Sex and the Wounded Solider

In August the Army released its annual Suicide Event Report. In 2006 the number of suicides was up; 99 completed suicides and 948 “serious attempts”. Describing the findings of the report at a press conference Dr. (Col.) Elspeth C. Ritchie, a behavioral health psychiatry consultant to the Army's Surgeon General, commented that the primary reason for suicide was failure of “intimate relationships”. As uncomfortable as they may be with the idea, the reporting of this statistic put the military, and more broadly the government, in the business of encouraging healthy sexuality, something they usually have neither the interest nor expertise to address.

Some family members of soldiers point out that the military promotes the “intimate relationship” statistic because it takes the emphasis off what they consider to be the real reason behind all suicide attempts; long deployments and lack of mental health support before, during, and after deployment. Whether it’s a cause or a symptom, it’s time for the military to start helping service members not only recover physically, but psychologically, and sexually, from the trauma of combat.

Over 30,000 soldiers and service members have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. They’re coming home with brain injuries and burns, with amputations, shrapnel and post-traumatic stress disorder. A medical term that’s often used to describe injuries characteristic of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan is “polytrauma” – a word which chillingly evokes the complicated and confusing shape soldiers are coming home in.

While they receive the best medical care and rehabilitation VA hospitals can provide, little to no attention is paid to the sex lives of soldiers. This shouldn’t be surprising. Few doctors and rehabilitation professionals are trained to talk about sex, and there’s no reason a VA hospital should be different than any other. At the same time, the community of professionals who do know about sexuality, and the importance it has in overall health, often overlook the sexual health needs of people living with disabilities, and even more so, given their often left-leaning tendencies, they may ignore issues that involve soldiers. It’s not that the support and expertise aren’t out there. We’ve just got to get the right groups of people together.

Over the next week I’ll be publishing a series of pieces about sex and wounded soldiers. If you know a service member I hope you’ll send them a link. If you don’t I hope you’ll take a second and read a bit of the information for yourself. Even if you can’t imagine what you have in common with someone who has experienced combat, the thing about sex is that in almost all cases our similarities far outstrip our differences. Seeing “yourself” in “them” makes it a lot easier to see some of them in you. And regardless of what you think of the war, discovering the ways you’re connected to the people around you is a powerful (and definitely peaceful) experience.

Read more: Sexual Health Issues for Post-Combat Soldiers

• Changes in Sexual Functioning and Response
• Changes in the Mechanics of Sex
• Changes in Access to Sex
• Changes in Your Sexual Thoughts
• Changes in Sexual Feelings
• Changes in Your Sexual Partner

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