The Value of Veterans Oral History

Raynor, Sharon D.

doi:10.4324/9781003280323-17

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…To become more fully acquainted with the interviewees and their inner worlds, special attention was paid to how the questions were asked and the ways in which the interviewees told their stories, not only to the content of the narratives (Ackerly et al, 2006). Listening to veterans demands a specific understanding of trauma, silence, and memory (Raynor, 2022). We thus listened to each interview several times and read the transcripts according to the guidelines of Carol Gilligan’s Listening Guide (for details on the Listening Guide and its application, see Gilligan, 2015; Gilligan & Eddy, 2021; Harel-Shalev & Daphna-Tekoah, 2020a), which is particularly suitable for listening to narratives of trauma (Daphna-Tekoah, 2019): Through sensitive guided listening, the Listening Guide enabled us both to hear several “voices” of the same interviewee and to identify silences.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The silencing of women’s combat traumas may be attributed to three main factors: (a) the exclusion, until recently, of women from most combat roles; (b) women’s reluctance to share their difficulties due to the gendered biases of the masculine military environment; and (c) the reluctance of part of the society to hear traumatic stories, both in Israel and elsewhere (Cree & Caddick, 2020; Daphna-Tekoah & Harel-Shalev, 2017; Raynor, 2022). The current article thus asks two questions: In what way do women narrate their traumatic experiences as combatants, and what can scholars and health professionals learn from these narratives?…”

Section: Trauma: a Biological–psychological–social Injurymentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Routine trauma”—Awareness of combat trauma in women combatants.

Daphna-Tekoah,

Harel

2023

Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy

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Objective: The current research aims to explore the nature of trauma experienced by female combatants. Method: Data were collected from two focus groups and a series of personal interviews with 100 women military veterans who had served in the Israel Defense Forces as combat or combat-support soldiers. Results: Interviews with these veterans revealed a variety of narratives about their war experiences, including an intertwining of the emotional and the physical. The ongoing danger and traumatic events that the combatants and combat-support soldiers faced on a daily basis were woven into their stories. These narratives indicated that—alongside their exposure to traumatic and potentially life-threatening situations—the soldiers also felt empowered and valued as a result of their military service. The women soldiers’ perspectives regarding their military service covered three main themes, “experiencing trauma,” “meaningful combat experiences,” and “the need to be heard.” Conclusions: Through qualitative research and narrative analysis, this study offers mental health professionals, policy makers, and scholars ways to gain a nuanced insight into women’s combat trauma that avoids categorization. Based on the research findings, we suggest that additional aspects of trauma can be understood through the study of women soldiers, who face a “double battle”—combat, with the attendant trauma, and the gendered biases of the masculine military environment. Our findings suggest that there is value in engaging with and listening to diverse narratives of trauma and emphasize the need for a critical perspective in the study of trauma and combat trauma.

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