Can you describe how you felt coming home from a deployment or combat?

I went to 2 West Pac deployments during ODS and felt a huge sigh of relief coming home. My legs went shaky the moment I walked on solid ground after months of being out at sea. I felt lost, no one showed up to greet me with a heroes welcome upon our arrival at our home base; not that I deserve or ask for one. Soon after that, our ship went straight to the dry docks. There was this general fear of going back for another deployment because it was still in the height of ODS. I had nightmares of being out at sea, trapped during those seemingly long days and nights that won't end. The smell of jet fuels and shadows of random people filled my unconscious. I wake up in the middle of the night with panic attacks. Depression, including anger and avoidance followed; I questioned my identity and role, no sense of direction and worse, no one seemed to understand or bother to ask me what it's like out there. It was horrible.

I've never shared this experience with anyone so I'm glad we're given this platform to tell our stories. I think our service members returning from deployment or combat need more readjustment and reintegration tools and skills under their belt, not just a few debriefs, but a consistent continuity of care. These are our children, our brothers or sisters, our partners, spouses, fathers, mothers, friends, neighbors. They are people who desperately want to readapt to the civilian world. But how do you do that if there's no one out there who sees and listens?

For a single person, I felt depressed and alone. Coming from deployment where you are constantly surrounded by people and noise, the silence of the room was terrifying. For 12 months, 24/7, I had schedules and timeliness that I followed. Suddenly, I was free and didn't know what to do with time. When I visited my kids and family, I felt little awkward. I felt like an intruder. Trying to adjust to everything and do things I did prior to deployment were not easy.

I went back to my normal schedule pretty quickly after deployment. The only thing I needed to adjust with is all the time I now had on my hands. I ended up taking leave two weeks after returning and that was a huge help to me mentally because it took me away from the military environment and I was able to just decompress with loved ones.

Felt very different after my deployments. Helped out to talk to old friends as well as fellow vets or active duty members. HAVE TO TALK!!!

I was disgusted and ashamed of the cowardice shown by so many. I became mean and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. I see our newer veterans being exposed to the same treatment. I still hate hippies and leftist, socialist scum.

Extremely happy to be alive and home.

I always felt grateful to come back to home station after a deployment. And I felt truly blessed to be able to come back to be with my family. But I admit that I have lost military friends during some excursions, and I have had to grapple with grief and loss...and guilt for my own safe return. Being surround by loved ones, faith in a divine purpose, and having a sense of duty are what kept me going and striving to still perform at my best.

After 18 months in South-east Asia, coming home was not a great thing. There was not any parades nor celebrations like in other times of war when soldiers came back from the war. I felt acward due to the way most people treat me and how bad I felt adapting back to normal life. There were a lot of protest and marches against the US involventent in this war all over US and Puerto Rico. I still suffer nightmares and have Agent Orange effects from the exposure in South eatb Asia as Diabetes Mellitus 2, wich ia a presumed Agent Orange exposure effect.

Returning home from the Middle East during the First Gulf War was surreal. I will never forget the emotions that were so overwhelming. We were greeted with celebration, cheers and parades. I saw a people that truly loved our country and it made me so proud. I will never forget when I saw my family for the first time either. After spending so much time away from them, it was a truly emotional experience. I thank God for the opportunity to serve my country and for this experience. I may have only been 21 at the time, but I look back and clearly see the hand of God on my life.

I came back from my first deployment of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I was a scout and it was a high intensity deployment. It was hard going from 100 mph back to 0 again. It was frustrating stopping at red lights and it took a little time to not be constantly vigilant of enemy activity. I started drinking a lot with the guys I was with, because we had that common bond and I could not tell anyone about what I experienced.

It was frustrating when family and friends that were not there would ask the silliest and superficial questions; did you see Saddam, did you see any camels, did you kill anybody, etc. I realized that they would never know or really care at a deeper appreciation. It took some time to not be offended by that.