# PFC Podcast 273: Coming Home – The Real Transition After Deployment

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/prolonged-field-care-podcast-3929124/pfc-podcast-273-coming-home-the-real-transition-after-deployment
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/prolonged-field-care-podcast-3929124/pfc-podcast-273-coming-home-the-real-transition-after-deployment.md
Podcast: [Prolonged Field Care Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/prolonged-field-care-podcast-3929124)
Published: 2026-04-06T04:01:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dennis3211/episodes/PFC-Podcast-273-Coming-Home--The-Real-Transition-After-Deployment-e3he8ut
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO5081439934.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/prolonged-field-care-podcast-3929124/episodes/pfc-podcast-273-coming-home-the-real-transition-after-deployment
Duration seconds: 4410

## Resource

In this raw, no-BS conversation, PFC Podcast host Dennis sits down with Justin Ball — licensed clinical social worker, former Green Beret, and one of the most insightful voices on military mental health — to unpack the often-ignored second war. Justin brings both battlefield experience and clinical expertise, while Dennis shares unfiltered war stories and hard-earned lessons. They draw on Homer’s Odyssey, Achilles in Vietnam, modern family systems theory, emotion-focused therapy (EFT), anthropology of tribal hunters returning to the village, and brutally honest spouse perspectives (shoutout to Angela Ball for the coffee-table truth bombs). This isn’t another “do these 5 things and you’ll be fine” checklist. It’s a real talk about why coming home is hard — for the service member, the spouse, the kids, and the whole damn family system — and how to navigate it with eyes wide open. Key Takeaways - The transition home starts **before** you leave the sandbox — unrealistic expectations (“If I can just make it home…”) set most people up for failure. - Anger is often the only “socially acceptable” emotion for warriors; underneath it usually lies fear, sadness, shame, or grief over missed time/missed life. - Military and home are **competing tribes** with conflicting values, boundaries, and shame triggers — yelling works at work, but it nukes the dinner table. - Spouses aren’t “just holding it down” — they’ve built an entire functioning system. Coming home = deliberate, careful re-entry, not storming the castle. - Chronic leaving-and-returning (TDYs, schools, exercises) is as damaging as combat deployments — families don’t care if it’s “just training”; absence is absence. - Healthy reintegration means **we** not **me** — appreciation, lowered expectations, co-regulation in traff…

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## Transcript

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