THE WAR COMES HOME: There's help for soldiers who bring home baggage

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THE WAR COMES HOME: There's help for soldiers who bring home baggage
By Doug Finke and Alison Swade
GateHouse News Service



National Guardsman Charles Andel was shipped off to serve in the Gulf War, Bosnia and Germany during the 1990s. At the time, he was a single man.

Now, after spending a year away training soldiers for deployment at Louisiana’s Fort Polk, the 38-year-old married father of one said his homecoming would be more difficult the next time he goes overseas considering the responsibilities he’ll leave behind.

“If you’re single, the biggest thing is making sure the bills are paid and knowing if something happened to me my parents lose me,” Andel said. “I haven’t had to leave my wife and child (to go overseas), but when I do I’ll have to re-evaluate things.”

A platoon sergeant for the third platoon based out of the Illinois National Guard Armory in Pontiac, the Darien man was stationed in Louisiana to train soldiers while half his unit was shipped off to Iraq.

Andel joined the National Guard in 1986, and it was his marriage five years ago that changed everything. He has been home with wife, Liz, and 11-month-old daughter, Riley, for two years.

Though Andel hasn’t been called overseas since he was married, he understands it will be more difficult getting back to normal life.

“I’ve have a good friend whose wife bought a house when (he was) gone, and another who sold his tractor without telling him,” Andel said.

Managing finances are one of the major issues Andel has seen couples deal with overseas. He has seen women become addicted to online shopping and spending large sums of money while their husbands are away.

“It’s stressful when that person becomes responsible for things the husband used to manage,” he said.

That’s why Andel belongs to an Army support group, which helps all families in his unit stay in touch whether they are overseas or at home.

Before soldiers are deployed, the group helps families plan for paying rent and medical emergencies. It manages daily responsibilities, to help relieve stress already placed on families.

It will help provide babysitters for the women who have husbands in the unit to get together for dinner and sponsor an annual Christmas party. It will also provide an e-mail list to update families on deployments, to help families stay in touch.

When Andel was gone, his wife participated in the women’s support group.

“My friends didn’t understand what it was like to have your loved one away,” Liz said. “I would just call these women up and we would go out and do stuff to forget about it.”

While issues are common among military families as soldiers ship out and return home, not all have the support system in place to allow a smooth transition back to “normal life.”

Psychiatrist Dr. Chirag Raval conducts a clinic at Department of Veterans Affairs Edward Hines Jr. Hospital specifically for military personnel returning from the war.

Raval, medical director of Case Management Program Operation Iraqi Freedom Clinic, said about 30 percent of returning military personnel are in need of “some type of psychological adjustment.”

He said they suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome, have nightmares, trouble sleeping, abuse alcohol or other substances, or may be irritable, easily angered or startled.

“There are no buttons in the body where you can switch these off,” said Raval, who served in Iraq as a medical specialist in 2004 and early 2005.

Military personnel coming back from a war zone to normal society face major adjustment issues.

“It’s a huge stressor,” Raval said. “They’re still trying to emotionally adjust to a civilian’s life.”

The problems can be made worse when a soldier experiences the death of someone he or she was close to in the war.

“Imagine staying with someone morning, noon and night. ... Losing one of their members is sometimes more traumatic than losing a member of a family,” Raval said.
Some of those returning experience what Raval called “survivor’s guilt.”

“(They have) a lot of guilt. Maybe it should have been me. These guys are real proud people,” he said.

Others experience family problems, and marriages have broken up because of deployment in the war.

“It’s one of the most stressful things on a relationship that you can go through,” Raval said. “(Many) are young people who may have just gotten married and were making plans to have a child.”

He said when deployed in the war, sometimes for a year’s stretch, people have no control of what’s going on at home. They also are being deployed more often.

The goal of the counseling sessions at Hines, which are held in both individual and group settings, is “to provide education and skills to combat stress.”

Hines has people working as transition advocates, homeless advocates, individual therapists and a vocational rehabilitation program. The returning military sometimes have a difficult time getting back into civilian work, he said.

“They feel a little bit lost,” Raval said. “They’re these heroes that come back and it’s tough to work at a mall.”

He said returning veterans have access to everything Hines has available. Those seeking help can call Hines’ main number, [phone], or its Mental Health Clinic at [phone].

“I want these guys to know there’s help,” Raval said.

Recognizing the tough transition, the Illinois National Guard is beefing up efforts to help members readjust to civilian life, a process it calls reintegration.

Instead of a three-month break from the Guard — common for troops after overseas duty — soldiers are back at it 30 days after coming home. But they’re not there to drill, but to discuss family and financial issues. Attendance is mandatory.

“One thing we are seeing is that 90 days is too much time not to have contact with them,” said Stacey Rieger, deputy director of public affairs for the Illinois National Guard. “We want to make sure if soldiers or their families needed something, if they are having difficulty adjusting in any way, we can help.”

So far, only a handful of Illinois Guard soldiers have gone through the reintegration program. However, about 500 soldiers are scheduled to return home to Illinois during the coming fall and winter. All will be going through the program.

“We cannot expect our soldiers to deploy and not be changed by war,” said 2nd Lt. Justin Anweiler, reintegration project officer for the Illinois National Guard. “Every soldier who has been deployed has combat stress.

“Reintegration is stressful. Spouses have been apart for a year. It takes time and a lot of hard work for them to reach a new normal.”

One key area of focus for the program is assistance available to veterans, from housing to education.

The state Department of Veterans Affairs is charged with helping veterans and their families secure the benefits to which they are entitled. The department operates 51 offices across the state.

But many veterans do not take advantage of the programs created to help them.

“What happens is when people come back from a war theater or even their duty, they don’t want anything to do with military stuff,” said Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, an Army veteran. “They kind of go back to civilian life, and they don’t contact us as a state on their status as a war veteran when they get out. We have a hard time connecting with them.”

During his time in the National Guard, Andel said he seen some marriages fall apart, especially with young couples.

“I see a lot of young people who go and marry their girlfriend before being shipped overseas,” he said. “They think it will make things easier, but it’s more stressful because that person becomes your responsibility.”

Some couples who have problems before soldiers are deployed often think their troubles will go away over time, but just worsen, he said.

Andel said he had a few minor adjustments when he came home from Louisiana — like adjusting to his job as a technologist at Loyola Medical Center — and coordinating schedules with his wife.

“For me, I just wanted to go out and eat with friends, and she just wanted to spend time, just her and I,” he said.

When readjusting, Andel said it’s impossible for soldiers to think nothing in the relationship will change when they go away.

“Both people will change, and their attitudes will change,” he said.

This is why its important for couples to utilize resources the Army has provided to them, he said.

Andel has known couples who have benefited from a couple retreat, to help spouses reconnect. Though Andel and his wife have never participated in the activity, they anticipate things will change dramatically as they now have a child in the picture.

“I think I’m a little more prepared if he gets called away this time,” Liz said. “I want her (Riley) to know who he is, by showing her pictures and videos while he is away.”
For now, Andel is enjoying the perks of getting back to a normal life.

“I enjoy getting back to normal life, and not having to sit in the bathroom with 20 other guys.”



— John Koys contributed to this report

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