Barry Zworestine | Transition from Military To Civilian Life | Military to Civilian Transition | USA

Which Way is Your Claymore Facing?

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About Barry
  • The Books
  • BRAINSPOTTING
  • Tapping
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Contact

Positive Lessons for Veterans from Operations

February 18, 2018 By Barry Zworestine 4 Comments

Learn about the positive lessons for Veterans from Operations in my new book

There are so many positive lessons from operations for veterans. There is no doubt that to train as a soldier and to be involved in combat can be traumatically stressful and have far reaching effects on one’s living, relationships, mental state and well-being. However, it is possible that to see war and to think about combat from only the point of view of an experience resulting in PTSD, may be to ignore other less spoken about aspects of this experience. And, this could be used to facilitate healing and an ability and right for all veterans to live a healthy, productive life. 

However, you can by embrace positive lessons for veterans from your operations experience.

What about the intensity of combat, the living on the edge in the presence of others and intimate reliance on others? It’s that feeling of being intensely alive, the “high” of the hunt, the power of the warrior within, knowing where you are, being located in community, and the camaraderie. It’s about a level of “meaning” and experience that can leave one yearning for a lifetime afterwards. This can be experienced as the humdrum routine of civilian life and the daily routine and predictable pattern of work.

So many veterans I have spoken to yearn for the time when they truly felt like men. That’s when the deeply close and intimate connectedness with fellow soldiers bonded through the blood rite of combat. It could almost transcend the intimacy of marital relationships.

In a deep way, it’s not just about trauma and stress but also about loss and grief and the difficulty of finding meaning in a different, less intense world.

Therefore, to heal is to also respectfully acknowledge this loss and grief at so many levels.

  • It’s about understanding that the seductive intensity of combat with its sounds and smells does not need to leave one feeling lost, bereft and dislocated.
  • It’s about understanding that the memory of the thrill of the hunt, the contact. And that the long days of hyper alert patrolling does not mean that they are maladjusted.
  • It’s about acceptance of these feelings without guilt. It’s about recreating new and constructive challenges in civilian life.

These can be challenges. Such as, maintaining personal fitness and well-being, taking up a sport and setting goals that can extend one and bring one back into the presence of other men-running a marathon, walking Oxfam, swimming etc. The “edge”, the feeling of being authentically alive, of being challenged and being with other men is not the sole right of war. Part of combat training about being taught how to kill. It’s about being “rewired” for life in a way which is counter to being human in an institution which sanctions the need for aggression and the ability to take life.

Veterans need to make their peace with this rewiring, with the deep and often shameful sense that 40 years later as a husband and father there is still the sense of that part of oneself that is capable of the unspeakable.

Positive lessons for Veterans from Operations: Healing is not about burying or forgetting this.

It’s about allowing Veterans to acknowledge, own and respect this part of themselves. Many of the positive lessons for veterans of war and combat can be used by veterans to move forward in their civilian lives. It’s about helping Veterans to draw on their strengths and the constructive lessons of soldiering.

Life and relationships are very much like a patrol. You need to think about where you are going and what you will need. You need to plan and ensure you work as a team. Goal setting is essential. You need to be able to listen and when lost or uncertain look at a map. You need to pace yourself. And at times when under significant levels of stress, draw on reserves and tap into supplies of resilience. You need to trust and care for those around you. You need to exercise judgement. The qualities of planning, listening, preparation, consultation, care, respect, resilience, effort and trust are the foundations of being human.

War need not just be an experience relegated to the psychiatric or counselling encounter. It need not be just traumatically stressful.

Yes, it can be all of these, but the soldier never dies– commemorative gatherings will live on as soldiers continue to gather, grieve, and walk the road of memory while for a brief moment in time recapture a moment they hold at the deepest part of themselves.

  • It’s about embracing the soldier and re-finding the warrior in the present and drawing on the positive aspects from the past. Who they were and who they still are.
  • It’s about remembering that as veterans they can still stand tall and be good men, good husbands and good fathers.
  • It’s about acknowledging grief, guilt, loss and shame and learning to stand tall.
  • Combat need not just be the end of a good life, but the beginning of an even better life firmly grounded in the wisdom, learning and experience found in that place called War.

You can read an introduction to my book on my blog by clicking here.

Click here to download a FREE copy of my book today.

Filed Under: For Veterans, Goal Setting, Managing Your Emotions, Military to Civilian Transition, Relationship Tips, Stress Management, Transition from Military to Civilian Life Tagged With: Challenges of Civilian LIfe, Healing, Healthy Life, Listening, Military to Civilian Life, Personal Fitness, Planning, Transition from Military to Civilian Life, Trust

Comments

  1. Mark Sasman says

    March 27, 2018 at 5:46 am

    Absolutely correct. It requires one to look into the skill set of the purpose for and result of warrior training and accept that there were good, bad and downright ugly experiences, acts and omissions both in action and thought but that as survivors and veteran comrades we can and shall stand tall and take the positive and apply this with love for self, those closest (for it often these we rebuff first) and those that deserve and earn respect in our lives. We can not change yesterday but we can make a difference today and tomorrow. “But by the Grace of God go I” and for those that maybe don’t have the balm of belief in God then we owe it to our comrades and those that gave much or even all to try, to stand tall despite the bruises and breaks and step forward as best we can. Never forget those around us love us or they would be gone. I look forward to reading this much needed book – thank you for your continued efforts.

    Reply
    • Barry Zworestine says

      March 28, 2018 at 8:37 am

      Hi Mark. Many thanks for your comment. Some great inspiring and wise words. They are much appreciated. Looking forward to you joining the facebook community for the book.

      Reply
  2. Barry says

    March 28, 2018 at 8:52 am

    Hi Mark. Big thanks for these wise and inspiring words. Looking forward to your contribution on the Facebook book group. Cheers Boet.

    Reply
  3. Alison Kirkman says

    February 13, 2019 at 1:41 am

    Hi Barry
    I’m the widow of an RLI warrior and would like to share this poem which encapsulates your wonderful words :

    The Husband. Leon Gellert. (1915)

    Yes, I have slain, and taken moving life
    From bodies. Yea! And laughed upon the taking;
    And, having slain, have whetted still the knife For more and more, and heeded not the making
    Of things that I was killing. Such ‘twas then! But now the thirst so hideous has left me I live within a coolness, among calm men. And yet am strange. A something has bereft me Of a seeing, and strangely, love returns; And old desires half-known, and hanging sorrows, I seem agaze with wonder. Memory burns. I see a thousand vague and sad tomorrows. None sees my sadness. No one understands. How I must touch her hair with bloody hands.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Connect With Me

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

About the Author

I was born in Southern Rhodesia (in what is now Zimbabwe) in 1953. After a fairly uneventful schooling in which I focused more on sports than on academics, I went to university in South Africa, where I spent several years training in the field of education. In 1976 I returned to Rhodesia to comply with national service requirements and was involved in the Rhodesian Bush War. Read More…

SUBSCRIBE TO GET A FREE COPY OF MY SECOND BOOK

“Which Way Is Your Warrior Facing – An operational manual for veterans and current serving to transition into civilian life”.

Enter your details below to receive the book.  Thank you for your interest in this.

Subscribe to My Youtube Channel

Recent Comments

  • john witte on Book 2 “Which Way Is Your Warrior Facing”
  • Leah Zartz on Book 2 “Which Way Is Your Warrior Facing”
  • Philip Haggar on Book 2 “Which Way Is Your Warrior Facing”
  • Leah Zartz on 11 Protocols for Psychologists and Coaches Working with Veterans and Current Serving
  • Alison Kirkman on Positive Lessons for Veterans from Operations

Welcome to “Which Way is Your Claymore Facing?”

Buy My First Book Here

SUBSCRIBE TO GET A FREE COPY OF MY SECOND BOOK

“Which Way Is Your Warrior Facing – An operational manual for veterans and current serving to transition into civilian life”.

Enter your details below to receive the book. Thank you for your interest in this.

Professional Membership

Home Bound Veteran

Battle Tap

© 2018 Barry Zworestine - all rights reserved | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy