Challenges During Deployment
Deployments can present military personnel with a number of challenges. Here are some examples of challenges faced during deployment.
Physical & Practical Challenges
- Safety concerns
- Hostile environment
- Illness, injury
- Trauma (e.g., combat, accidents)
- Exposure to toxins
- Intense desert heat
- Intense cold
- Dehydration
- Sand, sandstorms
- Not having needed equipment
- Delayed supplies
- Sleep deprivation, nightmares
- Co-ed living quarters
- Lengthy deployments (12 to 18 months)
- Being deployed multiple times
Emotional & Mental Challenges
- Uncertainty / Ambiguity
- Ambiguous enemy
- Authoritative work environment
- Fear, anger
- Hatred of the enemy
- Loss, death
- Survivor guilt
- Boredom
- Hyper-focus/concentration
- Fast-paced action
- Lack of information
- Values challenged
- Life does not make sense
- Lost of faith in God or religious belief
- Concerns about employment upon return
Social Challenges
- Managing peers/leaders
- Relationship conflicts
- Family separation
- Loss of income/financial worries
- Missing family milestones
- Separated from social supports
- Little to no privacy/private time
- Perceived lack of support of war efforts or military from general public