Military Trauma and PTSD

Military MST

Military sexual trauma (MST) is a serious issue for both servicemen and servicewomen. MST can cause mental and physical illness and impair one's ability to interact socially with others.

To be explicit, MST is defined by the National Center for PTSD as unwelcome sexual attention including gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, unwanted sexual attention, sexual coercion, sexual assault, and rape (Street & Stafford, 2009).

MST is on the rise. According to the Department of Defense, gender and sexual harassment increased 11% across all military services, and 16% within the combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq (DoD 2010).

It is the purpose of this paper to examine the culture of the military through the PEN-3 model to explain how military culture fosters MST.

Dr. Collins Airhihenbuwa of Penn State's Biobehavioral Health Dept. developed the PEN-3 model to put culture at the forefront of health promotion. The PEN-3 model consists of three paradigms for understanding the impact culture has on the health of a society: cultural identity, relationships and expectations and cultural empowerment.

The Cultural Identity of Military

The U.S. military promotes toughness, courage, strength, loyalty and honor. One sees this manifested in their slogans: 'Army Strong,' 'The Few The Proud,' 'A Global Force for Good,' etc. All of those are laudable virtues and attractive slogans. However, one has to question whether those virtues when preached and practiced to an extreme can lead to an environment of institutional isolationism where abuse, maltreatment and sexual assault go unreported. One could argue that a soldier would rather take the abuse than turn in an abuser, particularly if the abuser is a fellow solider. It's the military way, it is embedded in the cultural milieu: "endure the pain, and fight through, but don't bitch, moan, or complain." This is the cultural identity of the military.

Relationships and Expectations

When one joins the military, he/she expects to come out a different person. However, he/she does not expect to come out a victim of MST. Though, in looking at the numbers, it's clear that a large percentage of soldiers do experience MST while serving their country. "During the period 2003 to 2008, Veteran Affairs screening for MST revealed 48,106 women and 43, 693 men had experienced sexual assault during military service" (Hyun et al., 2009). Moreover, if one considers the broader definition of the MST, a VA study revealed that 60% of women and 27% of men in a random, stratified sample of former Reserve and National Guard servicemembers had experienced MST (Leach, Carter 2011). So, based on the statistics, it's clear that there is a cloud looming over military relationships. That cloud is the potential for MST.

Cultural Empowerment

Well, the solution to the problem of MST is to modify the culture of the U.S. military. A complete overhaul is not required as by and large the military represents the best and the brightest the country has to offer. But clearly soldiers need training on what it means to "sin by silence." Those who've been abused need to speak about it, tell others about it, and feel empowered by their ability to overcome it (self-efficacy and self-management may be the most powerful forces that lead to positive rehabilitation for those experiencing MST). This is the best way to precipitate real change -- create awareness. Additionally, top military brass needs to support those who speak out about MST. Clearly, they are not doing enough either.