Posted on Mar 19, 2016
MSG Anthony DiFondi
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I retired from the Army with 24 years of service back in late 2011. In the last 3 years, I have had dreams that I had to go back in the Military and I am now unable to keep up with the young troops and all the changes to the equipment and gear. The dreams are unsettling and very real to me. I know they are not about having an unsettled life that needs structure again, as I have an excellent job and great post-military career. I am finally settled in one spot and am very happy, so it can’t be an unhappy thing. Anyone else have these dreams?
Posted in these groups: Retirement logo RetirementSleep Sleeping
Edited >1 y ago
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MSgt Operations Intelligence
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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.
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PO2 Jennifer Meyers
PO2 Jennifer Meyers
>1 y
Mine is similar. Usually I'm missing my cover and cannot go outside or I don't have boots. Something is always missing leaving me trapped in the ship!
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SSG Rick Robbins
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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!!
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SSG Rick Robbins
SSG Rick Robbins
>1 y
Good point, thanks. Being a Medic I have always treated for the worse and hope for the best it is truly best for the patient that way. I agree with the everyday stress scenario but if I read his post right he does not appear to be suffering much at the moment, also three years of the same dream. If they last that long it probably needs to be addressed there is no need to have that meals tone around your neck if your neck. If he has started to talk about it that's a sign he is starting to be bothered by it. Whether PTSD or stress it needs to be addressed.
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SSG Rick Robbins
SSG Rick Robbins
>1 y
Sorry dropped my carrier. Thanks for your input appreciate it,
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1LT William Clardy
1LT William Clardy
>1 y
SSG Rick Robbins, the solution for simple stress tends to be more straightforward: I identify the triggering stressor and address that. In my case, the semi-regular recurrence merely reflects my fondness for using Montrose's Toast as a guidepost to being satisfied that I am actually earning my pay, so I'm never far from wondering what the heck I was thinking. That worry fades rapidly once I am closing in on a solution to the client's problem(s).
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SPC Steven Depuy
SPC Steven Depuy
>1 y
While I am sure there are many people who have that happening due to PSTD, my three years of drinking beer in West Germany hardly would have given me PSTD I would think. I always felt it was more of an anxiety of loving my wife and kids so much, and being sent back there for a year without being with them, would be something I could not have handled well.
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PO1 Ronald Schmiegelt
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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.
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MSgt John McGowan
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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.
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A1C Lisa Casserly
A1C Lisa Casserly
>1 y
My father in law was like that... My Mom in law told me of being woken by him, trying to strangle her... he enlisted at age 16 years, 10 months old in 1943. And was in thru WWII, Korea, Viet Nam... he was on Iwo Jima and also in Nagasaki within days of the bomb drop there. He was a Navy Corpman. No wonder he had awful dreams. Much of this I only know because of what my Mom in law told me, and because I went after his military records after he passed away. He was a real hero. I also have great uncles who were in WWII - Guadal Canal, etc... and they NEVER speak a word of it, because it hurts too much to think of the pain, fear, and loss of friends. I can't even begin to imagine the horror.
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TSgt David L.
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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.
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SSG Rick Robbins
SSG Rick Robbins
>1 y
Check with therapist at the VA and ask about brain spotting or EMDR. These are two treatments that are very effective. The explanations are long but basically you have memories hung up in a portion of your brain that makes them easy to recall these treatments helps them move to an area where they are less likely to pop up. Like moving info from C drive to a flas drive..
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MAJ Terrence Gardner
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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.
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CW2 Max Dolan
CW2 Max Dolan
>1 y
This reminds me of something, Terrence...My wife and I "deployed" to Central Asia as Southern Baptist missionaries for 8 1/2 years. My "Army dreams" pretty-much ceased during those years, because I felt that I was "serving" again over there. There was risk and sometimes real danger. There was a real sense of service, both to God and to mankind as we worked there. Perhaps more of us should "serve again" in other ways than in the military, and that would bring us not just peace, but spiritual and personal satisfaction.
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MAJ Terrence Gardner
MAJ Terrence Gardner
>1 y
Max, I think you are right, service to your fellow man or mankind does allow us to serve again for the greater good. The tools of the trade we have learned such as organizational skills, and the inter-social expertise gives us an immeasurable capability in this contribution. Yes I agree, continued service in other capacities would no doubt provide a personal and spiritual fulfillment for many of us.
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GySgt International It Pmo & Portfolio Manager
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And I saw someone mention PTSD. I think mine is more related to civilian life-induced PTSD. LOL
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SPC Steven Depuy
SPC Steven Depuy
>1 y
Yeah, I served in the one of the few periods of time where I can't join the VFW because we didn't fight anywhere. I have had that issue for 36 years, and hardly have PSTD from drinking good beer in West Germany and chasing hookers in Frankfurt.
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CW2 Max Dolan
CW2 Max Dolan
>1 y
Steven...you can join the VFW auxiliary and support them and participate in nearly all of their activities! They'd be happy to have you as a part of the organization. Go for it!
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Sgt Michael Lee
Sgt Michael Lee
4 y
Ha, I wonder if that's what mine are all about. I discharged from the USMC in August of 2003 and have had more dreams than I can count about being back in- either with guys from my past unit, or that I'm about to go through BRC again. Hell, last night I dreamed I was around a Seal unit for and my old buddy from the Marines was in BUDS trying to become a SEAL. For some reason in the dream someone was trying to get me to do the same. Yet, I knew in the dream I was my present 47 year old self. Strange. I actually don't mind the dreams; perhaps even missing aspects of past times that the dreams seem to be pointing to; though, I don't know what they truly mean.
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GySgt International It Pmo & Portfolio Manager
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Sgt Michael Lee I’m not sure they mean anything. Sometimes mine come on when I’m stressed at work and they’re usually a blend of my civilian and Marine Corps experience…. Most often I’ve either lost uniform items or am just out of uniform.
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1LT William Clardy
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Edited >1 y ago
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.
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SGM Retired
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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.
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PFC Donnie Harold Harris
PFC Donnie Harold Harris
>1 y
That Force misses you as well SGM. You arose up as cream because of your Stock you are made of. Keep up that service in the larger feild of overall life. I salute you.
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SGM Retired
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PFC Donnie Harold Harris - Thanks for your kind words, and sorry it took me so long to see them.
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Col Rebecca Lorraine
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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.
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PO1 Gregg Mundy
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All the time but for some reason I NEVER seem to have my uniform!!
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PO2 Jennifer Meyers
PO2 Jennifer Meyers
>1 y
Me the same. I either don't have a cover or my boots or any identification to get off tge ship!
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SSG Mannix Brooks
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MSG I think we have all had these nightmares (or sweet dreams for those who still think they are in) the unfortunate thing is as retirees you know we can be recalled by the Secretary of the Army but not likely unless things get really bad, like another big attack on the home front which is possible.
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Sgt Michael Oberline
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Last night at my American Legion meeting one of the guys told me he had been ask how long it had been since he was in Vietnam. I laughed and responded "Last night." He agreed.
Once you have been there you never really leave. Maybe if our politicians had all served instead of being of spoiled rich wankers we wouldn't be in the shape we are now.
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A1C Lisa Casserly
A1C Lisa Casserly
>1 y
My son tells me how they are not allowed to have this thing or that weapon, because its "unfair" to the insurgents/enemy since they don't have good equipment. I think that's so darn stupid. we don't WANT the war to go on forever since its fair. We want it won and over with. We should be allowing our soldiers to do their jobs and get it finished and cleaned up. I think we should put all the politicians with those stupid ideas onto a C-130, and fly them over THERE, and drop them off. Wonder how long it would be before they were screaming for rescue and help?
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Sgt Michael Johnson
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Yes, I have dreams of all sorts. For some reason, the hurry up and wait ones are the worst. Had a dream last night, which seemed to last all night. The dreams mess up my day some times. I've been out for over twenty years.
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CPL James Zielinski
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You're not alone with that. The imprinting that you get with your induction is pretty indelible. I wouldn't worry about it. I just wish i could pass my PT tests.
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1SG Harold Piet
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Welcome to the afterlife. I have talked to VA dr and he finally gave me Trazadone, in a small dose, when my dreams bother me it helps. I do not use it all the time but when the dreams persist and I become to active it releases me back to the retired world. I retired in 1995.
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MAJ Special Forces Officer
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My weird dreams were in 1962, in the 8th grade, living in Lynn Haven, FL. I dreamed several times that I parachuted into Cuba, to organise freedom fighters. I had an M-1 carbine and pineapple grenades. When we were not playing sports, after we cut the grass on Saturdays, it was pinecones and bb gun battles. If only paintball guns had been invented!
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PO1 Brian Austin
PO1 Brian Austin
>1 y
Ahh, the "good ol' days". My cousins and I would "hunt" each other in the woods, set up ambushes, etc., good times. We'd pump our BB guns one time, would just leave a welt if we got hit.

These days we'd probably be brought up on attempted murder charges or some crazy thing for doing that.
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TSgt Daniel Wareham
TSgt Daniel Wareham
>1 y
I grew up in Ohio, It was BB guns and Buckeyes in the spiked shell. Those things hurt like hell when they hit and stuck.
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A1C Lisa Casserly
A1C Lisa Casserly
>1 y
PO1 Brian Austin - As the mother... my oldest son shot my youngest son in the chest with a bb gun... let me just say I didn't dare raise a hand to the older boy because I was afraid I would kill him. Patrick wears the scar on his chest to this day. The kids - 5 of them - turned out ok. Nobody in jail. James went USAF, a B1-B crew chief. Jonathon became Army Infantry, 101st from Ft. Campbell. Patrick is now an Intel Analyst for the USAF. Shealynn - the younger girl - is an Army Combat Medic. And it was she - the rule following perfect child - who came back from Afghanistan with severe injuries. The oldest girl got married and didn't do military service. Oh, God. The things those darn kids did. I have yelled so loud and so much that I could feel my eyes bulging out. The fights, the fires, the guns and crossbows fired in the house... And the frog pond they tried to build in the middle of the bedroom floor... complete with 23 frogs. The trips to the emergency room to fix their boo-boos. Ah, good times, good times. It has been a bumpy road, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
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MAJ Special Forces Officer
MAJ (Join to see)
>1 y
A1C Lisa Casserly- hello- frog pond in the middle of the floor-- I am consideration with laughter-I can barely see THRU my tears!
My oldest son, when six was discovered (a loud crash from a drunk driver running thru my mailbox, which flew at least 15 yards) when I ran into his room to have opened a gallon of white house paint and with brush in hand was slipping it onto his wooden dresser drawers.
I painted myself brown at four when visiting grandmother at Ft Walton Beach, FL. Grandpa used up two or three gallons of turpentine (1953). It burned like fire.
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CW2 Max Dolan
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I'm "in uniform" in one way or the other, practically every night. I have a variety of weapons in a variety of conditions. Sometimes my uniform isn't quite right. Sometimes I'm a volunteer and sometimes I'm a leader. I retired in 1988, but am "back in the Army" in a sense, because I work on a military installation as a contractor. I enjoy these dreams. No nightmares about Vietnam, although I served there. Sometimes I respond to these dreams by cleaning the military gear that I kept, or have since acquired. Just last weekend, I cleaned my two "shelter-halves," scrubbed and re-painted the tent pegs their original orange color, and cleaned and re-painted the poles green. I actually slept in that tent on a TDY trip last week! I also have an M1A, which I have fixed up with an original 1960's wooden stock to look, feel and shoot like the M-14 I carried in Vietnam. I've got a 1911 .45 pistol and the shoulder-rig marked "US," too. "You can take the Soldier out of the Army, but you can't take the Army out of the Soldier. So, "soldier on," retiree!!
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CW2 Max Dolan
CW2 Max Dolan
>1 y
D6c7a200
Here's that M1A and my "K-Bar" that I carried for nearly 20 years. (The knife is really a "Camillus" contract piece.)
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Cpl Jeremy Brendle
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Yep I've been out since 2001. I was a Cpl. in the Marines and I've had several recurring dreams about going back in. For me I feel like i didn't do enough and would jump at the chance to reinlist. So i guess thats where mine come from. Semper Fi! Ooorah!
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Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D.
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For 1st 10 yrs - never. For the next 10 yrs seldom. Now approaching 70 - often dream of being back in the service - no nightmares. Maybe it is because of my concerned over the mess that our country has gotten itself into. Also, it does say in the Scriptures, .... "young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams." So, who am I to argue. Besides for me: Duty, Honor, Country are great things to dream about and to live out.
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