What Things Were Difficult to Communicate to Family and Friends About Your Military Service? Login & Share to Win!

Hard for me to express hw cheated I feel, even 50 yrs later, at the way I wz discharged. It hurts that my trust could be betrayed so easily.

In the days of our rfrad sitting at demob station was so happy that we had returned home, but the day I was to fly home it was time to say goodbye to the men that I had just spent a 18 months deployed with in my heart saying good by was so hard it choked me up and almost a tear or two these men became my brothers, my family, my mentors, my protector, My Best friends. wondering if I’d ever see any of them again till this day they all still are in my daily thoughts that is a feeling no one at home can ever understand

The thing that was the most difficult to communicate to friends and family was what truly went on while deployed to Iraq from 05/2004 to 05/2005. Not just being away from family, but the lack of basic necessities like fresh drinkable water, hot or cool showers, a decent warm or hot meal, and the fact that you would wear the same uniform for at least 3 to 4 days because you were not able to wash clothes as needed. They thought all that was just hyped up, that those things were supposed to be automatically put into place. Then when you try to explain about the constant bombardment of incoming rockets and mortars, well, it was presumed I must be exaggerating, even with photographic proof. It took it's toll on marriages, mine included, especially when you would think your spouse would have believed you. I currently visit the veterans center near me for counseling for PTS, which my ex didn't believe me to have, claiming I just had anger issues. Yes I did have anger issues, from seeing on a daily basis the birds being filled up with flag draped caskets of young service members that were barely between the ages of 18 through 23, not even getting a chance to start living, and their lives were over. I was the old man there, having been a veteran once already and re-enlisting 13 years later at the age of 37. So trying to convey that to other's whether it be family or friends, they just couldn't understand how or why that would affect me so much. Some things just can't be explained in the simplest forms to get others to understand.

It was difficult to tell my parents and friends I was in training, to deploy for war. Didn't want them worrying about me.

During my later career, I traveled about 400 miles away one weekend a month and two weeks a year or more, so missed many events, of both family and friends, due to my traditional Air Guard drills. It was difficult at times for people to understand that schedule and my being gone so much.

Well, this young sailor came home on leave after boot camp, but was really quiet most of the time. Finally, his mom asked him why. His reply: "Well, Mom, I have just spent several weeks with a bunch of spirited young guys like me. Somehow, we just naturally fell into the habit of using a lot of profanity. That habit is still with me, and I am afraid to say anything, because I might fuck up."

More seriously, one thing most people couldn't grasp was why anyone would ride a sewer pipe under water for long periods, it seemed SO SCARY to them.

Also, I found Viet Nam to be a beautiful country, with attractive, gentle-seeming people. I couldn't picture them at war. That was hard to explain to folks, in view of all the horrors taking place there. Yes, I will be the first to admit that my perceptions were incomplete, from my limited acquaintance with the country (in 1966-67).

One disappointment was based on the inability for a joke to be funny if you have to explain it. So, for example: "Where are the headlights on a ship?" "In the head." wouldn't work. Other meaningful aspects of THE LIFE couldn't be properly appreciated because ya just had ta be there.

Everything I saw as a medic. When I was hurt. I let my dad know but not my mom. Dad had been through Vietnam so he understood being a devil dog so he got it. Mom, not so much especially when you are an only child that took them 9 years to have. So she’d of panicked even though she was also a Marine. So this Army medic was a Daddy’s girl lol. Still miss that old man after almost a decade gone.

Never really talked to my family about my service. They just know I served.

PTSD related circumstances.

Being a female in the military during a time that females did not have the same rights or services as males.