For many in the media, the long-running irregular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been a replay of Vietnam. One of the most popular stereotypes of the wars is the stressed-out combat veteran. But what is perhaps most remarkable about the U.S. military since September 11, 2001, is how remarkably resilient it has been. Surveys indicate that 95 percent of Iraq veterans have been shot at or have seen dead bodies and human remains. Ninety-two percent have been ambushed. Yet, despite these horrors and the prospect of continued deployments, rates of indiscipline and deep psychological trauma are low, and reenlistment rates historically high. In fact, many of those who do suffer from trauma recover: the label of the broken veteran is profoundly misleading.

What explains this seeming paradox?

This conference will take a unique look at this question, first from the soldier’s perspective with presenter Nate Self, a former Army Ranger who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart in the decisive battle of the initial invasion of Afghanistan. In his recent autobiography, Two Wars (Tyndale, 2008), Self chronicles not only his combat experience but also his struggles with post-combat stress. Following his presentation, panelists Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force; Charles Hoge, M.D., chief of psychiatry at Walter Reed Army Research Institute; and Richard Tedeschi, professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina, will examine the paradox from a therapeutic and medical practice perspective. AEI scholar Sally Satel, M.D., will moderate. In a concluding address, Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, director of the U.S. Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program, will look at Department of Defense policy. Cornum, a flight surgeon during Operation Desert Storm, was captured by the Iraqi army when her search-and-rescue helicopter was shot down, an experience she described in her autobiography, She Went to War (Presidio Press, 1993).