Military Social Workers

An interesting article appeared in the Ottawa paper recently, examing the stresses place on military social workers in Afghanistan. The article is worth reading in its entirety; here is the part that touches on American-Canadian differences through the voice of a Canadian social worker stationed there:

The influx of Americans here in recent weeks has brought a new dimension to problems with which the social workers must contend.

"The problems that we see amongst the U.S. forces are a reflection of the societal issues they have. In the U.S., there's more extreme poverty than you see in Canada. Poverty comes with its own issues -- abuse, alcohol and drug problems, domestic violence. People come from much more dire circumstances. I've never seen in my practice as a social worker so many people coming from such dire circumstances. They are very patriotic as well. Canadians are not less patriotic, but our patriotism is less overt. The Americans join the military to get out of poverty. But they also do it for God and country."

The article goes on to talk about how the length of deployment also puts increased pressure on U.S. soldiers; it's not unusual for them to be stationed in Afghanistan for a year, whereas Canadian deployment lasts six months. To read the full article: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Foot+soldiers+battlefield+mind/2013288/story.html