The U.S. Citizen-Soldier and the Global War on Terror: The National Guard Experience (PDF; 1.4 MB)
Source: Alan Shawn Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
From press release (Newswise):

In the past six years of the Global War on Terror, more than 1.5 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Of these, some 250,000 have been members of the National Guard. While Guard troops had been posted abroad on earlier military and peace-keeping assignments, the number of involved and the nature of their responsibilities on the frontlines of the Global War on Terror are unprecedented. Their experience has major implications for the future of the National Guard as an institution and for U.S. foreign and military policy.

A new report by Tufts’ Feinstein International Center entitled The U.S. Citizen-Soldier and the Global War on Terror, focuses on the experiences of the citizen-soldiers who make up the National Guard. With roots in communities across the nation and full-time careers outside the military, they offer an illuminating bellwether of American public opinion. The report features individual Guard members from more than a dozen states. New Hampshire receives particular attention, as Guard officials there have gone to some lengths to identify lessons to be learned and to implement innovative re-entry strategies for returning soldiers. Also featured is the experience of Vermont, a state with a disproportionately large number of its population engaged in the Global War, and a disproportionately large number of fatalities.

Relying largely on the soldiers’ own words, the report provides a composite narrative of the experience of National Guard troops — from enlistment and training through deployment, combat and re-entry. In addition to interviews conducted for the study with members in the National Guard in New Hampshire and Vermont, the report draws on materials from the Veterans History Project in the Library of Congress, on e-mails and other communications by soldiers themselves, on news accounts and documentaries, and on conversations with family members, mental health professionals, and members of the media. The study also utilizes data provided by the U.S. Department of Defense.

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