Reintegration Experience Among Veterans Engaged in Emergency First Aid

Purpose: For many veterans post-deployment readjustment to civilian life can be challenging and for some it might lead to a series of burdens around employment, family life, formation of new social networks, etc. The field of social work proposes a vastly different approach from the norm for reintegration efforts to be effective: Systems of care need to account for components in each veteran’s ecological system and build upon each veteran’s individual strengths and experiences to preserve components of their training in the military culture that shaped their development.

Studies have shown volunteering can provide veterans a sense of satisfaction and camaraderie that might help them with the reintegration process into civilian life.  One such group of volunteers, Team Rubicon (TR), was formed by military veterans to deploy humanitarian aid teams to areas that are acutely affected by disasters, warfare, and other extreme events, both domestically and internationally.  Military personnel often receive training to provide first aid and frontline trauma care during combat, and these skills may be useful during and after disasters in civilian settings. 

The purpose of this qualitative investigation is to examine the perceptions of veterans’ who are involved with TR by identifying factors that promote veterans’ reintegration into the civilian society.  

Methods: This cross-sectional observational qualitative study includes semi-structured interviews (N=9) with current TR members.  All subjects were male, with a mean age of 36 years, 56% White, 44% Latino, and the average time served in the military was 9 years.

Digital audio recordings of interviews were transcribed.  A priori codes were applied and open coding was conducted to identify relevant themes which were then sorted by shared content.  The constant comparative method was used to establish reliability of the findings.

Results:  TR provides a venue for volunteerism which promotes reintegration through ecological factors and building on prior military experiences.  Specifically, veterans were enthusiastic to volunteer in the organization because they could ‘transfer skills’ learned in the military to the work they did in TR. Veterans reported that TR helped them maintain the sense of ‘brotherhood’ with other veterans, very similar to what they had experienced while in military service. Serving in TR also gave them a ‘sense of purpose’ and goodwill as they provided relief and protection to those who had been victimized by disasters. 

Implications:  Ecological factors, such as recreating a familiar culture of camaraderie among veterans, and building upon individual strengths that allow TR veterans to apply their specialized skills, helped instill a sense of connectedness and contribution to their respective civilian communities.   Future research can expand this path to successful reintegration by identifying how the tenets of the organizational culture of TR promote veterans’ reintegration.  Ultimately, veterans need peer support from other veterans as well as maintaining ties to those components in the military culture that had a major impact on their development.   Similar to college students being reinforced to build on their educational experiences and relations, veterans need to build on their capital from the military that shaped their learning and development.