Journaling For Heroes

I've mention before that I volunteer at Ft. Bragg but I thought I'd update you on some changes. Beginning a couple of months ago I changed the format from creative writing to therapeutic journaling. When I started this, I had a notion that some of these guys might want to tell their war stories - either to share with their families or to pursue publication in one form or another. There were a few that connected on that level, but after meeting with a number of them, I sensed a greater need for help in "talking" through their issues. It's very difficult for a soldier to open up with the medical professionals who try so hard to help them. It occurred to me that if they were taught how to express their feelings, fears and frustrations privately, it might actually help them to sort things out.

My students are all members of the Wounded Warriors Battalion at Ft. Bragg. Many have been wounded in combat, others are non-combat injuries, some injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, others have been injured prior to their deployments. There's really quite a wide ranging source of injuries, but the soldiers I want to focus on are the ones who were injured while on deployment, whether combat related or not. The goal is to get them to express themselves on paper, and hopefully through their writing to learn more about themselves and their feelings.

I go to great pains to emphasize that their journals are private, that only they can decide to share what they've written. If they begin to get into territory that makes them uncomfortable, I've told them it's perfectly OK to destroy what they've written, that the benefit is in the writing, not the saving.

The other change has to do with when and where this all takes place. When I first started teaching at Bragg, it was in the evening, at their barracks (actually an old hotel) and loosely categorized as recreational activity. When I changed the format I approached the command and requested that I be allowed to offer the class during "duty hours" so that we could emphasize that this was no longer considered recreation, and more along the lines of a tool to help the healing process.

Two months into the new format, there have been some breakthroughs with a number of students who really get the benefits of this approach. I can't begin to tell you how humbling it is to have these heroes thank me for my time, when I am so grateful for all the sacrifices they have made for us.

I plan to continue this course for as long as they'll have me and will post periodically about how it's going. If anyone has ideas that can help this program succeed, please leave a comment or drop me an email at michaeljcain@gmail.com

More later...