Support for the government and its decisions creates all sorts of emotions and controversy within families. One such example would be America and its allies choosing to make war on Iraq without the United Nations support. How the support for the war is moving will affect a family's stress level for their family in the military; if US morale is low, it might cause family to question why their child, sibling, or kin in general is in such a dangerous situation. "These hazards create anxiety."(Phlanz) When support for our soldiers is high, it can affect the family's level of concern, as well as the soldier themself: "a strong sense of purpose about what [the soldiers] are doing can comfort them during the difficult times ahead" (Pflanz 4). And the soldiers overseas need support, for they will hear it even in the limited communications they receive where they are.
Another major stressor for a soldier and their family is just being away from their family. "These patients will appropriately be experiencing a considerable level of anxiety. Even when deploying to regions of the world well away from the war itself, the separation from family in regular life remains difficult" (Pflanz 1). Pflanz wrote of the stress felt from the separation anxiety between families and soldiers, felt by the limited access given between them.
Communications with their families is a big part of the soldier's life, and definitely an additive to the stress factor. Communications are fairly restricted: phone calls are limited to one call per week, if you are lucky, for five to ten minutes apiece. These abbreviated conversations can be stressful because there can be so much to tell each other and with so little time, it is hard to say more than just the basics of what is going on. "We only get one call a week, if we"re lucky.(Friese2) The other forms of communications are letters and email. These letters are often full of information that our soldiers are in battles and life compromising combat situations.
