Military's Role in Protecting Citizens & National Borders - Essay Sample

Introduction

A military is a group of forces that are well organized for warfare. In some countries, it comprises of the army, navy, air-force among other categories (Sharp et al., 2015). The role of the military is to protect the citizens. The military personnel is often ordered to protect it's country's boundaries from the enemy and in case of war, they may even attack another country (Sharp et al., 2015). For example, in the fight against terrorism, the US military was sent for a mission to Iraq in an aim to protect the US citizens. These kinds of missions often affect the mental well being of the soldiers sent on a mission and their families.

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Military personnel often face health challenges such as post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (Sharp et al., 2015). Most military personnel upon returning from missions in war tone zones experience depressive symptoms. According to Adler et al. (2015), armed forces reports have established that a health gap exists between mental health and seeking treatment among military personnel. Combat deployment in the military often leads to increased incidences of mental health among the military (Adler et al., 2015). Mental health problems resulting from post-traumatic stress disorder is specific to the military group (Adler et al., 2015). According to Adler et al. (2015), most military personnel are reluctant to seek treatment especially because of organizational barriers and stigma associated with mental health.

The gaps that exist in health care provision among the military are related to factors such as the administrative structure and stigma (Adler et al., 2015). Approximately 60% of military personnel suffering from mental health do not seek treatment (Sharp et al., 2015). These factors create a gap between those who access treatment and military people who do not seek mental health care after returning from deployment in combat zones (Sharp et al., 2015). Most of the junior officers who often go for combat deployment are reluctant to seek mental health care because it is difficult to identify that they need mental health care without necessarily implying that are they are not normal (Wilson, Gettings, Hall & Pastor, 2014). The other challenge that exists is in convincing the soldiers that upon return from depressive missions they should seek mental health treatment without appearing weak (Wilson, Gettings, Hall & Pastor, 2014). Most military men for especially junior officers are hesitant to seek treatment because they feel their leaders or those in their units will regard them as weak if they seek mental health care. They also prefer managing the conditions on their own so that they do not appear weak or harm their careers (Adler et al., 2015). According to Bein et al., (2019), the military personnel who are subordinated fail to seek treatment for fear of being regarded as dangerous by their peers more than their supervisors. As a result of this stigmatization, the servicemen in the military often avoid seeking mental treatment because of a lack of trust of the professionals providing mental health care (Bein et al., 2019). Health gaps in managing post-traumatic stress disorders among the military lead to impaired functionality in their occupation and physical health (Bein et al., 2019). It also affects the relationship of the military with their families and leads to other social problems that affect the whole society. Therefore the gap that exists between military men who seek mental health care and those who do not seek treatment should be addressed in an aim to improve mental health care provision.

In an aim to ensure that the military personnel access mental health care it is necessary that the community is engaged to avoid self and public stigmatization. By engaging the community more people would view access to mental health care by military personnel as part of their career which is necessary and helpful to their well being (Gkiouleka et al., 2018). Determinants of health such as socioeconomic factors like institutional factors, ethnicity among other factors affect the military especially junior officers and veterans who would like to access mental health care due to probable stigmatization and being perceived as weak (Sharp et al., 2015). Social stratifications such as administration structure, community factors, and individual factors lead to stigmatization of those seeking mental treatment resulting in reluctance among the military workforce to seek treatment (Gkiouleka et al., 2018). Although most of the military personnel can access professional mental health care a greater number of those suffering do not seek treatment and it is, therefore, necessary that gaps such as stigmatization are addressed to ensure that there is equity in the provision of care.

References

Adler, A., Britt, T., Riviere, L., Kim, P., & Thomas, J. (2015). Longitudinal determinants of mental health treatment-seeking by US soldiers. British Journal of Psychiatry, 207(4), 346-350. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.146506

Bein, L., Grau, P. P., Saunders, S. M., & deRoon-Cassini, T. A. (2019). Military mental health: Problem recognition, treatment-seeking, and barriers. Military Behavioral Health, 1-10.

Gkiouleka, A., Huijts, T., Beckfield, J., & Bambra, C. (2018). Understanding the micro and macro politics of health: Inequalities, intersectionality & institutions - A research agenda. Social Science & Medicine, 200, 92-98. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.025

Sharp, M., Fear, N., Rona, R., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., Jones, N., & Goodwin, L. (2015). Stigma as a Barrier to Seeking Health Care Among Military Personnel With Mental Health Problems. Epidemiologic Reviews, 37(1), 144-162. doi: 10.1093/epirev/mxu012

Wilson, S., Gettings, P., Hall, E., & Pastor, R. (2014). Dilemmas Families Face in Talking With Returning U.S. Military Service Members About Seeking Professional Help for Mental Health Issues. Health Communication, 30(8), 772-783. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2014.899659