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Life After Combat
Ken Jones, PhD
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In 1967- 68 I was a track commander with the 11
th
Cavalry.I started in the Iron Triangle working with the 173
rd
Airborne – OperationJunction City. Then we went north to central I Corp and worked with the25
th
Infantry, 3
rd
Marine Division, 101
st
Airborne, and ROK Marines.In October of ‘67 we were redeployed to the Cambodian border west of LocNinh, working with the 1
st
Infantry Division and elements of the 101
st
.During Tet ’68 we joined the 101
st
in retaking Bien Hoa and then movedback into the Iron Triangle. The last time I got blown up was eight daysbefore I was due to come home.The result of these actions for me was a serious dose of combat inducedPTSD. I sucked up the pain for 12 years. In 1980 I stopped by the VetCenter in Anchorage, Alaska because I thought I was going insane. It wasthere that I began the long journey home.Along the way I wrote a book,
When Our Troops Come Home
, about what itfelt like to try to recover some sense of a meaningful life after combat. Ialso spent eight years as a volunteer and staff counselor at the AnchorageVet Center.American troops are again returning from foreign wars. Again troops andtheir families will struggle to understand and resolve the effects of combat.Across the generations Vietnam veterans are reaching out to welcometroops home – and to make sure that this generation of warriors will nothave to endure what we did.
Life After Combat
is one such effort to help.
Ken JonesF Troop2
nd
Squadron11
th
Armored Cavalry Regiment
Contents
An Introduction to Life after Combat 4Cultural Identity 6Traditional Initiation 8Military Initiation 9Immersion in Absurdity 12The Acute Trauma Threshold - Part 1 14The Acute Trauma Threshold – Part 2 16Combat Survivor Profile - The Hawkeye 17Combat Survivor Profile - The Grunt 20Love in an Altered State 21Other Time 23Survivor Guilt 24Combat Induced Depression 26It Will Never Be the Same 28Emotional and Existential Death 30Different Cultural Identities 33The Journey Home 35
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