Natosha Monroe

If one doesn’t sleep an entire night through for months on end and even up to a year, it’s no wonder it takes them a while to readjust once they are back home. When I was in Guantanamo Bay for a year with nightly-interrupted sleep, it took me over a year once I was back home to sleep an entire night through without waking up. And that wasn’t even a combat zone! Before the deployment, I never had sleep issues—I am one of those people who goes straight to sleep once my head hits the pillow and I stay asleep until my alarm goes off in the morning.

A common issue we as counselors are likely to see among military clients is their inability to sleep well. First of all, trouble sleeping is not exactly specific to military members, as we all know. Many people in the general population have this problem as well. But I think it’s important not to jump to conclusions about a Veteran’s lack of sleep being due to PTSD, nightmares, or stress, but to instead consider very simple factors which, once understood, might be the true obstacles to sleep—and much more easily remedied. From a previous year-long deployment and now this one in Afghanistan, I can hopefully offer some ideas and insight one might not have considered otherwise in explaining possibilities for a lack of sleep among Veterans.

When my co-worker first showed me where I’d be living during this deployment (see example photo—not exact area, but same), my heart sank and I just had to laugh. My first thought was that I was not in Infantry Village as it’s called, but more like the slums of the movie, “District 9.” And then I saw how close I would be living to the outer perimeter fence. Um, seriously? I could throw a rock over the concertina wired-top—and my last name’s not Manning. But ok, I can deal with this. I then saw my match-box sized room. Literally the length of the twin-sized bed and about7 feet wide. No windows. A swinging piece of plywood for a door, a bent nail as my inside door “handle”. And the highlight? An extension piece from the air conditioner that leaks onto my bed, yea!

Today I had the pleasure of meeting yet another heroic U.S. Service Member working in Afghanistan. During his time here (this is not his first tour) SSD Jag has worked selflessly to search out not only IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) but the people who make them as well. Due to his proven talent in his skills and his previous success, word out on the street is there is a price out on this Army Service Member’s head. But you wouldn’t know it by his constant upbeat, positive attitude. You see, SSD stands for Special Service Dog and SSD Jag is one of many Army service dogs deployed here to Afghanistan.

Today I’m writing about something that is very disturbing and not uncommon here in Afghanistan. It’s not pleasant to write about, but I feel an obligation to do so since I’m here and seeing the realities for myself. I hope that sharing this information with those in my field will help in some way—if not directly, perhaps at least by gaining a better understanding of what the Afghan people must endure and also to better understand the frustration of U.S. Troops who return from this environment.