ABSTRACT

The following narratives reflect a less dramatic change from the veterans’ understanding of the presenting narrative and their subsequent questioning of the values and belief systems underpinning it. In Chapter 6, the veterans had come to accept new values and belief systems and had arrived at a point of willfully rejecting the presenting narrative and constructing new narratives. At the time of my interviews with them they had already processed the questions, the uncertainty, the confusion and the pain that accompanies that space. Two of the veterans represented here describe a similar experience to those in Chapter 6 but the process of change they experienced was not as dramatic. These veterans did not begin with a strong attachment to the underlying patterns in the presenting narrative and they responded differently to the contextualization of the narrative. The third veteran, Andrew, was very much in the process of still struggling with what his experiences meant to his understanding of self and his nation. The final two veterans, John and Eric, had different experiences altogether. John was strongly committed to the presenting narrative and remained committed while Eric was strongly opposed but emerged committed. Their stories follow below.