Military Domestic Violence

The domestic violence within the US military is worrying. Soldiers overtime have extending harm to their loved ones after they comeback from missions. This violence is attributed by the incapacity of soldiers to deal with the psychological effects of war. Most of the individuals whom violence is subjected are women and children. It has also been established that the single army officers also extend violence to their partners. Domestic violence in the army is therefore very prevalent and it requires more than the zero tolerance policy. The zero tolerance policy has overtime been ineffective and produced no releasable results. This document introduces the use of a more comprehensive model of dealing with soldiers’ psychological issues; positive psychology and resilience training. This training enables soldiers to bounce back from war as a whole devoid of mental health problems. This will significantly reduce domestic violence.

Soldiers after engaging in war face numerous psychological challenges which fuel such vices as domestic violence after they comeback from war. Soldiers within the modern warfare encounter extremely demanding missions coupled with sleep deficiency, extreme weather as well as disconnection from families. Additional aspects that heightens soldiers psychological torture is the constant imminent threat of losing their lives. The disconnect from families has increasingly resulted to lack of bonding between the officers and the family members. All these unfortunate cases of domestic violence which mostly are caused by military officers towards their families have the capability of being stopped. Training soldiers in positive psychology and resilience could significantly reduced cases of domestic violence. This training involves among other aspects problem solving skills, putting things into perspective as well as avoiding thinking traps.

Domestic violence

Research has shown that a considerable proportion of military families as well as partners are at a heightened risk or threat for domestic violence. One in every three military spouses has been identified as a domestic violence victim (Hansen, 2001).. This represents a very huge number of people who are at risk of attacks from their loved ones who are soldiers. The rate of violence within the military is rated as three times as high as that of civilians. These rates represent mild to moderate types of domestic violence. It is however worth noting that most of the domestic violence is usually extensive and injurious since they possess a much higher severe physical aggression rate (Beals, 2003).  

Military domestic violence almost entirely falls on military men pointing the violence to their wives and kids. Studies have shown that the seriousness of   violence against their wives is much bigger in contrast with their civilian counterparts. At times domestic violence by the military men towards their spouses may be regarded as isolated cases or occurrences and which aggravates the situation (Beals, 2003). A mounting body of data shows that military men wives’ are very vulnerable since they usually face by fear of reporting these incidences. Their fear is that since their spouses are officers they are capable of retaliating leading to even worse injuries or degrees of violence. Violence is not only prevalent for married men but also to single army officer (Hansen, 2001).

The single army officers also pose the same degree of threats to their partners. All these problems however are caused by the inability of the army officers to cope with stressful situations after military postings (Beals, 2003). The events the service men and women undergo in war are extremely traumatizing; this frustration is normally directed to family members and spouses after the service men comeback from battles. An intimate partner report indicated the prevalence violence amongst single army officers and their partners; it was established that the violence severity is very high such that the officers at times showed the intent of causing bodily harm as well as use weapons (Hansen, 2001). The Department of Defense has for a long time enforced the zero tolerance policy towards violence. This is a very blunt and myopic rule; this is because it never attempts to seek the root cause of violence or even stop future violence. This policy has proved to very inefficient since the domestic violence cases are ever rising. Expelling or suspending and an officer does no good since more the problem regards their mental health. A more comprehensive approach requires to be employed to curb the worsening situation. This is for the reason that using traditional approaches to solve contemporary problems only worsens the problem.

Positive psychology

This training focuses on numerous areas some of them are; developing, mental psychological toughness, developing meaningful as well as positive relationships, avoiding pathology and identifying individual strength. Resilience points to the whole physical as well as psychological health: it is described as the capacity of a soldier to bounce back to from hardship.  Positive psychology training along with resilience will reduce the chances of soldiers getting involved in domestic violence (Seligman, Reivich, & McBride, 2011). This training has been found as being very effectual in assisting soldiers to avoid mental health problems as well family disconnection which is the ingredient of domestic violence. Positive psychology and resilience may in a long way assisted soldiers to deal both their professional and most importantly their personal problems (United States Army, n.d.).

This training program is comprised of many continuous activities: assessment test are constantly performed   to determine a soldiers response to the training. The assessments are performed throughout their careers. This is to ensure an efficient force all through which are free issues such as domestic violence (Lester, 2011). The trainers utilize a tool referred to as Global Assessment Tool to evaluate the soldiers’ mental fitness; this helps track any mental deviations which could earl signs of imminence of violent behavior. The basis for training is determined by the score on the Global Assessment Tool, specialized training of positive psychology as well as resilience is carried out; this training covers emotional, family, social or spiritual aspects (Jarrett, 2010).

Soldiers who have undergone resilience and positive psychology training have developed the physical, emotional in addition to mental skills which are helpful in sustaining and enhancing resilience (Seligman, Reivich, & McBride, 2011). Officers who have been attained may help their peers in realizing the resilience and positive psychology skills. All these endeavors will greatly help the US soldiers in bouncing back from stressful warfare situations to join their families who for a lengthy period of time been waiting for their comeback. The commanders as well as other leadership entities should ensure that their soldiers receive resilience training to guarantee improved family relationships between soldiers and their family members (United States Army, n.d.).   

 Positive psychology and resilience employs various elements such as the ATC which stands for Activating Events, Thoughts and consequences. This model assist soldiers gain self awareness. For instance before a soldier gets involved in a domestic violence situation they are trained to ascertain the facts lading to the situation at hand, secondly they are required to precisely what the facts are and lastly they are required to evaluate the consequences of their actions. Many are times that soldiers engage in domestic violence due to rumors which are unfounded and they end up injuring their spouses as well as the children. These skills enable a soldier gain control over their emotions thus resulting to reduced cases of domestic violence (Lester, 2011).

Additional essential resilience training for soldiers is referred to as avoiding thinking traps training. It is certain that emotions usually invade  a person’s ability to reason and think clearly.hwn an individual sis invaded by numerous thoughts they are affected by depression as well as stress; these conditions in turn make an individual fail to think clearly (Lester, 2011). A good example of a thinking trap is when a soldier whilst in battle calls back home and his wife fails to pick up the call, the soldier jumps into conclusions that his wife is cheating on him: this is a thinking trap. Soldiers are taught to avoid thinking traps through a series of elements such as seeking evidence of the thought, searching for any missed details and avoiding coming up with unwarranted conclusions. Many military men engage in post war domestic violence due to numerous thinking traps they have placed upon themselves (Jarrett, 2010).

Further resilience and positive psychology involves the problem solving training. This equips the soldier with skills problem resolving skills. All the above skills learnt need to be practiced and this is done through problem solving. Here a soldier is trained to avoid over thinking an issue and focus on solving the problem at hand (Seligman, Reivich, & McBride, 2011). A small issue might take place at home and a military husband instead of focusing on problem solving they spend a lot of time thinking which leads to stress, this consequently leads to violence against their family members . Resilience training helps the soldiers analyze the situation calmly and solve it.

Conclusion

Positive psychology and resilience skills will to a great extent assist in reducing the cases of domestic violence. It is clear that this is a serious issue which requires serious solutions. The traditional methods such as the zero tolerance policy have no place in the present times. With the major breakthroughs in medicinal psychology military domestic violence issues require to be dealt with in more sophisticated means. Positive psychology and resilience training extends the mainly essential skills that enables soldiers handle professional and personal problems in a better way. It is imperative that the Department of Defense incorporates positive psychology and resilience training in the military academies to guarantee an efficient force free from violence of any kind.

References

Beals, J. (2003). Understanding the Military Response to Domestic Violence. Retrieved from http://www.bwjp.org/files/bwjp/articles/BWJP_Military_Part1.pdf

Hansen, C. (2001). A Considerable Service: An Advocate’s Introduction to Domestic Violence and the Military. Retrieved from http://civicresearchinstitute.com/dvr_military.pdf

Jarrett, T. (2010). Warrior Resilience & Thriving (WRT). Retrieved from http://sgtbrandi.com/misc_files/MAJ.T.A.Jarrett.WRT.v.20100711.pdf

Lester, P. (2011). The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program Evaluation. Retrieved from http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/csftechreport3mrt.pdf

Seligman, M., Reivich, K., & McBride, S. (2011). Master Resilience Training in the U.S. Army. Retrieved from http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/mrtinarmyjan2011.pdf

United States Army. (n.d.). DA Civilian Resiliency Training Part I (Hunt ATC Traps. Retrieved from www.bragg.army.mil/…Resiliency/Hunt-ATC-Traps