As the fighting in Afghanistan (and, previously, Iraq) comes to an end, our Marines will return home and try to re-establish their normal routines. How will their war experiences change them? What can we expect as parents, wives, children? What can we do to help? How do we know what to do?

The questions are varied and the answers will depend on your family and your Marine. Each situation will be unique. The one constant we have is that each Marine and each family member has been affected by the war in Iraq. This section of the web site will offer a variety of links to information to help you find the answers to your questions.

Want to know what you can do to support our newest generation of Veterans from Iraq? How to support our Veterans of past wars? Here's a great article for helping all Vets: Support New Vets.

• USMC Return and Reunion Information
  Warrior Transition
  Return and Reunion Brief for Spouses and Families
  Marine Corps Family Team Building (MCFTB)

• Military Family Resource Center
  This is an excellent resource for deployed Marines and their spouses with children, and its worthwhile reading for Marine Moms and Marine Dads as well as other family members. Topics in this section of the MFRC web site address issues that children and teens may need help with regarding deployment as well as return from deployment. Also includes fact sheets specifically for the returning Marine.
  (Courtesy of the DoD Healthy Parenting Initiative)
  • Healthy Parenting Took Kit: Deployments and Returns
  • Questions and Answers About Reunion
  • Parents of Teens

• National Public Radio Transcripts
  • Hero Worship: from Talk of the Nation, Monday , April 28, 2003
    They've endured firefights, sandstorms and separation from loved ones. With the war behind them, what lies ahead for America troops returning from Iraq? Join Neal Conan for a conversation about coming home from war.
  • Returning Soldiers: from Talk of the Nation, Monday , April 28, 2003
    Guests to be announced.

• The National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
  An excellent resource with tons of accurate information and very well organized. This web site offers a variety of information and has a new section specific to the war in Iraq. The following is a small sampling of the information available on the PTSD web site:
  • The National Center for PTSD
  • PTSD: The War in Iraq
  • Military Personnel
  
  

• Related Articles:

  • MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.
    Story by Sgt. Colin Wyers From the USMC Online News, November 6, 2003 --
    "A Marine who recently returned from Iraq no longer has to worry about the enemy taking potshots at him. But he still does. It's an example of the kind of anxiety that follows some Marines back from the war front, making it difficult to function, a counselor here said."

  • Coping with post-war stress
    From CNN's Candy Crowley ~ Friday, October 24, 2003 Posted: 3:20 AM EDT (0720 GMT)
    "...like the warriors of the past, coalition forces in Iraq are coming home to find that when you leave the battlefield, it does not always leave you."

  • The other battle: coming home
    By Ann Scott Tyson, Special correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor: July 9, 2003 - "FORT STEWART, GA. - On his first weekend home from Iraq, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Gilmartin was driving down a sunny highway in Kissimee, Fla., when something suddenly felt very wrong."

  • PTSD Can Emerge in POWs, Combat Veterans and Civilians
    From the Department of Defense (DoD): WASHINGTON, May 12, 2003 - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is common in former prisoners of war. But the disorder might not exist in the seven recently returned American soldiers from Iraq, based on their experience.

  • Combat Stress Symptoms Vary Among War Vets
    From the Department of Defense (DoD): WASHINGTON, May 7, 2003 - "Mental health experts don't know what combat stress reactions to expect from service members returning from the war in Iraq. And it's not just stress reactions from actual combat, according to Army Dr. (Lt. Col.) Elspeth Cameron Ritchie."

  • Returning to Work
    "How to Help Reservists, and Other Employees, Cope" By Joyce M. Rosenberg, The Associated Press

  • Homecoming: Resilience After Wartime
    An excellent and concise article by the American Psychological Association (APA): Even when the war is over, stress and uncertainty can require the skills of resilience both from those coming home and from those who stayed home. Resilience is defined as the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or other significant sources of stress.
    [Download PDF Brochure]

  • From 'Shell Shock' to 'Combat Stress'
    A Department of Defense (DoD) publication.

  • Shell-Shock and Awe
    On the Past-and Present-of Military Psychiatry

  • Shell Shock during World War One
    By the end of World War One the British Army had dealt with 80,000 cases of shell shock, including those of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. Joanna Bourke explores how the army tackled this extreme trauma, and how it was regarded by those back home.

• Additional Resources:
  • The National Mental Health Association
    The NMHA is a great resource. The link above is pre-set for information specific to military families.

  • PubMed: Military Psychiatry
    NCBI: National Center for Biotechnology Information web site houses a huge database publications and resources. The link above is a pre-set search in PubMed for articles related to PTSD.

  • Military Veteran's PTSD Manual
    An online guide also available as a CD.