| Since September 11, 2001, more than 2 million US military personnel have been deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) (De Burgh, White, Fear & Iversen, 2011). Sheppard, Malatras, and Israel (2010), noted that deployments often have extended anywhere from 6 to 18 months, the lengthiest since World War II. The unparalleled rate and frequency of military deployments has posed unforeseen difficulties for military families, especially bridging the gap between absence and return. According to Bell, Schumm, Knott, and Ender (1999), the coming of the electronic age has meant that contact with home is no longer a privilege restricted to a few soldiers, but is becoming more commonplace. The access to advanced electronic means of contacting family members back home is affecting service member's experience of war, deployment, and separation (Greene, Buckman, Dandeker & Greenberg, 2010).;This qualitative, phenomenological study examined how access to advanced electronic means of contacting family members back home during deployments may be affecting service members' experiences of deployment and separation with regard to their mental health and occupational effectiveness. This study sought to identify the optimal level of communication with home and service member's preferred mode of communication. Further, it investigated how service members navigated and adapted to the deployed setting. Knobloch, Basinger, Wehrman, Ebata, and McGlauglin (2016) suggested based on their findings on communication in military couple's that more research is needed to highlight the intricacy of issues faced by military couples specifically attending to the positive and negative aspects of their experiences. The current study focused on the experience from the perspective of the service member given that previous research primarily reflects the experiences of spouses and military children.;Thirteen service members participated in this study, 4 of whom were male U.S. Navy Sailors, 8 female U.S. Navy Sailors, and 1 female U.S. Army Soldier. It is important to note that this study only included participants who were still on active duty, had a deployment history, and were reunited with their family for at least three months. Most of the participants were recruited through snowball sampling utilizing a purposive approach. This method of selection allows the researcher to select individuals that can purposefully inform an understanding of the research problem and phenomenon of study.;The answer to the question of whether or not it is a gift or a curse to have access to and utilize telecommunication media to bridge the gap created by deployment and separation remains a conundrum. There is no straightforward answer due to the individual experience of every service member. This study identified that there are both benefits and challenges that service member's faced in regards to their deployment experiences and having access to and utilizing telecommunications media in relation to the impact on their mental health and occupational effectiveness. However, as they reflected on their experiences and offered advice for the future, they revealed specific strategies to consider if and when a service member is faced with separation from home. Their feedback highlighted the salience of resiliency amongst service members and in military culture. The information gathered by this study provides a thorough understanding of the experiences of these service members. The themes revealed by this study, converge with previous research and can be utilized to normalize service member's experiences, inform military policy, and/or guide behavioral health treatment interventions. |
