HBO Series "The Pacific" Hits Home

HBO recently aired "The Pacific", a ten part mini-series that told the story of U.S. Marines in Japan. The show followed their stories from Guadalcanal, all the way to Iwo Jima, and finally back home. In the series finale, the Marines finally get back home after years away from their family and home life. When they do get home, they all keep asking the same question, "Now what?" After getting back, it seems like starting over. All of a sudden, it's time to find a job, learn a skill, and most importantly it's time to talk to people who have no clue what you've been through, what you've seen, or where you have been.

Eugene Sledge (Joseph Mazzello) returns to his family

The show deals with something that every combat veteran is familiar with. Home becomes a very strange place after coming back from combat. It can be difficult, even overwhelming to fit back in to old routines, and to talk to people who have not shared your experiences. "The Pacific" does a fantastic job of showing this, with characters having trouble finding jobs, going to social events, and refusing to wear their uniforms. It is an incredible paradox: when you're at war, all you want to do is come home and once you get home all you can think about is going back. Things that you use to enjoy, people that you used to relate to, it all changes.

Sledge breaksdown after realizing war has changed him

Watching this show today, I felt like I was looking in a mirror. Perhaps it was influenced by the current situation, but it really made the point well. It also showed me that the struggles of returning veterans has not changed since World War II, we have all experienced the same problems in some fashion. I've always said, and it remains true: The Army taught me how to shoot, how to assault and capture a trench system with incredible precision, but they never told me what to do afterwards. As hard as it is, I am comforted knowing that I am not alone, and that I am certainly not the first one to feel lost after getting home. Now, thanks in part to shows like "The Pacific", hopefully it will be easier to talk about. And, God willing, one day we can all finally come home and live in peace

-J.R.

Oringally posted on PTSDdiary.com, 5/16/10