Loss of Identity During Military-to-Civilian Transition

This post is our last in our series on our learnings from the CIMVHR Annual Forum.

Identity is a growing topic of interest among CIMVHR attendees. In this context, identity has to do with how you see yourself and your affiliations. Some examples of identity are “Canadian,” “soldier,” or “parent.” When people join the military, there is a rigorous indoctrination process. As an former infantry officer wrote, “Military basic training is intended to break a recruit down and rebuild them as a soldier. The new soldier is imbued with a New ethos, sense of duty, obligation, group identity.”

But on the other side, there is little training for personnel leaving the military on how to be a civilian. (A noteworthy exception is the Veterans Transition Network.)Although preparations and plans are made, the final separation is a shock. Roméo Dallaire wrote,

“When the uniform came off, the separation felt violent; the system, to which I had spent a lifetime being loyal, was breaking its loyalty to me. Every reference point was gone. There was nothing positive in my life. My mind reeled with panic and fear as I contemplated a life out of the army.”

Photo by Devin Mitchell, Veteran Vision Project. Mitchel worked collaboratively with veterans to create portraits showing them in and out of uniform.

CIMVHR attendees were interested in identity both as an injury and as a pathway for treatment. The loss of identity and group affiliation is highly stressful, which can lead to stress injury and related issues, such as alcohol abuse. Anticipating the loss of identity suggests strategies such as preventative education, or construction of a new identity.

There’s a TED talk by Sebastian Junger, author of “Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging,” where he talks about the panic attack he had after returning Afghanistan after being embedded as a journalist with a platoon of soldiers in a remote outpost. The panic that he experienced on the New York City subway stood in stark contrast with the danger in the war zone. In the city, he didn’t feel safe because he didn’t know who he could trust. On the forward operating base, he was surrounded by people who he trusted to keep him safe.

At CIMVHR, Dr. Karl Hamner gave a presentation where he looked military-to-civilian transition (MCT) through the lens of optimal distinctiveness theory. The theory states that humans have competing fundamental needs for inclusion and distinctiveness. People find balance between these through membership in groups that satisfy both. The military identity is attractive, because it it so strong on both aspects. Rapid and abrupt military-to-civilian transition often creates an identity vacuum.

Hamner found that former military members often did not explore new identity options, because it meant affiliating with what was previously considered an “out-group.”

“After being seriously injured in combat in Iraq and no longer able to serve in the same capacity, I couldn’t see what of ‘me’ was left. All I saw in myself were the remains of a once-accomplished leader, grasping feverishly at a lost identity. I tried to fade in to the background of a civilian life that no longer made sense, as I tried to forge a new identity.” – Capt. Shannon P. Meehan, Veteran, U.S. Army

Identity disruption needs careful management and the dissonance can be greatest among veterans with competing identities, such as “woman” or “minority,” which as stigmatized in some way.

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