Soldiers Returning Home Character Analysis

Occasionally, the media reports of soldiers returning home from combat. They record soldiers dropping their luggage, hugging their spouse, and picking up their children. But what happens after the cameras stop shooting? Once the joy of his return vanishes, suddenly, the soldier screams as he wakes from nightmares of the Taliban shooting at his tank. As he slowly distances himself from his family, he quickly downs his liquor at the bar around the corner from his house. Later that night, as he lies under the covers, he remembers the gun under his bed. He grabs the gun and thinks, "Is this what life has come to?" Medical experts might diagnose this man with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder —a mental condition that develops after a traumatic event —such

The daughter of a war veteran, Marilyn, opens up about her father's struggle with alcohol after returning from Vietnam and her personal struggle with alcohol after returning from Iraq. She opens up about her father's post-war life as he "self-medicated [with alcohol]" and how he "never got proper help". On their first veterans day as war veterans, "[Marilyn's father] was omitted [in the hospital] [with psoriasis] and died six days later." After her father's death, "[Marilyn] noticed [herself] [falling] into the same pattern [as her father]" when she drank large amounts of alcohol. ("People Can't See...") But she is not the only one. In fact, "[e]ighty-six percent [report] an increase in substance use when PTSD symptoms [increase]" (Schäfer). But what makes veterans return to alcohol? When a Solider is out on the battlefield, "endorphin levels remain elevated and help numb the emotional and physical pain." When the soldier returns home , "endorphin levels gradually decrease [leading] to a period of endorphin withdraw... [which] produces emotional destress." Because of "alcohol's endorphin exciting proprieties", drinking is used to accommodate for the endorphin withdraw (Volpicelli and et al 256). To simply forget, Soldiers feel the need to self-medicate with alcohol—creating no true acceptance of what their life has come

Soldiers relive an event by having nightmares, recurring memories —flashbacks, and have emotional distress of said event. According to Carlos Hureta, a former soldier, he dreamt of himself "picking up the body parts of [his] soldiers..." and "the blood of Iraqi children as they [took] their last breath because of no fault of their own." Hureta also says, "In the quiet moments of the day, when I am with my Family, I see faces of all the wives, children, husbands, mothers, and fathers whose lives I destroyed with the notifications I made." Despite feeling "[he] was trapped in [his] own mind[,]" Hureta was not alone. In fact, The United States Department of Veterans Affairs reports that "fifty two percent Vietnam Veterans [that took part in the study] 

experienced nightmares." In addition, many veterans relive an event when the "anniversary date" of the event. When the anniversary of a trauma comes arounds, the solider may "[avoid] anything related to the trauma...", suffer "...panic attacks", and "worry [their] safety" ("Reminders..."). When someone suffers PTSD, a simple wave goodbye could send their mind into thoughts of seeing their friend die when he was shot in the