It’s wonderful to have your soldier home! Everyone thinks that’s the end of the deployment, but it’s really not. Reintegration can be the hardest part of the deployment. For months your soldier has been living a high stress lifestyle. He has been running on few hours of sleep. He’s possibly been kicking in doors and tracking the men who are trying to blow him up. Maybe he’s even been attacked, injured physically or mentally. You don’t even want to know what his eyes have seen. You’ve been running the house by yourself for months. You have had to step up and make all the decisions. You’ve had to pay all the bills, mow the lawn, fix the car, cook dinner, clean up and put the kids to bed. So coming together again can be challenging.
Your soldier may come home a completely different person. He might come home to a completely different wife. He might have PTSD or TBI or a laundry list of other acronyms. He might not be able to sleep. Seeing a car parked on the side of the road may send him into fight or flight mode. He might not even be able to be in a crowded room. There are many things that a soldier has to readjust to when coming home. It’s hard for a wife to readjust too. She’s been doing everything by herself. Asking for help can be hard and unknowingly make your soldier feel useless. It’s hard to share the responsibilities again.
However, we’ve always been pretty blessed in this area. Reintegration has always gone well for us. This time, about a month after Dustin came home he was really cheery. I asked what had him in such a great mood, and he said he finally felt like he was home! WHAT?? I thought it was all good. I didn’t realize that he was still readjusting. If I am honest about it, I am still too. A lot of things I have managed to reshare with Dustin, but sometimes I notice that I am still running the show. I do it without even realizing it!
So, in all the excitement of soldiers coming home, just remember that it doesn’t mean the hard part is over :0)
