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Episode 7 of Lifetime Television’s ARMY WIVES 7/21/2008 3:15:11 PM
Episode 7 of the television series ARMY WIVES had nothing outstanding about the episode. Yet it again reminded me of what I perceive as the strengths and weaknesses of the show:
As always, for me, the parts about the men ring true – Pamela’s husband Chase worried that in combat a team member won’t have his back, Roxy’s husband Trevor insisting it is his duty to return to his unit in Iraq.
And it’s always the parts about the women that don’t ring true for me. I continue to find it hard to believe that the wife of the commanding general of the post is such good friends with an enlisted man’s wife.
If you want to get a different perspective on today’s military forces than that of Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES, you can read blogs by active duty personnel and blogs by their spouses. Go to www.milblogging.com to find these blogs. You can search by top 100, recently updated, by gender, etc.
Here’s Lee’s description of his blog: We tell a soldier or veteran of war "welcome home" because the battle never leaves us, as we return from conflict everyday of our lives. This is my story and struggle with PTSD, it affects every aspect of my life. I want people to know what a combat veteran goes through after the media and people forget.
And later in his mission statement he says: It is my hope that by reading my story the general public will begin to understand the situation that our Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans will face in the coming years.
PTSD, of course, is post-traumatic stress disorder, and it can happen not only to combat veterans but to survivors of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other traumas. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has a website on this disorder at http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/index.jsp
The site includes a guide for military families for when a family member returns from a war zone. Here’s part of the description of this guide:
Reintegration is an adjustment for all involved. This information aims to make this process as smooth as possible and covers:
· A description of the common reactions that occur following deployment to a war zone
· How expectations about homecoming may not be the same for service members and family members
· Ways to talk and listen to one another in order to re-establish trust, closeness and openness
· Information about possible problems to watch out for
· How to offer and find assistance for your loved ones
· What help is available and what it involves
Perhaps the writers of ARMY WIVES could read this guide. Then they might write Roxy’s reaction to Trevor more realistically than they are now doing.
