Soldiers are tasked with various duties that require them to adapt to different environments and situations. These include serving under different leaders, working alongside colleagues from diverse backgrounds, adjusting to changing operational requirements, and dealing with new technologies. All these factors make it challenging for them to maintain their personal identities in the military setting. This challenge is exacerbated by the rotational deployment schedule, which involves frequent moves between locations. Soldiers must learn to cope with this demanding environment while preserving their relational identity.
Maintaining Relationships
Maintaining relationships with friends and family is crucial to soldiers' well-being. It helps them feel supported and loved even when they are away from home.
The constant change of location makes it hard to build lasting connections. Soldiers have to be creative to keep in touch with those close to them.
Some soldiers send letters or emails regularly, while others use social media platforms like Facebook or WhatsApp. Some also participate in online gaming, virtual hangouts, or video calls. The key is finding ways to stay connected despite the distance and time difference.
Maintaining Bonds
Besides preserving their relationship with family members, soldiers must also preserve their bond with fellow soldiers. This requires consistent effort as teamwork is essential in a military unit. To maintain cohesion, soldiers need to build trust and support each other, regardless of rank or position. They can do this by sharing common interests such as sports, music, movies, or books.
They can celebrate holidays together, go out on weekends, or plan activities that allow them to relax and connect outside of work.
Developing Resilience
As soldiers adapt to new environments, they may experience emotional stress, anxiety, and depression due to separation from loved ones, fear of death or injury, and exposure to traumatic experiences. These factors impact their mental health and make it challenging for them to cope. Therefore, resilience training is necessary to help soldiers manage these issues. It involves teaching them how to handle stressors effectively, build self-esteem, regulate emotions, and seek help when needed. By developing resilience skills, soldiers can better manage their mental wellness and maintain their relational identity.
How do soldiers maintain relational identity while adapting to rotational deployment schedules?
While on rotation, military service members face a wide variety of challenges that require them to adapt their lifestyle to a new environment and schedule. One significant challenge is sustaining relationships with family and friends back home. Despite having limited communication and contact during periods of separation, it's essential for soldiers to maintain close bonds with loved ones.