![]() Perspective participants were texted requesting their participation in an interview lasting up to 90 minutes through a video conferencing platform. All participants were then asked to share contact information of other veterans who may have been interested in being involved in the study. The support group, facilitated by the first author, was approached by the second author via text messages to solicit interest in participating in the study. It is within these lived experiences we will see how veteran identity, veteran culture, and veteran mindset converge to make up the construct of veteranness.Ī total of eight individuals who identified as Post-9/11 veterans were recruited from a Post-9/11 veteran support group, personal contacts, and snowball sampling ( Noy, 2008). By exploring the concept of veteranness, we look beyond the idea of identifying as a veteran to look at the lived experiences of Post-9/11 veterans. This paper builds on concepts of veteran identity, veteran culture, and veteran mindset to examine the composition of veteranness using interpretative phenomenological analysis of a small sample of Post-9/11 veterans. These responses and attitudes can be understood as the veteran mindset. Identifying as a veteran has several protective factors that might help shape self-perception and, thereby, responses to stigma, attitudes toward treatment, and hope for the future ( Firmin et al., 2016). It is essential that service members are able to transition successfully from their military identities into that of the veteran. The sociocultural identities that people self-assign or accept influence their interpersonal interactions and decision making ( Hack et al., 2017). This transition may cause inner conflict, and mental distress, as values change between environments causing disrupted identity ( Smith & True, 2014). Veteran reintegration post-military presents individual identity issues that are dependent on military and deployment experiences. The transition from a military to veteran identity and culture involve a reintegration into the civilian world. Veteran culture may also be influenced by individual military experiences, which vary greatly due to the differences among branches, rank, deployment status, and military occupational specialties within the military ( Harada et al., 2002). The self-context each veteran has ties in, not only with their race or ethnicity, but also in other social groups like being a mother/father, having a religious affiliation, and various upbringings from different parts of the country or world. Further, this veteran identity or culture sits with each veteran’s own social context. These values combined with shared experiences create the veteran cultural identity. Military culture includes the value structure that guides conduct in the military and promotes expressions of collective identity ( McCormick et al., 2019). Military service or veteran status can be seen as its own cultural identity. They are similar, but at the same time, different. They may also carry similar traits of veteranness. Yet, they share the identity of being a veteran. For example, Vietnam-era veterans and Post-9/11 veterans have different military and veteran experiences. Veteran identity involves veteran’s self-concept that derives from their military experience within a sociohistorical context. They are contextual within the individual as well as in the social environment. Veteranness and veteran identity do not sit within a vacuum. Hinton ( 2020) defined veteranness as the “myriad, actualized personal and sociocultural aspects of veteran identity” that are lived experiences (p. Veteranness, in juxtaposition to identity, takes the concept of veteran identity one step further and aggregates the veteran’s identity, behavior, and purpose to make up what it means to be a veteran. Veteran identity, as seen through the lens of social psychological theory, one of the few fields to explore this concept, suggests self-definition and meaning related to military service which, in turn, affects behaviors and a sense of purpose in social situations ( Adams et al., 2019). ![]()
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