Virtual Issue - Returning from the Warzone

Returning from the Warzone: Editor’s Introduction
Daniel S. Weiss, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief

This is the first virtual issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, a communication mechanism made possible by the increasingly rapid and growing presence of scientific publication online. A virtual issue gathers articles previously published in the Journal and groups them together. This device dramatically widens the audience who can learn from and cite the excellent work authors have created and also puts a set of articles together that regular readers might not consider as a set.

The theme and publication schedule of the virtual issue, “Returning from the Warzone,” was chosen to coincide with the removal of combat troops from Iraq by the U.S. and to call attention to the issues that attend redeployment. Those who return from the warzone may leave the service and become veterans, or they may continue their military service. In either case, there are new challenges for these military personnel as well as families and friends, and there are new opportunities to intervene and study this process.

The set of articles includes all the work published since 2010 in the Journal that directly addresses issues of homecoming and includes work on measuring adjustment and community reintegration, articles on the impact on families, work focusing on some of the difficulties manifest on redeployment including PTSD, alcohol problems, health behaviors, and the quest for meaning and understanding how to integrate the experiences of combat into current functioning. As well there is work on different groups of service members and the relationships between their warzone experience and homecoming, including the process of seeking services.

It is our hope that the research published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress can contribute both to the understanding of what is facing those returning from the warzone as well as impacting policy and the delivery of services, where needed. Finally, we hope that this work spurs further research and inquiry targeted at reducing the burden of homecoming for all involved.

Military to Civilian Questionnaire: A Measure of Postdeployment Community Reintegration Difficulty Among Veterans Using Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Care
Nina A. Sayer, Patricia Frazier, Robert J. Orazem, Maureen Murdoch, Amy Gravely, Kathleen F. Carlson, Samuel Hintz, and Siamak Noorbaloochi

Effect of Transition Home From Combat on Risk-Taking and Health-Related Behaviors
Amy B. Adler, Thomas W. Britt, Carl Andrew Castro, Dennis McGurk, and Paul D. Bliese

The Role of Intimate Relationships, Appraisals of Military Service, and Gender on the Development of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Following Iraq Deployment
Nancy A. Skopp, Mark A. Reger, Greg M. Reger, Matthew C. Mishkind, Murray Raskind and Gregory A. Gahm

Deployment Experiences and Postdeployment PTSD Symptoms in National Guard/Reserve Service Members Serving in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom
Keith D. Renshaw

Intimate Relationships Among Returning Soldiers: The Mediating and Moderating Roles of Negative Emotionality, PTSD Symptoms, and Alcohol Problems Laura A. Meis, Christopher R. Erbes, Melissa A. Polusny and Jill S. Compton

Trauma Centrality and PTSD in Veterans Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan
Adam D. Brown, Daniel Antonius, Michael Kramer, James C. Root and William Hirst

Combat-Injured Service Members and Their Families: The Relationship of Child Distress and Spouse-Perceived Family Distress and Disruption
Stephen J. Cozza, Jennifer M. Guimond, Jodi B. A. McKibben, Ryo S. Chun, Teresa L. Arata-Maiers, Brett Schneider, Alan Maiers, Carol S. Fullerton and Robert J. Ursano

VA Mental Health Services Utilization in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans in the First Year of Receiving New Mental Health Diagnoses
Karen H. Seal, Shira Maguen, Beth Cohen, Kristian S. Gima, Thomas J. Metzler, Li Ren, Daniel Bertenthal and Charles R. Marmar

PTSD Symptom Increases in Iraq-Deployed Soldiers: Comparison with Nondeployed Soldiers and Associations with Baseline Symptoms, Deployment Experiences, and Postdeployment Stress
Jennifer J. Vasterling, Susan P. Proctor, Matthew J. Friedman, Charles W. Hoge, Timothy Heeren, Lynda A. King and Daniel W. King