The Department of Defense (DoD) compensates Soldiers who are retired for physical disability (Title 10, USC, Chapter 61). The Secretary of the Army may retire a member who is found physically unfit to perform his or her duties due to a disability incurred while entitled to receive basic pay. To qualify for disability retirement, a Soldier must have completed at least 20 years of service creditable for retirement, or hold a disability rating of 30 percent or more.
The return home from combat can often leave servicemembers feeling out of place with the most important people in their lives - their families.
"In deployment, Soldiers grow accustomed to a new lifestyle and a new 'family' - those buddies that bond together to defend each other," said Maj. Ken Williams, 14th Military Police Brigade chaplain. "This lifestyle change is prolonged and becomes familiar, i.e., the new normal."
The families also change while the Soldier is deployed.
"The family is a system," Williams said. "When one family member is absent, the whole system changes. All members of the family adapt to a new 'normal' way of life."
When the servicemember returns, the family may feel uncomfortable with each other, and the servicemember may withdraw from the family.
