The War Within
Introduction
For most military members, the battle doesn’t end when the operation is finished or when they finally arrive back home after upwards of a year deployed. Instead, a new war emerges, one that usually goes unseen, a conflict that happens in the mind. I personally spent more time deployed than at home, and I have witnessed firsthand how the pressures of deployments can wear down even Navy Seals, who are among the strongest individuals. Words like honor, discipline, and resilience usually come to mind when you think about military service, but the significant psychological effects of multiple deployments are usually quieter and often a disregarded part of service life. Mental issues like post-traumatic stress disorders, better known as PTSD, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse often remain unaddressed until they escalate to a crisis level. Despite the increasing recognition, support networks tend to fail to adequately tackle the true extent of these concerns. This paper examines the mental health ramifications of repeated military deployments, assesses the effectiveness of existing support systems, and suggests strategies to improve mental health care specifically for service members and veterans.
The Psychological Toll of Military Deployments
Service members are faced with life-threatening circumstances, prolonged stress, and lengthy separation from their families and communities during military deployments. There are widely recognized psychological effects that stem from these events. The impact of deployment-related trauma is everywhere, as evidenced by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2023) reporting that between 11% and 20% of veterans who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom meet the diagnostic requirements for PTSD in any given year. Additionally, Seal et al. (2009) discovered that the number of PTSD diagnoses among veterans receiving VA care rose from 4.8 per 1,000 in 2002 to 16.8 per 1,000 in 2008, highlighting a growing trend in mental health issues following deployment.
Intrusive thoughts, frequent nightmares, emotional numbness, and persistent heightened alertness are all signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can significantly hinder normal daily activities. Reminders of combat might cause panic attacks, or people may emotionally distance themselves from close relationships in order to prevent unpleasant thoughts. Chronic PTSD can eventually cause physical health to deteriorate, including immune system weakening and cardiovascular issues (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). These symptoms frequently accompany operational needs for service personnel, making it challenging to differentiate between clinical diseases and typical stress reactions. This hinders diagnosis and treatment.
Anxiety, Depression, and Substance Abuse
In addition to PTSD, numerous service members face generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder after deployments. A study conducted by Kang et al. (2019) published in JAMA Psychiatry indicated that post‐deployment factors—such as perceived stress, marital problems, and financial difficulties—substantially contributed to the emergence of depressive symptoms and anxiety in veterans. These mental health conditions often occur together, creating a complex clinical situation that calls for integrated care approaches. In addition, social support networks, which some call a safeguard against mental disorders, can be weakened by the isolating nature of military life, which includes living on post, deployment overseas, and frequent moves.
Substance abuse often surfaces as an unhealthy coping strategy. Hoge et al. (2006) found that veterans with PTSD were more than twice as likely to experience alcohol‐use disorders compared to those without PTSD and nearly three times as likely to report misuse of prescription drugs. Alcohol and drugs might temporarily dull anxiety or encourage emotional numbing, but they ultimately worsen mental health issues and hinder recovery. If left unaddressed, co‐occurring substance use disorders and mental health diagnoses elevate the risk of self‐harm and suicide—an alarming trend in both active‐duty and veteran populations.
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Current Support Systems and Their Shortcomings
The Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offer a broad variety of mental health services to help members, including crisis hotlines, inpatient mental health exams, weekly or daily counseling, and inpatient rehabilitation programs. While programs like Warrior Care and the Psychological Health Resource Center share the same primary objectives of reducing obstacles to treatment, service members are usually greeted by prolonged wait times for visits and inconsistencies of treatment when switching from the DoD to VA systems; it even goes as far as regional disparities that limit rural veterans’ aces to clinics according to Tanielian and Jaycox (2008).
Furthermore, getting mental health therapy is usually discouraged in military culture because it may be viewed as an expression of weakness and could hinder one’s ability to succeed in their profession. According to Pietrzak et al. (2010), the main obstacles keeping veterans from using mental health treatments were perceived stigma and confidentiality issues. Even when service members seek care, the quality of treatment varies quite a bit, and caregivers may not always have specialized experience with military-specific traumas. This leads to high dropout rates and adds to unmet mental health needs, which are not helped at all by structural and cultural constraints.
Innovative Approaches to Mental Health Care
In response to these challenges, Telehealth platforms have been expanded rapidly, which has allowed veterans to access counseling and psychiatric consultations remotely; this is especially helpful for service members in rural areas. Recent VA data shows that tele-mental health visits have increased by over 1,000% between the years 2019 and 2022.
There are programs where veterans are trained to mentor fellow service members called Peer Support Programs; these have demonstrated to effectively reduce symptoms while improving engagement in the treatment itself. Cohen et al. (2020) conducted a structured review that showed peer-delivered interventions led to higher adherence rates with better clinical outcomes compared to the standard referral pathways.
Additional innovative therapies, such as virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy, animal-assisted therapy, and stress reduction therapy, are being integrated into military and VA treatment protocols. As reported by Rizzo and Shilling (2018), VR-based exposure therapy reduced PTSD symptom severity by roughly 30% in clinical trials. These new approaches in compass with pharmacological treatments offer a more interconnected model of care that addresses both physiological and psychological dimensions of trauma.
Personal Perspective: Breaking the Silence
When I look back at my 6 years of service, I recall countless times when the line between mission success and personal health blurred. I witnessed my shipmates retreat into complete silence; you could see the distance in their eyes, and when they laughed, it was noticeably forced. I had multiple officers who were supposed to lead the way turn to heavy drinking to drown out the memories of what they have done. Too often, we consider these types of reactions to be normal when on deployment; we then delay until the problems get to the point where they can’t be ignored.
I shared this experience in the hope of humanizing the statistics and shed some light on the urgency of proactive mental health care. Having simple, honest conversations about stress reactions, guilt, and survivor’s remorse needs to become standard practice within the military community. Medical personnel and high-ranking officials should view mental health to be critical to mission readiness and not treat it as an optional add-on. They are the only ones who can cultivate an environment where service members feel like it is okay to seek help without fear of retaliation.
Policy Recommendations
Several key policy actions must be made to close the gaps in military mental health care. First, the nation should invest in expanding an integrated tele-mental health service while making sure there is reliable access to remote care to ensure all service members and veterans in rural and over sea locations can get the help they need. This will require a robust infrastructure, secure digital platforms, and adequate training for providers.
Next, do mental health screenings and standard practice instead of a secondary option next to operation readiness. These should include but not be limited to pre-deployment, mid-deployment, and post-deployment evaluations in addition to their annual health checkups. Having systematic screenings will enable early detection of mental health issues, thus allowing timely interventions before symptoms become worse.
The stigma that surrounds mental health in the military needs to be addressed as well. Basic training should incorporate mental health awareness and then reinforce this throughout the service member’s career. High-ranking leaders can model open, stigma-free discussions that demonstrate that psychological resilience is equally vital as physical fitness.
The transition from active duty to veteran status is in dire need of improvement as well; the current gap between DoD and VA systems leads to confusion amongst transitioning personnel. A unified electronic health care system with dedicated case managers would help to streamline this process which would ensure that service members receive mental health support during this time as it is a vulnerable period.
Lastly, researching innovative therapies should be a top priority and should be properly funded. Trials of comparison for virtual reality therapy, peer support models, and complementary approaches like mindfulness and animal-assisted interventions will help identify what practices are best. Treatments found to be effective should be upscaled nationwide, providing diverse and evidence-based options for helping and healing traumas.
Conclusion
Mental health is a foundational element of military readiness and veteran well-being. The psychological effects of repeated deployments, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, are prevalent and enduring, affecting individuals, families, and communities long after the mission has ended. We must commit to comprehensive, evidence-based mental health care that is accessible, stigma-free, and tailored to the unique experiences of military life. By supporting cultural change, enhancing support systems, and embracing new innovative therapies, we can make sure that those who served are truly supported and honored in both mind and body.
Final Review Paragraph
The paper delivers an appealing argument through its comprehensive research and moving personal story that creates strong emotional connections with readers. Through personal anecdotes, you have deepened the discussion, which makes it more engaging to readers throughout the argument. The argument could benefit from extra data and research materials as they would strengthen its emotional assertion while providing a further understanding of the issue. The thoughtful policy recommendations are great but could use additional refinement for clarity purposes because a practical presentation will improve implementation feasibility within real-world contexts.
References
Association, N. a. P. (2022). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
National Center for PTSD. (n.d.). VA.gov | Veterans Affairs. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/
Seal, K. H., Metzler, T. J., Gima, K. S., Bertenthal, D., Maguen, S., & Marmar, C. R. (2009). Trends and risk factors for Mental health diagnoses among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans using department of veterans affairs health care, 2002–2008. American Journal of Public Health, 99(9), 1651–1658. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2008.150284
U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.-a). Brandon Act aims to improve mental health support. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/article/3386278/brandon-act-aims-to-improve-mental-health-support/
U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.-b). Department of Defense Mental Health Resources for Service Members and. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2737954/department-of-defense-mental-health-resources-for-service-members-and-their-fam/
U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.-c). For service members, access to mental health care streamlined under BR. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3651970/for-service-members-access-to-mental-health-care-streamlined-under-brandon-act/
U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.-d). Help center. https://www.defense.gov/Contact/Help-Center/
U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.-e). Military teens & mental health: here are resources that can help. https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2843081/military-teens-mental-health-here-are-resources-that-can-help/
U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.-f). Service members and military families in crisis. https://www.defense.gov/Contact/Help-Center/Article/Article/2742044/service-members-and-military-families-in-crisis/
VA Office of Mental Health. (n.d.). VA.gov | Veterans Affairs. https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/
VA.gov | Veterans Affairs. (n.d.-a). https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/get-help/treatment.asp
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Van Der Feltz-Cornelis, C. M., Have, M. T., Penninx, B. W., Beekman, A. T. F., Smit, J. H., & De Graaf, R. (2010). Presence of comorbid somatic disorders among patients referred to mental health care in the Netherlands. Psychiatric Services, 61(11), 1119–1125. https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2010.61.11.1119
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Question 
The War Within
Take the time to read it through carefully; after the first read, consider what global feedback you’d like to offer the writer. Once you’ve read through a second time, you’ll get to work reviewing. Please offer at least ten substantive comments within the body of the essay you are reviewing (for example, in Microsoft Word, you’d go to Insert> New Comment). You might use these questions to guide your comments:
The War Within
If this was my paper, what would I change about the hook and why?
If this was my paper, would I make the claim clearer and why?
If this was my paper, would I provide any more definitions or context in the introduction, and why?
If this was my paper, would I revise any of my transitions in the body paragraph, and why?
If this was my paper, would I expand my conclusion and why?
At the end of the essay, draft a brief paragraph that highlights the strengths of the essay as well as the two areas of concern the author noted.
THE PEER REVIEW NAME IS: JOSHUA RHODES
Main Topic: My research paper, “The War Within,” focuses on the psychological effects of military deployments, particularly on mental health issues like PTSD, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse among service members and veterans.
Summary of Argument: Drawing from my personal experiences and academic research, I argue that the mental battles military personnel face during and after deployments are just as critical as the physical ones. Despite existing programs, our current support systems are falling short due to barriers like stigma, access issues, and inconsistent care. I advocate for policy changes including expanded telehealth, routine mental health screenings, destigmatization efforts, better transition services, and investment in innovative therapies like VR and peer support.
Audience and Purpose: This paper is directed at both civilian and military stakeholders—especially policymakers, health care providers, and military leaders. The goal is to raise awareness, influence cultural attitudes, and push for systemic reforms that prioritize mental wellness alongside operational readiness.
Feedback Request:
Do you think my personal narrative effectively strengthens the paper’s overall argument, or would it benefit from more data or expert testimony to balance the emotional appeal?
Are the policy recommendations clearly explained and realistic, or should I refine any of them to be more practical or detailed?