Does Anyone Else Have Recurring Dreams About Being Back In the Military?

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one having these weird dreams. Mine often involve being recalled to active duty because of some major emergency or catastrophe. In the dreams I'm actively involved in rescue missions or in the middle of a major storm or event. I am sometimes wondering how I am able to keep up because I know I've aged and am not in the best physical condition. The best part is always seeing old friends and shipmates and feeling like I'm a part of something meaningful.

I've been retired from the Air Force for 18 years. I served for 20 years. Since I retired I often have dreams about being in the military again. I dream of struggling to understand the changes that have been made since I retired and what I consider a lack of other people being able or willing to do their jobs. Not sure why I still have these dreams. Often the dreams are a mixture of military service and my job after service (I worked for an employment agency) where it seemed that people really didn't want work. Anyway, my point is I think it's natural to dream of things that mean a lot about who you are. I'm happier now than I have been at any point in my life. I have my own jewelry business and I don't work for corporate America or the government anymore so I think the dreams are just part of who we are as veterans.

I'm usually out on patrol a few nights every month. I've gone from killing someone to trying to find my equipment, getting things together, all sorts of crazy stuff. In the last few years it's slacked off a bit and mostly comes if I've talked to someone for a while, watched a movie or such. I guess I just learn to deal with it.

I can totally relate to having recurring dreams that feel unsettling, even when life seems stable. I’ve had similar dreams, though mine are about being back in school and feeling unprepared for a test or presentation. Even though I’m no longer in that phase of life, the pressure in those dreams feels real. It seems like your military dreams could be your mind processing past experiences, even if you’ve moved on.

I came across an app that explains what our dreams are about. It mentioned that these kinds of dreams might reflect feelings of responsibility or challenges we’ve faced, even if they aren’t connected to our current life. It helped me see that sometimes, our brain revisits old roles as a way of sorting through emotions or memories. For more details check https://dreamabout.io/.

MSG Anthony DiFondi I have those as well. Most of the time it is that I am trying to retire (again) and get back to my regular life. They are strange to say the least.

A lot of times dreams incorporate things that happened to you during the day. Have you noticed these dreams occurring after long Rally Point sessions?

You are not the only one. I have them all the time. That I'm back on the line, doing my job. My wife says that she thinks it's because that is when I was the happiest in my work, despite the long hours, working in the weather, the pressure, etc.

I tend to agree with her.

After reading these post, I am glad to learn that I am not the only one. I have been retired for ten years, my how time fly. I have reoccurring dreams 3-4 times a month. The include everything from returning back to basic training (Former Drill Sergeant), returning from deployments, or some field exercise that something unusual happens. What is unusual about these kind of dreams is that they are extremely vivid and I will wake up from them and feel that they were real. Occasionally, I will fall back asleep and picking up where I left off in a dream. Excellent topic to bring up.

MSG Anthony DiFondi, oddly enough I have. Not very often but I do have them. Mostly it's about being back in my old units with the Airmen I was stationed with. I think it's most likely because I still miss the camaraderie and sense of purpose I had then.

Yes, it usually pre-deployment or pre Ranger School and I can't remember how to use any of the equipment. Unsettling....

Yes, I have had a few weird ones. I was reporting in for duty, I had my service dress jacket and blue shirt and tie. But my pants and boots were ABU (Air Force camo). And nobody said anything.

morning MSG, I am SSG "Doc Robbins", Retired. I am a civilian Medic and both On the green side and civilian side I have seen this many time. What you are experiencing is PTSD and you have probably heard that many times before. I am a Certfied Clinical Specialist in PTSD, I have studied this because so many people I know have this. There are things that can be done to help lighten this load tremendously. Procedure like Brain targeting, Rapid Eye Movement redistributing. This sound complicated but they are not and do not hurt. Some folks do like drugs but sometimes they are needed. Veterans have suicide rates of one every 22 a day and that are the ones recognized at suicides. It may not be to that point and you tell yourself that, but those 22 others a day never considered it in the beginning. The VA is extremely focused on this situation and help should be free and is considered a disability. I was a Army Combat Medic, and for Six years I waa a Navy Corpsman so you know I am not going to steer you wrong. You and the rest of those reading this need to get help, if not from the VA, somewhere. What may seem like a minor irritation now can move to a major problem quickly. HOOAH!!

I've had many of those too. Usually they involve something that never happened. They did include the people I was stationed with back then as well as the equipment we had. They are usually pretty strange.

My dad was a WW2 vet and was rated 100% disable. He still had metal in him from where he was hit in 1944 and he passed away in 1995. He dreamed about that war every night. He would get up in the morning and comment that he fought that war again. And I hardly know anything about what he went through, he just didn't talk. I had uncles the same way. That has got to be awful.

Yep. All the time. It's all about the job though. I'm keeping up even though I medically retired. It has been since 2009. Doesn't seem to be bad except when I dream about being back in Iraq. I hope it gets better for you as time passes MSG Anthony DiFondi.

I do not believe you are alone in dreaming of returning to the military, I think many of us who have left still do. For many of us joining the military at a young age has forged our lives in ways obvious and subtle. We think different, we act different, than those around us who have never served we have been trained that way and it has become a way of life. But above all, we retain a strong sense of duty. The strong sense of duty inside you, of wanting to return; because you feel the need as we have been fighting this long war......the desire to get back in the fight. I hope this helps you.

And I saw someone mention PTSD. I think mine is more related to civilian life-induced PTSD. LOL

Sure do MSG Anthony DiFondi, although they come and go.

For me, it tends to be a stress thing -- when real life gets stressful enough, I find myself back in uniform in my dreams, racing to make a movement or operation because I had been missing some piece of equipment.

Ironically, just before my first trip to Iraq, I dreamt that I was ready to go in a fortified compound somewhere by a river, calmly watching incoming mortar rounds light up the night.

MSG Anthony DiFondi I put in my paperwork in 2009, and got my retirement paperwork back in 2011, after 38 years. Yes, I occasionally have military dreams (about once a month.) When I turned 60, and transferred to the Retired Reserve, they started up again.

Mine are almost never bad. Either they are from when I was young enough to do things, or they are senior sergeant's business which I could still do. Often I'm briefing someone on the intelligence preparation of the battlefield.

I had an extremely successful military career, from having MOSs in 5 main career fields, being a Master Parachutist, an Instructor, to legally impersonating a Russian Major as part of a overseas train-up. My guess is that my dreams are just telling me that I miss what was a very satisfying career.

I have dreams. Dreams where I am always trying to hurry and can't keep up. As a nurse practitioner both within the military and out, I experience dreams where I have rooms full of patients with their families that I have to see and write up all the notes and I can't remember any diagnoses. Staff are asking me questions I don't understand. I am trying to maintain my panic levels, but I'm just overwhelmed. I haven't practiced since my retirement in 2009, so I would definitely be behind and that makes me sad. I experienced these similar life events and the stress can be really overwhelming. I stopped sleeping and eventually started having seizures. The dreams still happen when life is stressful and I feel I can't keep up. I wish I could say I make healthy choices for managing those reminders, but I don't. I feel like I lost a huge part of my personal identity when I was retired. I think you are experiencing similar types of dreams. "They say dreams are the windows of the soul..." I have pretty vivid dreams sometime and have found it helpful to write them down including the details that stand out including colors.