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CNN Live Saturday

Psychologist Talks About Emotional Impact Of Military Separation From Families

Aired October 11, 2003 - 18:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, you've just got to wonder how the soldiers and the families cope. Dr. Paul Ragan was a Navy psychiatrist. He worked with troops in the first Gulf War, and he joins us now from Nashville, Tennessee to talk about the emotional impact of it all.
Dr. Ragan, good to see you. Thanks for being here.

DR. PAUL RAGAN, MILITARY PSYCHIATRIST: Hi, Carol.

LIN: Is it any different for troops today than it was during the first Gulf War or even Vietnam?

RAGAN: I don't think it's necessarily a lot different. Deployment overseas is tremendously stressful on the families. I think in this case, the concern is, after the hostilities ended, a lot of families had the expectation that the loved ones would be coming home and staying home. And I think that the redeployment after a short leave period is especially stressful no matter whether you're talking about the 21st century or the 20th century.

LIN: Right. You know taking a look at this young man, whom Jason Bellini just profiled, he says, hey, when you're in the Army, you take what you can get. That doesn't really allow him though to cope with stress. He's just simply got to suppress it. And then where does that leave his family in this?

RAGAN: Well, it leaves his family with whatever resources they have available to them to do their best. Clearly, it's probably the most stressful on children who don't understand and see their father come home and then leave again and not understand why. It's very stressful for the soldiers when they see their buddies killed or maimed. It's stressful on the wives.

The demographics really helps us understand these are -- in an all-volunteer Army, these are young soldiers. The wives, or many times the spouses, are young. The children are young. They're from all over the country. And when there's a redeployment so quickly like this, we're asking especially young people to handle burdens that most of the rest of us don't have to deal with.

LIN: Right. And you know looking at these pictures, they're so great. These are some of the reunions that we videotaped last week or just a couple of weeks ago.

RAGAN: Yes. LIN: And you know the thing is, when they go home and the door closes, that's when the real challenge begins, doesn't it? Because it's almost like two strangers standing in a room after these guys have been gone so long.

RAGAN: Exactly, and that's what's so tough about this redeployment is that after two weeks people are just beginning to be able to warm up to each other again and then to have to leave again. Really, the emotions can be very, very overwhelming, and the joy of coming back. However these families are getting yanked back and forth. They start out maybe as two-parent families then someone deploys, then it's a single-parent family. And then come back for two weeks and the two parent, and then back to single parent.

LIN: Yes.

RAGAN: It's very, very stressful. And I think anxiety and sadness can be really the overwhelming emotions that need to be dealt with both behind closed doors and during just daily activities and living.

LIN: You know we can't forget the -- you know, frankly the horrible stories which came out of Fort Bragg, four murders, at least four murders on the base after troops came home from Afghanistan, wives who were killed, husbands who committed suicide. And the Army changed its policy, tried to adjust its policy in terms of how to deal with families and how to deal with soldiers' stress. Do you see any improvement in what's being made available to soldiers and their families?

RAGAN: Well, clearly, in a difficult situation, the family -- the Army does have a family program. Often, the commander's wife and other contact people in a unit will reach out to the younger wives and spouses and children and try to organize activity.

It's a very difficult situation. There's only so much you can do with counselors, with mental health specialists, with different activities, trying to make things easy with visits. The problem is, is that at night, when that mother is trying to put their child to bed and they have separation anxiety, or the son or daughter at school misses the parent seeing the play or seeing the game. It can be very, very overwhelming. In fact, there's no question a redeployment like this is going to result in very serious psychological costs, some of the worst of which you heard -- we saw down in North Carolina.

LIN: Right, right. Well, Dr. Paul Ragan, we hope for the best. It's a volunteer Army here in the United States, and we are grateful for all these men and women who are serving our country overseas. Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

RAGAN: Thank you for having me on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Separation From Families>


Aired October 11, 2003 - 18:09   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, you've just got to wonder how the soldiers and the families cope. Dr. Paul Ragan was a Navy psychiatrist. He worked with troops in the first Gulf War, and he joins us now from Nashville, Tennessee to talk about the emotional impact of it all.
Dr. Ragan, good to see you. Thanks for being here.

DR. PAUL RAGAN, MILITARY PSYCHIATRIST: Hi, Carol.

LIN: Is it any different for troops today than it was during the first Gulf War or even Vietnam?

RAGAN: I don't think it's necessarily a lot different. Deployment overseas is tremendously stressful on the families. I think in this case, the concern is, after the hostilities ended, a lot of families had the expectation that the loved ones would be coming home and staying home. And I think that the redeployment after a short leave period is especially stressful no matter whether you're talking about the 21st century or the 20th century.

LIN: Right. You know taking a look at this young man, whom Jason Bellini just profiled, he says, hey, when you're in the Army, you take what you can get. That doesn't really allow him though to cope with stress. He's just simply got to suppress it. And then where does that leave his family in this?

RAGAN: Well, it leaves his family with whatever resources they have available to them to do their best. Clearly, it's probably the most stressful on children who don't understand and see their father come home and then leave again and not understand why. It's very stressful for the soldiers when they see their buddies killed or maimed. It's stressful on the wives.

The demographics really helps us understand these are -- in an all-volunteer Army, these are young soldiers. The wives, or many times the spouses, are young. The children are young. They're from all over the country. And when there's a redeployment so quickly like this, we're asking especially young people to handle burdens that most of the rest of us don't have to deal with.

LIN: Right. And you know looking at these pictures, they're so great. These are some of the reunions that we videotaped last week or just a couple of weeks ago.

RAGAN: Yes. LIN: And you know the thing is, when they go home and the door closes, that's when the real challenge begins, doesn't it? Because it's almost like two strangers standing in a room after these guys have been gone so long.

RAGAN: Exactly, and that's what's so tough about this redeployment is that after two weeks people are just beginning to be able to warm up to each other again and then to have to leave again. Really, the emotions can be very, very overwhelming, and the joy of coming back. However these families are getting yanked back and forth. They start out maybe as two-parent families then someone deploys, then it's a single-parent family. And then come back for two weeks and the two parent, and then back to single parent.

LIN: Yes.

RAGAN: It's very, very stressful. And I think anxiety and sadness can be really the overwhelming emotions that need to be dealt with both behind closed doors and during just daily activities and living.

LIN: You know we can't forget the -- you know, frankly the horrible stories which came out of Fort Bragg, four murders, at least four murders on the base after troops came home from Afghanistan, wives who were killed, husbands who committed suicide. And the Army changed its policy, tried to adjust its policy in terms of how to deal with families and how to deal with soldiers' stress. Do you see any improvement in what's being made available to soldiers and their families?

RAGAN: Well, clearly, in a difficult situation, the family -- the Army does have a family program. Often, the commander's wife and other contact people in a unit will reach out to the younger wives and spouses and children and try to organize activity.

It's a very difficult situation. There's only so much you can do with counselors, with mental health specialists, with different activities, trying to make things easy with visits. The problem is, is that at night, when that mother is trying to put their child to bed and they have separation anxiety, or the son or daughter at school misses the parent seeing the play or seeing the game. It can be very, very overwhelming. In fact, there's no question a redeployment like this is going to result in very serious psychological costs, some of the worst of which you heard -- we saw down in North Carolina.

LIN: Right, right. Well, Dr. Paul Ragan, we hope for the best. It's a volunteer Army here in the United States, and we are grateful for all these men and women who are serving our country overseas. Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

RAGAN: Thank you for having me on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Separation From Families>