There are around 22,000 veterans in Central Oregon—less than 10% of the population. Nationally about 7% of the population has served in the military. Three million served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A slim, and decreasing fraction of United States citizens know the rigors of military life and even fewer the unique challenges faced by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Whatever their fond sentiments for men and women in uniform, for most Americans the wars [in Iraq and Afghanistan] remain an abstraction. A distant and unpleasant series of news items that does not affect them personally,” said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in 2010. “Even after 9/11, in the absence of a draft, for a growing number of Americans, service in the military, no matter how laudable, has become something for other people to do. In fact, with each passing decade fewer and fewer Americans know someone with military experience in their family or social circle.”
There is no ubiquitous belief among veterans after the withdrawal from Afghanistan last month, ending what was America’s longest war. A Morning Consult Poll shows that divide, with 58% supporting the withdrawal, 7% unsure and 35% opposing. Even with the qualifier that the Taliban regains control of Afghanistan, still 53% support the withdrawal, 10% aren’t sure and 36% oppose.
“In the military we’re trained to think collectively and not as much individually. Yet, we are a reflection of the society of America. And so you’re going to get the same diversity of thought among veterans,” said Ron Ford, an Air Force veteran of Vietnam and vice president of the Central Oregon Veteran’s Ranch Board of Directors. “Maybe there’s a connection between the willingness to serve and certain ideas and views. But my experience has been that they pretty well reflect society.”
Though veterans run the gamut of American opinions, they are unique in that they experienced something that for most Americans was an abstraction.
“It’s frustrating now, because I left a part of me over there,” said Ryan Mulhur, an Army veteran of the war in Afghanistan who moved to Central Oregon three years ago.
Mulhur says the withdrawal has been disheartening for him, since he has personal relationships with interpreters, Afghan soldiers they trained and Afghan civilians.
“It just sucks, and it hurts, and you feel like your country, your government is just kind of abandoning people that helped them out,” Mulhur said. “In the past, that’s just how veterans have felt about them, especially the Vietnam era veterans, they felt abandoned. I kind of get it now. I don’t feel like our government really did… I’ll say the right thing, but that’s a personal opinion.”
“I can talk to my brothers and sisters about mental health and about how I’m doing that week or doing that day, and there’s no judgment. Whereas I can’t with the public, especially because the public hears military and they think of a lethal killing machine nine times out of 10.” —Ryan Mulhur
The withdrawal has also been a trigger for some veterans, reigniting mental health issues. A 2014 study found enormous disparities in mental health among civilians and military personnel, with soldiers five times more likely to experience major depression, six times more likely to experience intermittent explosive disorder and 15 times more likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I can talk to my brothers and sisters about mental health and about how I’m doing that week or doing that day, and there’s no judgment. Whereas I can’t with the public, especially because the public hears military and they think of a lethal killing machine nine times out of 10,” Mulhur said.
Mulhur said military members have a different way of speaking to each other, and that speaking with other veterans can be helpful after returning home.
“I think a good example would be veteran suicide. We can talk about it very, very, very openly. We talk about death, we talk about suicide, but we talk about it in a way that gives us relief. It’s cathartic, in many ways,” he says.
Supporting veterans’ mental health is among the top priorities for veteran organizations like Central Oregon Veterans Ranch, which Ford said provides a healing environment for veterans challenged with reentering society and PTSD.
“There’s 20,000 veterans in Central Oregon. Statistically, there are somewhere between 20-30% of veterans that are dealing with PTSD,” Ford said. “If you did the math, and you just say let’s take 25% of that 20,000, you got 5,000 veterans in Central Oregon. Now you multiply that out by a partner, spouse, kids, family members, whatever it is. So it’s 10-15,000 people in Central Oregon, that are affected by PTSD.”
This article appears in Sep 15-22, 2021.
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Along with active duty soldiers, sailors, Marines, and Airmen the Oregon National Guard has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times over the 20-year global war on terrorism.
Oregon is historically at the bottom of the heap when it comes to adequate behavioral health and substance dependency programs, both in-patient and out-patient. Efforts in Salem to improve this situation have fallen on deaf ears.
“How many veterans…”
https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2017/05…
https://www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article…
At the same time Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are dynamically engaged in rescuing those they met in these two war-torn countries. Project Exodus has to date brought 800 Afghans who are US citizens or green card holders out as of this date. Project Pineapple Express has brought 3000 out.
Both these private sector organizations are rooted in the US Special Forces / Special Operations communities.
Oregon veterans are encouraged to contact their VA medical care facilities for additional help; as well as their National Guard behavioral health teams (the Bend National Guard station, for example). Wounded Warrior Project likewise offers multiple services at no cost to GWOT veteran, to include individual and family support counselors and programs
Oregon veterans have historically served the nation well and continue to do so. “No Fallen Comrade Left Behind”.
And from LTC (ret) Paul Henderson, today an exceptional attorney here in the Pacific NW –
“Being told that my combat experiences left me with a permanent ‘disorder’ that would never go away and the best I could do is learn to manage the symptoms neither sat well or rang true for mee. But, my symptoms of nightmares, flashbacks, flat emotions, alcohol dependence, and quick anger, was real…
“The psychic trauma and wounding we call PTSD is as old as warfare itself, and is more accurately addressed as an initiation into a new and important identity as opposed to a permanently disabling ‘disorder’…
“Psychic trauma from war is real and common. It has been with us as long as humans have walked the earth and practiced organized violence against one another…The tradition of initiation into the archetype of the elder warrior has long transformed the crucible of combat experience into a new identity and mission as a leader and guide in society, as well as a role model for the finest and most noble of human traits…
“We can regain this tradition with the right approach. We owe this to ourselves as veterans, to our families, and to the society we serve.”
Paul Henderson, “Creating elder warriors instead of victims’, The Drop, Fall 2021
And as an adopted member of the Nez Perce nation I found this sage advice from a Nez Perce warrior of many generations ago most helpful on my own journey from Warrior to Warrior Elder –
https://lmtribune.com/northwest/passing-th…
“This “Nez Perce Warrior’s Reflection” though, is a quite a list of things to deal with. Makes PTSD a little bit more than only a medical term.”
———
They said I would be changed in my body.
I would move through the physical world in a different manner.
I would hold myself in a different posture.
I would have pain where there was no blood.
I would react to sights, sounds, movement and touch in a crazy way,
as though I were back in war.
They said I would be wounded in my thoughts.
I would forger how to trust,
and I would think that others were trying to hurt me.
I would see dangers in the kindness and concern of my relatives and others.
Most of all, I would not be able to think in a reasonable manner,
and it would seem that everyone else was crazy.
They told me that it would appear to me that I was alone
even in the midst of the people, and that there was no one else like me.
They warned me that it would be as though my emotions were locked up,
and I would be cold in my heart
and not remember the ways of caring for others.
While I might give meat and blankets to the elders, or food to the children,
I would not be able to feel the goodness of these actions.
That I would do these things out of habit and not from caring.
They predicted that I might do harm to others without plan or intention.
They knew that my spirit would be wounded.
They said I would be lonely and that I would find no comfort
in family, friends, elders or spirits.
I would be cut off from both beauty and pain.
My dreams would be dark and frightening.
My days would be filled with searching and not finding.
I would not be able to find connections between myself
and the rest of creation.
I would look forward to an early death.
And, I would need cleansing in all these things.