Jamie Peer shares her story of how moral injury led to burn out in her own life and ultimately led her to leave the military after 23 years of service. Today she is the Senior Executive Officer for the Moral Injury Support Network for Servicewomen (MISNS). A nonprofit focused on supporting women who have experienced moral injury. In this week’s interview we cover some of the highlights of her time in the military, the challenges she faced and of course dive into moral injury and why the work MISNS is so important.
How Moral Injury Can Lead to Burnout
Jamie wasn’t planning to join the Army but by an unlucky or maybe lucky circumstance a recruiter ran into when roller blading. After ensuring she wasn’t injured he started to ask about her plans for the future. It led her to decide to join the Army. It was a bit of a culture shock at first, but she ended up serving for twenty three years.
From Green to Gold
She switched from enlisted to officer after three years of service. She went through the ROTC program and found it very valuable in preparing her for her future career as an Army Officer. September 11th happened her senior year and while it was impactful that day she didn’t realize how it would impact her life. She worked as a Personnel Officer. The role gave her the ability to help the commander understand the pulse of their unit.
Challenges in the military
She faced a number of challenges in the military. One of the biggest challenges was balancing being a mom and a service member. She talked about the guilt she often felt both in her career and as a mom. One of the hardest things was deploying for a year. Then feeling guilty overseas both for not being a good enough soldier and also for not being a good enough mom. These challenges along with other challenges that women face in the military ultimately led to burnout and her leaving the Army.
Filing a disability claim
A former boss convinced her to file her disability claim. She avoided it because she found herself comparing her service to others. But he convinced her and she also wanted to help others. So for those two reasons she did. The process of filling a claim actually was healing as she went for her mental health evaluation and learned how many things were still affecting her. It allowed her to get mental health therapy and she continues to work to make change through MISNS.
Want to learn more about MISNS work and mission? Check out their website: https://misns.org/
