STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERSIAN GULF

File: 110596_sep96_decls2_0011.txt
Page: 0011
Total Pages: 48

Subject: STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERSIAN GULF        

Unit: VAR. BUMED  

Parent Organization: BUMED       

Box ID: BX303818

Folder Title: USNS COMFORT TAH 20 MEDICAL ARTICLES 1991 1992                                                  

Document Number:          4

Folder SEQ  #:         13










              and fatigue. Crew members joined.in their rooms to cry.

              Others congregated in the halls to angrily decry the lack of

              leadership. There was a shared fantasy that the Commanding

              officer could and should have prevailed on the ship's

              behalf. People feared that the ship was adrift and that no

              one cared.

                   For many, it was easier to cope with the unknown by not
              pi"nin'g--for return. -Some physicians returned to the United

              States to take licensing examinations. The crew fr@ently

              voiced their fantasy that people would never return once

              they had "escaped." One physician wondered if he should go

              home to take his board exams. He was concerned that his son

              would be traumatized if he saw his father for-two weeks and

              then had to say good-bye all over again. He didn't want to
              @'v'e t,o-t-e,l,l h-is' 'son"",t,-hat'he could not predict when he would

              be coming home. The father feared his own pain as much as

              that,of his son.----'.

              --------Unpredictability-is'co=on on cruises but relatively

              unusual for deployments. Publications about deployment

              .advise sailors.that-the first phase of deployment begins 6

           ,-.,.iqeeks.before deployment and that it is.-helpful to mark...@.,-.

              important dates, such as the half-way point in the

              deployment,'with an-appropriate celebration.- Because they
              did not know how long their deployment would last, the crew

              -of the Confort'could not plan for a reunion,.nor prepare




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Document 48 f:/Week-39/BX303818/USNS COMFORT TAH 20 MEDICAL ARTICLES 1991 1992/stress and coping with trauma of war in the pers:1104960910243
Control Fields 17
File Room = sep96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-39
Box ID = BX303818
Unit = VAR. BUMED
Parent Organization = BUMED
Folder Title = USNS COMFORT TAH 20 MEDICAL ARTICLES 1991 1992
Folder Seq # = 13
Subject = STRESS AND COPING WITH TRAUMA OF WAR IN THE PERS
Document Seq # = 4
Document Date =
Scan Date =
Queued for Declassification = 01-JAN-1980
Short Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Long Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Permanent Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Non-Health Related Document = 01-JAN-1980
Declassified = 04-NOV-1996