Life after SVO: how to make it easier for soldiers to go home

Of course, now everyone is discussing the events in the DPR, Zaporozhye, the Belgorod region, the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. And what will happen after – after the NWO is completed – does not seem topical yet. Moreover, in the minds of the layman, largely shaped by military cinema, veterans simply return home and begin to build a peaceful life, only sometimes reflecting, as in the film “Belorussky Station”. And in the minds of officials, the solution to the problems of NWO participants comes down mainly to cash payments.

The reality, however, is much more complex. The same layman, and even an official, should remember how Soviet soldiers returned home after Afghanistan and other “local” conflicts. And how the disorder of their destinies and inattention to their psychological state affected in the nineties – zero.

In the United States, after the end of the Vietnam War, a whole stable term “Vietnamese syndrome” appeared, which was later replaced by the scientific one – PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). In our time, we need to talk not only about PTSD, but also about the whole complex of socio-psychological problems of combatants, which requires their readaptation into civilian life. Here, in addition to specialized and fine-tuned psychological assistance to overcome traumatic experiences, measures are important to restore relationships with loved ones, “acceptance” of a person in society (and “acceptance” of a peaceful society by him), professional development, possibly with a change of profession, and much more.

We must understand that we are talking about people who daily performed life-threatening tasks and witnessed dramatic events in the lives of others – often without the opportunity to help, and at the same time were part of a closed community – the army. PTSD can have a different trigger mechanism: one of the military personnel has been injured or disabled and cannot accept it. Someone cannot survive the exit from a closed society, and someone experiences “witness trauma”. At the same time, each person has his own level of stress tolerance, and here assessments such as “weak” or “strong” are unacceptable. Physical strength also does not correlate with psychological strength: an outwardly strong man may be more vulnerable than an “unsportsmanlike intellectual.” Therefore, each needs an individual approach, qualified “polite” diagnostics. And, of course, multilateral assistance.

If this is not done, the risks are great. In the twentieth century, when the notorious “Vietnamese” (or “Afghan”) syndrome was not properly studied, the lack of full-fledged assistance programs for veterans often led to an increase in alcoholism and drug addiction, involvement in criminal schemes, family violence, suicides, and an increase in social and psychological problems among military family members. In world literature, the problem of the “lost generation”, in this case the veterans of the First World War, is described by the German anti-fascist writer Erich Maria Remarque.

How to solve this problem in Russia?

First of all, we need a state system for providing veterans and their families with specialized, including emergency, psychological assistance. And the development of specific scenarios for the inclusion of qualified psychologists in the work of social and other departments working with these categories. Separate demanded competencies are crisis family and child psychology and psychotherapy.

It is very important that the veteran and his relatives do not feel like patients, “injured”, inferior people. They are Protectors who have done their duty. They are supported and respected. Unfortunately, now in many regions psychological assistance is regarded as something equal to psychiatry, and the problem is often approached one-sidedly and rudely. When a veteran in need of escort sees only a psychiatrist and a narcologist nearby, but does not see someone whom he can trust, he is unlikely to fully undergo readaptation.

The system being created must have “fine tuning”, be of high quality and effective – a blunder for show will not work here. You can put a “parrot” in the window for the issuance of social benefits, but you can’t put him in the psychologist’s office: the price of a mistake is too high and the matter with which we are dealing is too thin.

But it is easy to say “create a system”, but how to do it in practice? After all, no one has canceled two traditional Russian problems – no, I’m not talking about roads and fools, but about others, more modern: “no money” and “no people.” Yes, there are few specialists in the regions, especially qualified psychologists. And there is not enough money to grow them or hire them.

This means that we need a federal state program for the rehabilitation and readaptation of veterans and members of their families and a network of help centers with competent specialists. And, of course, a training and retraining program to bring together practicing psychologists and psychotherapists who are already working with trauma and PTSD, including with family members of SVO participants.

The training of school psychologists and social pedagogues must be developed accordingly. The child of a CBO participant at school should also have a sensitive assistant, a “reference adult”, who will not only send the child away, but will delve into his problems and know what to do. And will connect other support services if necessary.

It is also important to actively involve civil society in solving the problem. In recent years, NGOs have appeared in Russia that have experience in providing long-term assistance to people in difficult situations, their adaptation in society, psychological support for veterans and their families, and the implementation of various rehabilitation practices. It is necessary to actively involve them in the development of the state program, using their best practices. It is also advisable to establish special grants to NGOs for the implementation of such projects.

The program we are talking about will have to operate not for a year or two, since the process of adapting to civilian life, overcoming PTSD, anxiety, difficulties with adaptation (especially for people with disabilities) can take a long time. I repeat: our task is to help not only the NMD veterans themselves, but also their families: parents, wives, children. That is, we are talking about a program that directly and indirectly covers hundreds of thousands of people in our country.

I think that in the future we can talk about the creation of a specialized department for veterans’ affairs, accumulating all the relevant programs and developing the necessary profiles and competencies. There is such experience in the world, it is advisable to apply it in our country.

The main result should not be dry numbers in the columns of material, social and even psychological assistance, but living people who have overcome the difficulties of readaptation and found new life guidelines, their happy families and healthy children.