 Chaplain
John Morris of the Army National Guard joined our group today to
give us a "heads up" and lots of valuable information about our
role as private citizens and business men and women in the
re-assimilation of the soldiers returning from combat duty in
Iraq.
The Army spends sixth months turning a law abiding citizen into
a warrior who every day faces the life and death decisions
involved in combat duty. Major Morris himself is a combat veteran
and understands exactly what is facing our returning soldiers. He
was accompanied by Joseph Sanganoo who is the resident 1-194
Battalion Training Officer whose most difficult job is to see his
soldiers go off to war and stay behind. His job and our job is to
take care of the families left behind and to prepare for their
return.
The Army has changed its philosophy about returning veterans.
The army, the governor and the adjutant general of the State of
Minnesota all want to see these soldiers recover from their
experience unlike many other veterans including the ones from the
Viet Nam War. The 3,000 Minnesotans now in Iraq will return at one
time, making this the largest contingent of soldiers returning to
the state at one time from a combat zone. More soldiers are
preparing to be sent out in the fall of this year including 60
from Brainerd itself.
Major Morris began by explaining, "The struggle to reintegrate
after combat is a struggle that affects the whole community". He
then went on to use a canoe as a prop to visually show us how
difficult this process is for the families involved. He handed out
packets which will help our members help the returning soldiers
and their families. He gave us the five major areas involved in
the process to transform our warriors back into private citizens.
The big issue they deal with in the community is alienation.
For example 35% that go back to where they left off in school,
drop out becau se
it seems meaningless. The work place is another place where
confrontational issues occur. Instead of challenging the political
philosophy behind the war, Major Morris encouraged us to thank
them for their service and recognize that they are not responsible
for the country's political philosophy.
The second area of concern is complexity. Soldiers are totally
focused on their mission with their lives organized completely by
others. They return to "freedom" to make decisions which often
times are not good ones.
Another aspect involves returning to normal life from a big
adventure. This all volunteer professional army is made up of
individuals who signed up to defend the nation and nothing at home
fills their sense of importance. Each soldier must also find a new
identity since their old ones no longer fit.
Finally, Major Morris wanted us to give them peace by being
very sensitive to issues especially the life and death decisions
that haunt them all their lives. He concluded with the idea that a
proactive community needs to reach out to the families to allow
the soldiers in Iraq to do their jobs and to reach out to the
returnees themselves with understanding that will help them truly
"come home". |
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