was Executive Officer of the 664 Ordinance Company tasked with ammunition distribution in Iraq.

“It’s easy to miss the Army,” Creasy said. “The Army provided. It told you where to be. It told you when to be there. The Army told you everything.”

The military tries to smooth the transition for vets by providing a host of services–counseling, help finding jobs, career classes, health care, and money to go to school. With the enormous increase in active duty suicides over the past decade, the military has even introduced mandatory screening for PTSD and brain injury, at the urging of groups such as Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Still, as IAVA notes, follow-up appointments are not currently mandated for all service members who screen positive for possible combat stress injuries.

“I drank a little at first,” said Chris Ruder, another NC State graduate and Army Captain, who is still active in the National Guard.

Ruder, who has been deployed twice and served during the initial push to clear Baghdad of insurgents, said that his drinking calmed down after the first couple months back home but that some servicemen are never able to make a full transition back into civilian life.

“After the first time I came home I was still working at Bragg,” said Ruder. “There were a lot of other guys in the same situation as me who I could talk to. That was helpful. Me and a couple buddies who were also platoon leaders did everything together.”

According to a 2010 Defense Department report (PDF), more than 1,100 active service men and women committed suicide between 2005 and 2009. Divorced service members had the second highest rate of suicide, just less than members with a GED, according to the report.

“A lot of guys overseas are experiencing troubles back home,” said Creasy. As an officer in a foreign war, “You become a parental figure for a lot of these kids. Some of them aren’t making enough money to support their families back home or they’re going through a divorce and they’re having a really hard time.”
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Returning to Raleigh