Militarized Mestizajes

Chapter 5 focuses on how the War on Terror’s permutations of Latina/o war literature, theater, television, film, and popular music present methodological and political challenges to conventional understandings of Latina/o relationships to power as inherently oppositional to capitalism and US imperialism. These relatively new genres include Latina/o War on Terror combat action memoir and related oral histories; wounded warrior narratives; protofascist Special Forces Über-warrior memoir and biographical profiles; Conscientious Objector testimonio, ideologically ambivalent wartime theater, and pacifist performance art; military command memoirs by junior and senior officers; as well as Latina/o spy memoir, biography, and historical fiction. Despite the authors’ profound differences in cultural heritage, experiences, and aesthetic capacities, their cultural productions cohere around intersecting, and diverging, violence-based theories of knowledge and being that extend through, but also far beyond warfare and wartime contexts. They also demonstrate the stark right-wing turn in a large segment of contemporary Latina/o life writing, which accentuates the wide range of ideological trajectories identified in earlier chapters.

The Eagle on My Arm

The Eagle on My Arm details the journey to recovery of Vietnam veteran Patrick Bradley. Enlisting at the age of eighteen, Bradley was mortified by the scenes in the North Vietnam jungles, and found himself unable to cope. At a psychiatrist’s recommendation, Bradley traveled to the Canadian wilderness where he spent three years studying and documenting bald eagles and their behavior. He made groundbreaking discoveries during his research, linking the use of chemical DDT to the decrease in southern bald eagle populations. Additionally, he made notable progress in his recovery, able to better control his previously unmitigated anger and rage. Bradley teamed up with other veterans to form the Avian Veteran Alliance in 2015, a non-profit that pairs wounded warriors with injured birds of prey. Where the Eagles Soar, written by biographers Dava Guerin and Terry Bivens, is one of only a handful of books concerned with the unique link between avian therapy and wounded warrior recovery. Introducing the psychiatric benefits of avian and animal therapy is crucial to the cultural climate regarding mental health, and sheds light on positive and exciting alternatives in the study of PTSD among war veterans.

Health Behaviors Among Service Members Injured on Deployment: A Study From the Wounded Warrior Recovery Project

ABSTRACT Introduction Service members (SMs) who are injured on deployment are at risk for myriad long-term health problems that may be ancillary to their physical injury, including high rates of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder, and poor health behaviors (e.g., problem drinking, cigarette and tobacco use, poor sleep quality, and sedentary lifestyle). As the specific health behaviors injured SMs engage in have been largely ignored, the primary aim of this study was to compare health behavior patterns among those with and without mental health problems in a large, representative sample of SMs injured on combat deployment. Materials and Methods Participants (N = 3,303) completed behavioral health assessments between September 2018 and April 2019 as part of the Wounded Warrior Recovery Project. Multivariate linear regressions and binary logistic regressions were used to evaluate differences between mental health screening status and health behavior outcomes, adjusting for injury severity, age, and years since injury. Results Overall, about half of participants screened positive for posttraumatic stress disorder and/or depression (49%). Participants reported high rates of alcohol use and problems, cigarette and tobacco use, inadequate sleep and poor sleep quality, and low levels of physical activity. With the exception of number of drinking days and likelihood of current tobacco use, participants who screened positive for a mental health disorder evidenced significantly worse health behavior outcomes. Conclusions The results provide a preliminary glance into the mental health and health behaviors of SMs roughly a decade after injury, and underscore the importance of examining the interplay between mental, physical, and behavioral health outcomes among wounded warriors to promote health and wellness.

Injury and Illness Surveillance During the 2016 Department of Defense Warrior Games: Review of Methods and Results

ABSTRACT Introduction Surveillance systems have become a valuable tool to capture epidemiological data at multi-sport events, with findings serving to predict and prevent injury, reduce illness, and guide efficient utilization of medical resources. In 2016, the first injury and illness surveillance tool for the Department of Defense (DoD) Warrior Games was established to inform the required medical footprint. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods and findings from the 2016 DoD Warrior Games surveillance system, which included a database of injuries and illness. Materials and Methods A total of 245 wounded warrior (WW) athletes were followed over 19 days, to include train-up and competition periods, as they competed for their respective teams of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Special Operations, and United Kingdom. Medical personnel recorded injuries and illnesses treated utilizing a standardized surveillance form and data were entered into a daily tracker to examine patterns or areas for prevention. Reports included sex, age, event discipline, previous injury or illness, reason for presentation, and treatment provided. Results From June 3 to June 21, 2016, 114 individual encounters were recorded on the standard form and entered into the surveillance database. Athletes accounted for 67% of all encounters. Illness accounted for 30.7% of all visits, while injuries accounted for 69.2%. The incident proportion of injuries in athletes was 23.3 injuries per 100 athletes (95% CI 17.6, 30.1) and incident rate of 12.2 injuries per 1000 athlete days. Integrative medicine treatments including acupuncture, osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), massage therapy, and gua sha accounted for the largest forms of treatment (31%). Conclusions From the surveillance data, staff levels and treatment supplies can be adjusted. In addition an improved surveillance tool can be created. Continuous surveillance is required to provide information on trends in injury and illness to support prevention strategies.

Evaluation of Three Postal Invitational Strategies to Increase Survey Response Rates in a Combat-Injured U.S. Military Population: Findings From the Wounded Warrior Recovery Project

The survival rate of those injured in combat in overseas contingency operations is higher than in previous conflicts. There is a need to assess the long-term psychosocial and quality of life outcomes of those injured in combat, yet surveying this population presents inherent challenges. As part of a large-scale, longitudinal examination of patient-reported outcomes of service members injured on deployment, the present manuscript evaluated the effectiveness of three postal strategies on response rates: (1) mailing a study prenotification postcard, (2) mailing the survey invitation in a larger envelope, and (3) including a small cash preincentive ($2). Evaluation of these strategies yielded mixed results in this population. Neither the prenotification postcard nor inclusion of a $2 cash preincentive significantly increased response rates. However, use of a larger envelope to mail the survey invitation significantly increased the response rate by 53.1%. Researchers interested in collecting patient-reported outcomes among military populations, including those with combat-related injuries, may find that increasing the visibility of recruitment materials is more effective for improving response rates than attempting to cognitively prime or offer prospective participants preincentives.