The role of psychologists shall never be underestimated in the modern society especially when it goes about military psychologists. While some civil citizens may think “Why should servicemen have one?”, families of the soldiers who served in the flash points know very well how it feels to come alive through the war. Coming back home, service members remain forever injured with their wartime experience. These people serve for years in areas when the conflict never ends, and war is nothing else but a lifestyle. Waking up in the dead of night, released soldiers still see the pictures in which their fellows die at the front line. That is why military people need psychologists in the first place.
Military psychologists work with service people in different settings. Some of them provide support at home, the others travel with the active military groups. Psychologists can be civilians if they are employed by the Department of Defense as well as service people who work in Army, Air Force, Navy, or Marines. They can be even traditional academic psychologists engaged in the research of this field so that they define themselves as military psychologists.
Military psychologists provide help to the service members or veterans and try to prevent suicide. The American Psychological Association stated that in 2010 the number of service members who committed suicide is equal to the troops killed in wars. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is another common condition for people who cannot cope with the stress of the war – the experience which can hardly be compared to any other type of stress.