Group Therapy for Women in the Military Who Have Been or Will Be Deployed To a Combat Zone

This multi-part blog is about a therapy group comprised of women in the military who have been deployed to a combat zone or who expect to be deployed to a combat zone. I will share the following: 1) key therapeutic concepts unique to this demographic, 2) my role as a group leader, 3) the roles of the group members, 4) developmental stages of the group, 5) evolution of the group, and 6) my theoretical goals and specific interventions.

Part I

In today’s military women are deployed to war zones and engage in career aspects that were once afforded only to men. However, being a woman in the military is no small feat and many of these brave female warriors seek a therapeutic intervention to deal with specific stress unique to this demographic. Women in our society are the matriarchs of the home; responsible for everything from giving birth to babies to raising them. Sometimes societal norms and expectations can be at odds with the professional military career woman’s reality. Some women never intend to have children and prefer to break cookie-cutter role expectations by refusing to conform to what societal norms mandate. These women are often edgier than their traditional female counterparts. Other women see the military as a great way of getting paid to go to college so they enlist and earn their way through school and wind up with highly respectable careers. Some career military women end up meeting their husband in the military. These women may eventually have to grapple with deciding to reenlist or retire from the military to raise their children in a more traditional way. Still others may juggle trying to remain in the military while juggling a traditional role as wife and mother. It is not hard to see why there is a need for women in the military to seek the safe haven of group therapy. Group therapy with other women in this ‘uniquely similar’ circumstance provides these brave souls deep and empathic opportunities to connect learn and prosper. Women in the Military Patricia was excited about the military ever since she began college and heard a guest speaker describe his life as an Air Force fighter pilot. She enrolled in the ROTC program and now she herself is a female fighter pilot. She went to Iraq a month after the towers were bombed in 2001. Patricia flew top secret missions that have never been made public even today. Not surprisingly, the group of women looks up to Patricia as a beacon of strength, and inspiration. Angie is a specialist and her job is to drive trucks loaded with supplies. She has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan 3 times already and is likely deploying again in 13 months. Jody has been a Captain in the Air Force for 6 years. She is married to an Apache helicopter fighter pilot and they are anxious to begin a family. Rosa is presently five months pregnant with twins. Her husband is a Staff Sergeant in the Army and he is presently deployed with five months to go. Army deployments are usually 13 months long. This is his fourth time being deployed to Iraq. Rosa is worried about what the arrival of twins will mean for her; especially with her husband so often deployed for long periods. Margie has three children who are all under 13 years old. She has been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Her husband is about to deploy for the sixth time to Afghanistan after the holidays. Both Margie and her husband have been deployed to different parts of the world at the same time and the kids have been looked after by relatives. Amy is a young lesbian who is anxious about her first deployment. She is in a relationship with a civilian and she is worried about how the deployment will affect them. Amy wants relationship advice from other members and information about how to “stay together” while apart. She is especially worried about temptations facing loved ones while their partner is away. Lisa had been in the Army for several years before deciding to be a stay at home mom and wife to her Tech Sergeant husband. Unfortunately he was killed in Bagdad last year and she now raises the kids alone with the money she received upon his death. She is resentful that he died and feels abandoned. Also, she worries about how she can continue to raise her kids alone without their father to see them grow up. Lisa is a sad reminder to the realities of war for the wives in the group who have husbands presently deployed. Lisa especially makes Margie grateful that her own kids still have both their parents alive. Amy can get somewhat annoyed with Lisa for being so negative about deployment because she is very much looking forward to her first deployment. Additionally, Lisa resents the fact that she cannot legally marry her partner, and resents the fact that her own partner would not receive monetary compensation if she were to die in the war.