SGER: Coming Home: Exploratory Research on the Reintegration of National Guard Troops to Rural Native Alaskan Communities

探索性研究小额赠款琳达·格林提议对阿拉斯加原住民部队在伊拉克和阿富汗服役的社会和文化重新融入阿拉斯加西南部社区的情况进行探索性调查。格林指出，在美国境外服役的大约2000名阿拉斯加陆军国民警卫队士兵中，大多数来自农村社区，其中10%在科威特-伊拉克边境服役，来自阿拉斯加育空-库斯科维姆三角洲地区的25个尤皮克村庄。格林指出，越来越多的研究表明，“影响现役士兵、预备役军人、国民警卫队和从中东战区返回的退伍军人的心理和行为健康问题出现了令人震惊的上升。”查看统计数据，可以预测，阿拉斯加原住民农村社区将受到自杀、抑郁、酗酒和药物滥用预期增加的影响，以及据报道回国退伍军人家庭暴力增加的影响。在人口经常少于100人的小农村，一个人的经历的影响被戏剧性地放大。格林提出这个SGER作为一个探索性项目，以建立一个社区合作项目，研究社区如何受到返乡退伍军人重返社会的影响；退伍军人的经历如何影响他们自己的社会和文化融合；以及如何在以前退伍军人经历的历史框架中探索这些问题。国际和平研究所正确地指出，只有通过建立强有力的社区和个人合作，包括该地区人民和研究人员之间的积极参与、投入、交流和合作，才能产生这种政治和伦理考虑的主题。

This Small Grant for Exploratory Research, Linda Green, proposes to do exploratory investigation of the social and cultural reintegration of Alaska Native troops, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, into their communities in southwestern Alaska. Green notes that of the approximately 2000 Alaska Army National Guard troops serving outside of the United States, most of them are from rural communities, 10% of whom are serving on the Kuwait-Iraq border and are from 25 Yup'ik villages located in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region of Alaska. Green points out that there is a growing body of research that shows an "alarming rise in mental and behavioral health issues affecting active duty soldiers, reservists, National Guard troops, and veterans returning from the Middle East war theater." Examining the statistics, it is possible to predict that rural Alaska Native communities will be disproportionately affected by the anticipated increases in suicide, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and an increase in domestic violence that has been reported for returning veterans. In small rural villages, where populations frequently number under 100 occupants, the affect of one individual's experience is dramatically magnified.Green proposes this SGER as an exploratory project to build a community collaborative project for research on how communities are affected by the reintegration of returning veterans; how the veterans' experiences affect their own social and cultural integration; and how to explore these issues in the historic framework of experiences previous veterans. The PI correctly states that a subject of such political and ethical considerations could only occur by building strong community and individual collaborations that include active participation, input, exchange and cooperation between the people of the region and the researcher.