Health Caring Men: Male Veterans’ Coping with the Psychological

Effects of the Iraq War

Cindy Lung Adviser: Tyson Smith, Ph.D

Overview

• Background of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars• War-zone stressors on OIF and OEF soldiers• Post-war adjustment difficulties among

veterans• Introduce research question

March 19th, 2003

Major Characteristics• Asymmetric warfare• No “front-line” - there is difficulty

distinguishing between insurgents and civilians.

• Repeat and longer deployments

By the end of 2011, 4,487 U.S. soldiers had died and 32,000 were

physically wounded in Iraq.

Overview

• Background of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars• War-zone stressors on OIF and OEF soldiers• Post-war adjustment difficulties among

veterans• Introduce research question

• “…we got bombed a lot…we got bombed every day for a good three months. And then on convoys we were shot at all the time.” – Derrick

• “… that was my first time ever seeing someone killed you know. I’d never seen anyone killed before… I’m just staring there—standing there staring at it at this actual body with no head.” – Ervin

• “You know I put casualties onto my vehicle… I mean, that don’t phase you. I mean, that’s just again that’s part of your job. You know you train for it.” - Tim

Yet only a minority ofthe military populationwith mental illness seek

professional mentalhealth services.

The Male Veteran

How does hegemonic masculinity affect male veterans’ expression of their war experience and estrangement from professional mental

health care services?

Methodology

• Snowball sample from PI’s initial contacts.• So far, I analyzed 9 audio-recorded interviews with Iraq

War veterans. • All veterans reported at least one major symptom of

PTSD.• Preliminary findings suggest that access to care was not

an issue. Most vets interviewed view the VA positively. • “Yeah [the VA was helpful]. It’s taken them some time….from

when I first got back, they weren’t prepared for what was coming back. Umm, but now there’s plenty of things that are set up and plenty of avenues to go, uh, for help.” - Benny

Characteristics of ParticipantsName (Pseudonyms)

Branch of Military Length of Deployment

Ethnicity

Alan Army 13 months Biracial, half African American

Ben Army 15 months CaucasianBenny Army National

Guard7 months Caucasian

Derrick Marines 7 months CaucasianErvin Army National

Guard18 months African American

Norman Army 12 months CaucasianTim Army National

Guard12 months African American

Vince Marines 6 months FilipinoPaul Navy 15 months Caucasian

Themes

“…like I said earlier you can’t show fear. I mean, you

can’t. And it’s useless. It’s a useless emotion.” –

Benny

• “And I just saw him sitting in his room like looking leaning over….I’ve never seen him cry like, you know, I don’t know. I don’t want to see him cry. That would change things. I don’t know. It’s the weirdest thing. I don’t know. It’s a man thing.” -Norman

• “You know like I had a guy—I had to smack a guy because he was crying. Like I said, ‘Dude, why are you crying for? Dude, just do your job.’ ” - Norman

• “…they just like see me as like this strong person that’s made it through so much. And, uh, so I just feel like I can’t be like weak around them you know…and I don’t...I don’t feel like I can in front of either one of them ‘cause they all look at me as like some kind of superman, you know .” - Tim

• “..I just feel like I can’t be like weak around them.” - Tim

Conforming to ideas of traditional masculinityhas costs.

Conflict Response, Negotiation, and

Transformation – From the Global to the

Individual

Thank you all!

Shout out to Prof. Smith!