Spokane, WA—When enlistees join the military they know they’ve got firm plans for the next several years. Whether deployed to Iraq of Afghanistan, danger and order are routine. But what happens to vets just returning from war, when daily duties change from trying to stay alive to trying to readjust to life at home? As part of our series Living with War at Home, Spokane Public Radio’s Amanda Loder reports that for some vets, planning for life without the uniform is its own battle.

It’s a hot summer day, and Michael Rodgers has the air conditioner cranked up in his Spokane Valley apartment. You wouldn’t know it from looking at his sparsely-decorated living space, but at 24-years old, Rodgers has already seen a lot. He served in Iraq as an Army infantryman for 15-months in Mossul.

Michael Rodgers: “A lot of IED’s, firing from the enemies…I lost five of my friends over there a couple months into the tour. Their Humvee got exploded, and they were all gone. And you know, that’s really when you just kind of step back and take life differently. You know, it’s not just one big game.”

After three-and-a-half years in the military, in September 2009, Rodgers faced a new set of challenges…trying to adjust to life as a civilian—again.

Michael Rodgers: “So I guess, you know, it's just getting into the language of civilians again, not saying, ‘Yes sir. Yes ma’am. Yes Specialist. Yes Private.’ You know, kind of (chuckle) talking to people like you’re an actual civilian now, like, ‘What’s up, bro? How ya doin'? stuff like that.”

Wearing a Bud Light tee under a button-down shirt, Rodgers has an easy way about him, but his friends don’t see him that way.

Michael Rodgers: “I dunno...a few of my friends say I’m over protective, you know, but that’s just me. We were trained to be protective of our friends, you know, our battle buddies, and have their back all that time. So to some of my friends, that’s an annoyance, you know.”

Rodgers says the military diagnosed him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He describes it as “mild,” saying he mostly gets flashbacks when he hears noises like a car backfiring. He’s tried to find full-time work, but that’s also harder than he thought it would be.
Michael Rodgers: “I was coming back here expecting, you know, to just walk in and say, ‘Hey, I’m military,’ and them say, ‘Hey, you need a job?’ But you know, it was very hard trying to find a job…”

Melissa Still: “They need to have a plan in place, financially, employment, various other things as well.”

Melissa Still is a community readiness consultant at Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane. She helps airmen who are separating from the military learn how to write resumes and interview for jobs. Still says while they do have entitlements, many veterans don’t think about what life will be like when they get out.

Melissa Still: “A lot of them have the G-I Bill, depending on their enlistment. They still do have the points system, which is a preferencing for employment. It doesn’t guarantee them a job.”

It’s a windy day at Manito Park in Spokane, where Jared Hodl is sitting at a picnic table in front of a pond. His planner and notebooks are stacked in a neat pile at his elbow, and he’s sitting with perfect military posture. Even three years after war injuries forced him into medical retirement, Hodl’s physical presence screams ‘Marine.’

Jared Hodl: “I was an athlete in high school, so I always liked the challenge. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I saw the raid, or the invasion on TV, and I went and asked the recruiter, ‘Who are those guys? Um…on foot?’ And he told me infantry will get me there, so I went ahead and signed-up.”

Hodl received his good conduct medal and was days away from making sergeant when he severely dislocated his knee on a night mission in Ramadi, and was med-evaced out of Iraq. When Hodl got home, he found out he had more troubles than a dislocated knee—he had severe arthritis, P-T-S-D and Traumatic Brain Injury. He gets severe migraines and has a hard time concentrating. These are all changes he couldn’t plan for.

Jared Hodl: “I have major anxiety, but the medicine…has helped a lot, and so I’m trying to get my schooling done, and the next step after that is hopefully get enough confidence...to obtain a job, and then try to get back to a normal...normal life.”

Dawn Gray, a trauma therapist at the Spokane V-A Medical Center and an Iraq vet herself, understands Hodl’s struggle. Gray says even without severe injuries, veterans returning to civilian life after war have a long slog ahead.

Dawn Gray: “Some of our Iraq and Afghanistan vets have been through a traumatic experience, and trauma changes the world for you. It changes the way you see yourself and the way you interact with the world.”

Army veteran Michael Rodgers agrees.

Michael Rodgers: “It was really scary for me, getting out of the military and being a civilian…because in the military, you know, you woke up at a certain time every day, and then you had certain duties that you did every day…I’m not knowing what to do, no guidance, no direction.”

Rodgers and Hodl are both enrolled in Spokane Community College, hoping education will help them find jobs—and get back into the swing of civilian life.