“Shelter from the Storm”: Military Service Member Spousal Caregiver Challenges and Barriers to Resources in the Midst of Enduring Conflicts

Abstract: The enduring nature of the Global War on Terrorism has created a generation of active duty service members and recently retired veterans who spent the majority of their careers training and deploying to combat. Their long-term persistent service heightens the likelihood of symptoms of PTSD, moral distress, or moral injury (Frankfurt & Frazier, 2016) and the enduring nature of the conflicts means many remained undertreated or undiagnosed for extensive periods of time (Conard & Sauls, 2014). In the past decade, expansive research has begun to study the psychological implications of these extensive conflicts on service members and has begun to offer ways to mitigate and treat this generation. However, the research and institutional and financial support are often given to the active duty service member or veteran despite the knowledge that the active duty service member’s combat service has extensive mental health impacts on the spouse caregiver and other family members. While research and resources for spousal caregivers and family members are becoming more frequent, this article argues the need for additional resources for spouse caregivers of active duty service members or recently retired service members who have served primarily in combat-related positions and who have cases of undiagnosed, underdiagnosed, or untreated cases of PTSD or moral distress or injury after several decades of conflicts. Implementing, and providing adequate awareness of, additional institutional and individual support services for the spousal caregiver can help to heal the family unit more effectively.