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Welcome back to the United States • Department of Veterans Affairs |
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Returning
from deployment | Reunion with
family | Returning
to the workforce/financial assistance | Mental and
physical health | Returning
disabled | Staying in
contact
(some sites may respond slowly due to increased
traffic) 
Returning from deployment
When troops return from deployment, they are
usually flown back to their home states. There, they receive a post-deployment
assessment from the military, according to Dr. Gerald Cross, deputy chief
patient care services officer with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
During the assessment, troops are given physical and dental examinations and an
individual transition plan. Dr. Cross says the troops also take part in a
three-day Transition Assistance Program seminar from the departments of
Defense, Health, Labor and Veterans Affairs, where they receive benefits
information and adjustment advice.
Ninety to 180 days after the post-deployment assessment, troops get a follow-up
assessment from the Defense Department. For those troops who are leaving the
military altogether, the VA and groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars
offer benefits ranging from health care and insurance to job training,
counseling, loans, discounts and down payments for house purchases. These links
give information on post-deployment and veterans' benefits:
• Deployment
Health Clinical Center: Veterans and Families
• DoD TransPortal: Defense Department Web Portal for Military
Transitioners
• Transition Assistance Online: Transition Assistance Program
• Department of Veterans Affairs
• Department of Veterans Affairs: Veterans Benefits Administration
Reunion with family
Even before troops leave home, the military advises
them and their relatives that family dynamics can change during deployment.
Literature and counseling are available to troops and their families before and
after deployment to outline some of the challenges they may face before, during
and after deployment. For instance, returning troops and their spouses may
begin to experience emotional detachment and intimacy problems; they may have
difficulty reasserting family roles; and abandonment issues can resurface, the
military says. Babies may cry when held by the returning parent, young children
may experience guilt or fear about separation and teenagers may seem apathetic
and moody after the initial family reunion. The departments of Defense and
Veterans Affairs remind troops post-deployment that coping mechanisms such as
violence or alcohol/drug abuse are unhealthy and that counseling is available
for them and their family members at one of 207 VA locations around the
country. The following links provide information about family challenges and
veterans' assistance:
• DeploymentLINK: Family Support
• Hooah4health.com:
U.S. Army Health Promotion and Wellness
• Military.com: Deployment Family Guides and Resources
• Department
of Veterans Affairs: Facility Locator
• Deployment
Health Clinical Center: Deployment Support
• National
Military Family Association
• National Guard Bureau Family Program Online Community
Returning to the workforce/financial assistance
The departments of Labor and Veterans Affairs
(VA) provide workshops and career counseling to troops once their deployment is
over during a three-day Transition Assistance Program seminar. Services include
job fairs and searches; tools for resumes, cover letters and federal job
applications; and assistance preparing for interviews and making career
decisions. Troops also get information about their military pay and benefits,
including separation pay if they are leaving the military. The VA also provides
assistance for education, vocational rehabilitation and home loans, as well as
assistance for homeless or incarcerated veterans and former prisoners of war.
The following links provide information about veterans' benefits:
• Transition Assistance Online: Transition Assistance Program
• Department of Veterans Affairs: GI Bill
• Department of
Veterans Affairs: Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program
• Department of Labor:
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) Advisor
Mental and physical health
Troops receive health care from the military
while on active duty. Once they leave, veteran-specific health care options are
available. The Department of Veterans Affairs says it was involved in recent
legislation guaranteeing an extension of active-duty health care for wounded
veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By joining the VA or groups like
Veterans of Foreign Wars, veterans and their families also have access to large
health care networks.
After they return home, troops should expect to have some behavioral adjustment
issues such as "battlemind," or "hypervigilance", according
to Dr. Matt Friedman of the VA's National Center for Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD). The VA provides psychological counseling to veterans for
war-related trauma as well as social services-type assistance to veterans and
their families. VA personnel are trained professionals who were also, in many
cases, veterans of active combat. The following links provide information about
health care and counseling:
• Department of Veterans Affairs: National Center for PTSD
• VA: What is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
• Department of
Veterans Affairs: PTSD and the War in Iraq
• Department
of Veterans Affairs: Health Care Eligibility
• Iraq War Veterans Organization: Readjustment after Deployment
Returning disabled
Some troops return home early because of
debilitating injuries. These troops are not flown to their home state right
away, but are taken to one of the major military hospitals, including Walter
Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and the National Naval Medical
Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The Department of Veterans Affairs identifies
soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for specific programs to provide
a smooth transition from active-duty health care to VA care, including
benefits, rehabilitation and employment help. After they are discharged from
the military hospital -- where amputees, for instance, are fitted for
prostheses -- troops may be taken to a VA outpatient or specialty center for
rehabilitation, training and job services. The following links provide
information on disabled troops:
• Department of
Veterans Affairs: Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program
• Department of Defense: Disabled Transition Assistance Program
• Blinded Veterans Association
• Paralyzed Veterans of America
• National Gulf War Resource Center
• National Mental
Health Association: Operation Healthy Reunions
Staying in contact
Communicating with friends and loved ones while
on deployment has been easier and faster for military personnel in Iraq and
Afghanistan than in any other campaign in U.S. history thanks to e-mail,
webcams and instant messaging. Once troops return home, communication with
their war buddies can be as important to the coping and healing process as
communication with loved ones was when the troops were in the field. The
following links include veterans' groups, military blogs, news sites or online
forums:
• Association
of the U.S. Army
• SquadronExec.com:
U.S. Air Force Personnel Resource Directory
• Military City: ArmyTimes, NavyTimes, AirForceTimes, MarineTimes
• USO (United Service Organizations)
