Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Why veterans struggle to translate to the civilian world

By Steve Beynon, For The Miami Student

The following piece is the first part of a series on veteran struggles.

Despite me being an Afghanistan veteran, I was always confused about the stories I see about veterans finding the transition to civilian life difficult. Overseas, there was no good food, alcohol or female "companionship." There were also a lot of people that were tasked with killing me. Back here in the States all those problems are alleviated. What could possibly be wrong?

It has been a little over two years since I returned home from war and I finally landed my first real job. I'm a producer at a successful video game studio in Chicago. I'm incredibly lucky to land this job. I have a salary, a 401k and I live in a very privileged neighborhood.

Strangely, this new career is incredibly empty and lonely. It's nothing against anyone in my life or the studio. My criticisms are more broad and likely fit in any civilian workplace. This job is incredibly reliant on teamwork. Getting a videogame shipped is a massive effort and I'm surrounded by incredibly talented and passionate people.

Yet the office culture leaves a lot to be desired. What depresses me is that I'm convinced this is as good as it gets in the civilian world. I cannot stress enough that my issues are not correlated with my workplace and I have good leadership. It's more tied with me discovering the natural limitations of civilian employment.

I miss the camaraderie. It sounds corny, but there truly is a brotherhood among soldiers that I feel is unlikely to be replicated in the civilian sector. In the Army, there's a sense that everyone is involved. Everyone has a very defined role and is usually eager to climb the ladder or at least has a clear path to career development. If you want to be promoted in any unit I've been in, you simply ask your leader and he will give you a very specific blueprint no matter how inexperienced the soldier is. The next step up is in the conversation the day after the last promotion.

Being in terrible situations whether it be seeing a friend take his last breath or something less dramatic like waking up at 3:30 a.m. when you went to sleep at midnight builds a community among a small group and lets everyone share the moment to moment cadence.

Every veteran I've talked to says he misses Afghanistan. The Washington Post reported 64 percent of veterans say they feel disconnected from civilian life and that 56 percent miss their time in war.

But how can this be? How can this be a common feeling in my unit when we had five fellow soldiers die and a dozen others injured? I can't speak for all veterans, but both for me and my unscientific survey of fellow troops I've talked to all share that they don't feel important anymore.

The second time we took enemy contact was three weeks into our tour on a routine mission escorting young girls to school. Afghan girls are often victims of violence if they seek education, so it's common for them to have armed escorts and guarded classrooms.

We were attacked by a group of Taliban fighters. The girls hid behind us and at that moment I knew I was exactly where I needed to be. I trained hard to shoot straight and to operate as a member of an Infantry squad. I was needed. One of our Afghan Army comrades was shot on the leg and our Medic was quick to react, he was exactly where he needed to be. He was literally the best person for miles that could do the job he was doing. Our Team Leader was quick to react, calling for a helicopter gunship to destroy the threat. He was exactly where he needed to be, no one else could've coordinated aircraft fire as quickly as he did.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

Right now, I spend my days looking at spreadsheets and logistics, playing a miniscule part in getting videogames released. My Medic works a thankless and uneventful security job at a hospital in Columbus. My Team Leader was later killed but he worked as a lawyer, he often complained of the lack of team structure and shared experiences in the civilian world. He loved to trade the suit for camo and the paperwork for drinks at the bar celebrating going to go to war.

Many vets including myself complain during war that we don't get enough sleep, or that times can get boring, or about being unsatisfied with upper leadership. However, there's a sense of belonging. Everyone is sharing those crummy moments.

All soldiers are unofficially tasked with training the man below them to do their job. We don't feel threatened to teach someone our job, it might even hurt the boss' performance to train the lower level guys. But they do that knowing it's for the greater good and that they know no matter what that younger soldier will replace them one day.

It's the fact that all these soldiers have defined purposes and folks rely on them to perform admirably and it's the culture of building a younger soldier to replace highers that I feel is missing in the civilian world. I'm good at operating weapons and controlling soldiers on a battlefield, but that doesn't translate well to Excel sheets. I know one of my soldiers would die for me and vice versa, but that level of commitment to the job and specific sense of belonging and importance to each other simply doesn't exist anywhere else.

I feel that this is tied to the high suicide rate and PTSD. We'll explore that next week.