ABSTRACT
The American Heritage Dictionary defines camouflage as “A means of concealment.” The author has chosen this word to describe missing in action (MIA) survivor grief for the reasons: their grief is a direct result of a military experience and camouflage is usually a military term. More importantly, their grief-related issues are often not validated or even recognized by society (especially now that the war has been over for 25 years), and they are forced to camouflage their true feelings and emotions. Someone once said that “grief is grief,” and while there are certain elements of grief universal to all who grieve, there are clearly some individuals whose experience has dictated a more difficult pathway through grief. Children understand death and loss according to their chronological age and their emotional maturity.
