Book Explores Trauma, Stigmas Facing Returning Veterans

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Veterans' Journeys Home by Lori Holyfield

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A new book by a University of Arkansas faculty member examines the complex emotional hardships faced by returning war veterans. Lori Holyfield, associate professor of sociology in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, published Veterans’ Journeys Home: Life After Afghanistan and Iraq, after a series of interviews with returning soldiers and mental health professionals.

Holyfield’s book depicts the haunting experiences that stick with soldiers beyond their days of combat and explores how to best confront and treat emotional wounds.

“Drawing on four years of research, oral histories and ethnographic observation, this book highlights the unique challenges that face both males and females in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Holyfield said. “I expand upon the emotional impact of shame, stigma and masculinity that hampers soldiers seeking to heal their emotional wounds.”

The struggle of returning combat veterans is a topic that hits close to home for Holyfield. Her father, a veteran of the Korean War, likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, she said, but he never sought any help. Instead, an expectation for soldiers to be masculine and tough kept him and other soldiers from getting the help they needed.

“He was constrained by his understanding that soldiers should remain stoic, and that real men don’t show emotions regardless of the demons that follow them home from war,” Holyfield said.

While the subject matter in Veterans’ Journeys Home is unique to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the overall message is valuable to veterans of all wars, their families, mental health communities, policymakers and any reader interested in the adversities facing returning veterans.

Holyfield will host a reading and book signing on Sunday, July 22, at the Fayetteville Public Library. The event will begin at 2 p.m. It is free and open to the public, and books will be available for purchase. Fifty percent of proceeds from book sales will be donated to Vets Journey Home, a nonprofit organization that holds weekend programs for veterans, designed to help heal the emotional wounds of military service.