I recently interviewed an ex soldier, aged 25 who was in the army for 6 years. He joined the infantry regiment at age 16, as soon as he finished secondary school and later on went to Afghanistan in 2017. He had always wanted to go into the army ever since he was a little boy.
During this interview he spoke about the life changing experiences he had in the army. One of them included having to grow up quickly than other young men his age at 16, considering not many of them experience staying in a war zone area.
After serving in the army for 6 good years, he decided to leave and return back home to his family and friends in the UK. When leaving the army they take things into consideration, like your health, as they want to make sure you are able to transition back into civilisation. In many cases, soldiers have struggled to fit into the demands of living normally again, how certain things work now and having to adjust. This has caused some soldiers to commit suicide, robberies and other crime related activities and suffer homelessness due to the traumatic experience. This includes experiencing death of some of their friends made in the army, the killing of civilians and more.
A lot of them go on to suffer from PTSD in other words Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is usually caused by an extremely traumatic experiences, leaving the individual with disturbing thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares and detachment. Meaning many of them go on to live with these traumatic experiences by themselves without the support of the government and the army.
Being in the army has its pros and cons, one of them is being away from your loved ones and your friends and the other is being able to serve and protect your country, to the best of your ability and gaining memorable life skills that will stick with you for life.
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