4 THINGS THAT ONLY A SOLDIER EXPERIENCES AFTER A COMBAT DEPLOYMENT TOUR

Meet George, an uncle and a man in his mid fifty's.A closer look from where he sits gives you a picture of a man who has lived his life always on the look out to potential civilian security threat .As i close on him he looks relaxed and somehow ready to strike at any slightest provocation.Crocodile as he was known in the army extends his large and wide arms for a handshake, a symbolic act of civil acceptance and freedom that he long fought for in the war battle fields.As we sip through some cup of coffee i can see him look through my eyes and imagine how the battle fields in which he fought would look  like if it had the current generation in its rank and formation.The generation he thinks takes the peace and today's security for granted.

As he sips through the last sip of  Kenya's finest coffee, i decide to break the ice and ask some question, a question that sounds offtrack at first but one which he gives a rather exciting response to."So what do you think war is?."War is life multiplied by some number that no one has ever had of" he responded,In his definition of the word war, i could already imagine what a battle field in a remote war stricken country looked like,the scene was horrific none compared to the movies and the multiple war documentaries i had seen before.The thought of innocent civilians being bombed and killed in air strikes hidden under another fancy counter terrorism campaign almost made me a bit mad if not crazy.As crocodile himself expounded on what war in Somalia and Liberia looked like, i asked him if the events that surround a combat environment had a profound effect on the soldiers lives after combat deployment .The answers to this question further helped to understand why some of our ex-servicemen behave in an irrational manner towards their civilian friends and relative.

First on the list of experiences that ex-servicemen and women experience after combat deployment is residual stress.This is the type of stress that builds up in post war times and is generally as a result of close combat and destabilising combat situations experienced by our men and women in uniform.One building factor of this type of stress is the fear of constant threat of surprise attacks by enemies at anytime.As crocodile recalls soon after his tour of Somalia,he used to wake up several times at night and ask where his rifles and ammunitions were much to the surprise of his wife and kids who thought that he was becoming a little paranoid,he also says that  life after active combat duty is never the same and that however much you try to live your normal civilian life events surrounding the active combat duty are always fresh and awake in your post- war life, his advice to those in active military duty is that after coming back home from war one should seek a professional psychologist in order to help them reintegrate into their normal civilian life.

The second and most frustrating post-war experience to many ex-servicemen,is the long phase where you want to get back to yourself after the war but it keeps dragging you.War time as crocodile says is a period where the military guys handle each other in ways that they would not,especially if the commander is some jerk or an ass hole,the pressure to cover up and act like someone you are not is real and immense.This coupled with the need to survive in the battlefields has negative trickle down effect on your pre-military personality.Crocodile says he took three years to get back what he had lost in the war in terms of his personality and this involved a great deal of sacrifice on the part of his friends and relatives who accepted the person who they saw come from right from war, he also says what made him go back to who he was really had to do with doing the things he  loved to do back then before he enlisted in the army.

In addition to to a soldiers post-war experiences, is the feeling of elation that one feels when he finally meets his family after extended periods of separation mostly spent on remote military outposts in war zones.The extended absence from comfort,security and family reinforces a feeling of belonging when you meet your loved ones however crocodile says the feeling is often shortly outlived because in your absence,family members and relatives learn to live independently .He further recalls that when he came back home from war most of the times he would find himself lonely and that his wife and kids seemed to live their lives as if he had died in the battle fields.He says life after war requires more tolerance and a concerted effort in suppressing your frustrations, to put it better he prefers the American saying,go with the flow.  

Panic attacks mark the hallmark of ex-servicemen post- war lives,George says after his tour of Somalia he always lived in panic and that sometimes he would worry about things that did not harm anyone and some of his worst emotional outbursts were as a result of this panic attacks. Interestingly enough, he remembers a scene in a matatu where he saw a man of Somali descent, who had an electric appliance that resembled a hand grenade,In a standard response to situations of grenade attacks, he ordered everyone to lay flat on the matatu and went for the man,A response he says elicited mixed reactions from the passengers, others saying that it was just an electrical appliance while others thought that it was an act of valour on his part.Much to the surprise of the passengers was the reaction of the man who convinced the former ex-serviceman that what he was carrying was an electrical appliance and not a hand grenade.The back clash he received from the members of the public made him understand that servicemen were a group of people who were misunderstood

.

Despite their post war traumatic experiences servicemen and women across the world still embody the spirit of bravery and courage.To all servicemen and women you have not been forgotten your service to our country and our neighbours is deeply ingrained in our historical fabric.