Breaking Ranks: How Medically Released Canadian Military Veteran Men Understand the PTSD Diagnosis

Abstract

This paper examines posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans through the lens of hegemonic military masculinity (e.g., emotional toughness, strength, courage) as the overarching social ecology of military life in which mental distress is experienced by service members. Three themes emerged from a focus group with medically released Canadian veteran men: (a) PTSD as a medically decided injury among male soldiers reporting mental distress is experienced as more than an individual or medical problem, but as a social problem—a form of “breaking ranks” with fellow soldiers; (b) the PTSD diagnosis creates intrapersonal and interpersonal dilemmas for medically released veterans that are directly a result of hegemonic military masculinity norms; and (c) veteran efforts to restore accepted masculinity, including resistance to a PTSD label, underpin their relationships with veteran peers and family members. We argue that applying a medical diagnosis of PTSD ignores the social ecology of military life and further erodes treasured masculinized identities among distressed service members. By recasting them as injured patients, male soldiers are separated from accepted demonstrations of masculine agency in re-establishing themselves as worthy members of the military institution. The analysis of veteran men’s first-hand narratives speaks to the importance of understanding military/veteran PTSD diagnoses within the gendered social ecology of military life. The results of this study can facilitate an understanding of how hegemonic military masculinity, medical regulatory policies, and relational and individual processes within the military interact to shape experiences of injury for military and veteran men.