In Their Own Words: Staying Connected in a Combat Environment

Objective: To describe communication issues experienced by soldiers in a combat environment. Methods: Qualitative design was used to guide data collection using semistructured interviews with six key informants all who had been deployed at least once in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Content analysis and use of Invivo software enabled data analysis, coding, and sorting. Findings: Participants identified barriers to communication while in combat that emerged into four main themes—need to control communication, need to limit communication with home, value of peer communication, and involvement in a traumatic incident (that greatly influenced communication). Conclusions: Respondents uniformly chose to limit communication—their communication with their families, superiors, or subordinates. This was because of regulations, the need to exert some control, and the need to limit distraction from the mission. Peer communication served as an outlet and a source of support, and involvement in a traumatic incident greatly affected communication.