My dh is over there. Sailor with boots in the sand on IA duty.

I am really clueless as to what to expect. Any perspectives appreciated.

Thanks,
Sharon

What do you mean? You want to know what to expect form him? The military? Or Iraq?

I want to know what to expect from Irag and how a sailor might react to being on land. With this duty I have not been given any info.

He is in a safe place and has had no hand to hand combat, however, he is acting much differently this deployment.

Any ideas?

I dont know much about being a sailor, but I do know about being deployed. There is always a change. People change in order to better deal with the situations they are in. Things will most likely get back to normal if you give it some time when he gets back. You just got to adapt to the situation you are in.

He's a submariner by trade, a squid if you will. In regular underwater deployments he's much the same as being home. This time he's having "normal" talks with the kids, but he seems to have shut me right out.

Yes, I have asked him about it and I get nothing. I am trying to adapt to a man that seems to have become someone different since getting over there.

Any other ideas?

I wish I could help you more. I'm certainly not a counselor or anything. All I can tell you is that when I was deployed there were things I didn't want to think about myself, to say nothing of talking about it to others.

It would help to know what he does. I was assigned to a Civil Affairs Battalion on 06-07 that had several AD Navy personnel attached. They were litterally fish out of the water for some of the tour. Some were assigned to relative "safe" jobs at battalion, but others were integrated into CA teams and were gunners, etc. on missions like everyone else.
If he does something like that, then yes, I would imagine that it could change someone. I would suggest to be patient and wait for him to open up about his experiences.
Just my two cents.

quote:

Originally posted by 17301250:
My dh is over there. Sailor with boots in the sand on IA duty.

I am really clueless as to what to expect. Any perspectives appreciated.

Thanks,
Sharon

I don't claim to be an expert, but I was a Soldier back in the first Gulf War and am now a Reserve Navy Seabee, my Wife is a Seabee and my Son and Daughter are active fleet Sailors.
The only possible reason may be that according to what I have seen from fleet Sailors and from what my kids tell me, the Army has a completely different style of training. The Army is much more demanding and a lot less democratic in it's leadership.
They have to be, considering their mission.
He should have had training with the Army before he was sent over.
A job with boots on the ground is considered by some to be more serious, therefore the training will be tougher and a change may show up in your Son.
I'm trying to explain this without having people jump on me for disrespect.
I hope this helps,

-CPL

quote:

He's a submariner by trade, a squid if you will. In regular underwater deployments he's much the same as being home. This time he's having "normal" talks with the kids, but he seems to have shut me right out.

Yes, I have asked him about it and I get nothing. I am trying to adapt to a man that seems to have become someone different since getting over there.

Any other ideas?

From another bubblehead boots on ground, he'll adapt pretty good. I havn't met a bubblehead that hasn't been able to adapt to the assigned task at hand.

If you havn't heard from him in awhile, it's probbaly because of different reasons.

I personally don't talk to family or friends much except for a select few. I let those tlak to everybody else. Last thing I want is having to deal with anything going on thousands of miles away when I'm focusing on the here and now. My family memebrs and friends would love to hear form me. But They can wait.

Hope the above expample helps.

Hi..I hope I can help. I am a sailor and I just got back from Iraq August of 2007. I adapted pretty quickly. He'll have lots of other sailors around him to help him out, believe me. I don't know what I would have done without the help and support of my "family." But, I also did not keep in touch with my family back home while I was in the sandbox. That really seemed to be a problem with my husband when I returned. But, just understand that he has a job to do over there and he needs to be focused. I know from what my husband experienced it's hard to do what you guys do back home, but we need to stay focused over there. That's probably why you haven't heard from him much. Please don't it personally, and remember that he does love you and he does miss you. I spent most of my down time either sleeping or thinking of home. But, we can't think of home too much or that will bring us down. I hope this insight helps. God bless you and your family. HE will give you strength to get through these trying times!

NO SOLICITATION

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