The Red Bulls love Mountain Dew
I returned yesterday from a three-day trip to Ft. McCoy, WI. As part of the research project I'm working on, I helped interview returning soldiers from Iraq about their expectations for reintegration to civilian life. We will interview the same soldiers in 2-3 months to find out how it actually went. To welcome the soldiers home (and entice them to participate in the study!), we offered cold beverages at our display table. We quickly found out that the Minnesota Red Bulls love Mountain Dew. It seems that this was one significant deprivation during the long 22 months in Iraq.
For ethical reasons, I can't divulge here much of what I heard during the interviews I conducted. But I can say that I found the experience emotionally moving, intellectually stimulating, and surprising in many ways. I have now seen many faces and heard personal stories that cut past the political rhetoric and media spin about the war in Iraq. I hope that at least one outcome of our study will be to tell these stories with care and offer some solid input to the military and our society about the experience of reintegration.