A female veteran reflects on her service in Afghanistan

Last week, National Public News reporter Noel King interviewed Afghanistan Army veteran Kristen Rouse about her views on the proposed peace deal between the U.S. and Taliban as well as on military service more broadly.  Kristen Rouse is President and Founder of the NYC Veterans Alliance.  She served 25 years in the Army, Army Reserves, and Army National Guard, and deployed to Afghanistan three times (2006, 2010, and 2012).  You can listen to the full six-minute interview here.

Three things struck me as important while listening to the interview.  First, Rouse voices feelings shared by many military and veteran families - that the burden of service during the post-9/11 conflicts has fallen on a small number of families, and that the U.S public has been largely unaware of these conflicts (see my earlier post on fewer and fewer Americans having immediate family connections to the military).  When asked about her thoughts about the U.S. military still being involved in Afghanistan after 19 years, Rouse replies:

"To be involved in a bloody conflict for 19 years is - it should stun us. We should be shocked daily and aware daily that Americans are going halfway across the planet and risking their lives...I mean there's troops who have been lost in combat within the past year who have had 10 deployments. We're asking the same troops, the same families, over and over and over again, and for that to barely reach political consciousness, daily media consciousness, it's still stunning to me."

Second, Rouse talks about intersections of gender and culture when describing relationships she formed with the Afghans with whom she worked. Rouse perceived that the Afghans were more willing to talk about their families with her than they were with most male U.S. service members, and she learned about why they were fighting from listening to stories about their families.

Third, Rouse hesitates momentarily when asked if she felt like the 31 months she spent in Afghanistan had served a purpose, and then replies "part of the story I've told myself, that I have conversations...with other veterans...is that, you know, I believe that all good faith efforts in the world amount to something." She goes on to say that she grieves for the colleagues she lost by telling their stories.  All of us want to believe that the things we do in life make a difference, and research has shown that (controlling for many other factors) post 9/11 veterans who have a strong sense of purpose in their lives are less likely to report considering suicide.  This helps explain why it is so important to create spaces in which the public can listen nonjudgmentally as veterans tell the stories.

I encourage you to listen to the interview and would love to hear your thoughts.