As it turns out, I was way off:
How do American troops avoid combat fatigue after multiple one year tours to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan? One of the unexpected reasons appears to be the ready access to the families left behind. Email, video conferencing and cheap phone access do something never before experienced in a combat zone. The troops remain involved with the lives of their families. Spouses can still share decision making, and comfort each other. The kids get to hear from dad or mom several times a week, and the absent parent doesn't become a stranger. At first, it was thought that all this contact with back home would make things worse for the soldier. You know, after a hard day of fighting, you come back to base and get a bunch of emails about a leaky roof and kids misbehaving at school. But when surveys were taken, it was found that the hassles on the home front tended to displace worries about the combat right outside the wire.
Wow. It's good to know you are needed, I guess. In the abstract, our troops know they defend their kids and family. In practice, helping with math homework and telling the spouse to call some specific person about the roof is an immediate help and one that distracts from actual danger.
Still, it is a mixed picture of the impact despite the overall help (tip to Stand!-To):
But while the Internet allows more access to friends and family back home, hearing about the day-to-day problems can also put stress on soldiers, said Maj. Christopher Warner, the division psychiatrist and deputy division surgeon for Task Force Marne in Baghdad.
“Many of our soldiers either want to stay engaged and try and fix (the problems) themselves or may have spouses that expect them to fix them,” Warner said in an e-mail. “Either way, it can be very difficult and can increase the stress for both
Warner helped author a 2005 study published in last month’s issue of Military Medicine that said issues like family, financial and legal problems outrank actual combat exposure when it comes to what’s worrying most soldiers in Iraq.
The home front support the frontline troops in ways I hadn't imagined.
