#15 He Waffles Day to Day About Staying In or Getting Out

So of course this morning Soldier called and said he's thinking of staying in the Army (the meds must be working today) if he can get out of his current unit... absolutely does not want to stay in that unit as he has no confidence that he could ever trust any of those guys to do their jobs. He certanly has no trust for the leadership... I told him that the doctors only have the power to recommend whether a soldier stays in (fit for duty) or gets out... although they take into account what the soldier wants. Command rarely ever goes against the Army doc's recommendation, but they can't recommend that Soldier be moved to another unit (I don't think).

I suggested that check to see if it's possible for him to get out, get well, get college and then see if he can go back in if that's what he still wants. I reminded him that even if he gets a unit reassignment it will mean another year-long deployment and he suggested a unit thathe knows does shorter (although more frequent) deployments; no use trying to convince him that ANY deployment is stressful, but he doesn't see it that way -- he sees this as his job. I tried to remind him that even those units that have shorter deployments are in the thick of the battle every time and that it was a lot of stress. He said ok, yeah, he has a lot to think about.

He waffles day to day about staying in or getting out. If I thought the last deployment was hard on us, and I worried that the next deployment would be even harder (on us), given the effects we have seen we would probably be completely overwhelmed if he ever deployed again. I'm hoping that even if he decides he wants to stay in that the docs say he can't.

How can these men who have endured so much and who suffer so even consider staying in and going back? Where do we find such men?