Soda can explosives

At UW-Milwaukee, occupational therapy graduate student Heidi Plach conducted a study to determine the post-war outcome of young veterans. Realizing the ripple effect of veterans’ physical and mental health, Plach wanted to find out what issues the veterans struggled with as they adapted to life at home.

“The topic of veterans affects everyone,” Plach says. “It’s your brother, your mother, your coworker, your sister, your uncle. This is a population that needs a voice.”

With support from her academic adviser, Plach’s inquiry began in May 2008, and she was amazed by the quick response.

“When I posted the study, within two days, I had 87 responses,” Plach says. “The fact that they were so willing to share means they’re asking to share.”

Plach held group interviews with ten veterans and conducted in-depth interviews with 30. She finished her research 18 months later. Her results showed five key struggles most often cited by the veterans: relationships and belonging, school, physical health, sleeping and driving. Of these, driving most surprised Plach.

“Over in Iraq, one of the most dangerous places to be is on the road,” Plach says. The fear of improvised explosive devices, she explains, persists as veterans come home. As a result, many veterans drive recklessly to avoid perceived harm, which may be just a soda can on the road.

At the end of her research, Plach concluded much the same as Jacobson about returning veterans’ transitions.

“I heard this over and over in interviews,” Plach says. “[Coming home] is a letdown in a way. The hype is less and less. The soldiers are in it every day, and when they come home, they’re just Joe Schmo.”

Bad habits, poor sleep

While Jacobson found his niche in helping fellow veterans and firefighting, a job he credits with allowing him the same adrenaline rush as the military, other veterans transition into a life completely separate from their service.

Twenty-five-year-old Anthony Moore of Madison went to Iraq with the U.S. Army Reserves in 2005. Deployed in the middle of his second semester at UW-Madison, Moore was never gung-ho about serving in Iraq. When he returned after his yearlong tour, it was the military lifestyle that most affected his transition.

“It was difficult. Really, really hard at first,” Moore says. “You pick up a lot of bad habits in the military: cursing, saying ‘faggot’ all the time, playing with a pocket knife. But the sleep was really what got me.”

Moore’s erratic sleep schedule affected his schoolwork – so much so that he enrolled as a part-time student for three years before feeling ready to take on more than 11 credits. After a diagnosis of a sleep disorder and a Trazodone prescription, Moore’s sleep troubles are now “abnormal instead of normal.”

Part of Moore’s transition process has been to build an identity separate from his military service. Whereas other Iraq war veterans may wear their service proudly on their sleeves, Moore chooses to keep it to himself.

“I don’t bring it up. I don’t make it a part of my identity,” Moore says. “If anyone has specific questions, I can talk about it. But I’d rather they get to know me as myself rather than some soldier.”

Despite their different transition experiences, the veterans all offer the same advice for deployed soldiers: When you come home, get help.

“Whether or not you think your issues are your fault, you have to ask for help,” Moore says. “In the Army, you’ve got that mentality of not bringing up issues, but you’ve got to be the squeaky wheel to get the oil.”