"Where do I belong now?" A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of speaking with a young man who had just returned home after his second international deployment in a short period. The experiences and events he encountered in the deployment area led to a need, some time after returning home, to deeply understand the existential and moral questions that had arisen. Through the Swedish Soldiers' Homes Association's helpline, the man received further support through the nationwide network of psychotherapists and psychologists that we provide.

The question addressed by the veteran can be seen as an expression of a sense of disorientation, which to varying degrees is relatively common among military personnel upon returning home. It is a kind of tug-of-war between military and civilian identities that arises where the military narrative of who I am, naturally shaped over a long period in the deployment area, must coexist with other civilian identities when returning to the trivialities of everyday life, which are also part of the individual's life narrative.

The researcher, reserve officer, and priest Jan Grimell has studied for several years how the military context creates uniquely strong identities among the personnel of the Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten) based on values, logics, and practices, which are necessary to ultimately solve demanding tasks during war together with others.

These identity processes begin already during conscription, at a formative stage in a person's life. Learning to fit into an environment with strong collectivist and group-oriented traits, adopting a standardized language, embracing new behaviours and perhaps even values, contrasts with the individualistic lifestyle of civilian society.

At the country's soldiers' homes, our soldiers' home managers meet these young people during their free time, including in conversations about the life questions that arise in the military environment. Russia's full-scale war of aggression, combined with other events in recent years that have contributed to an increasingly uncertain world, is clearly reflected in these conversations with conscripts. Everyday reflections on how military life affects one – one's own role in the group, missing friends and family, or pondering what life after discharge will entail, are now interspersed with questions of a more serious nature; who will take care of my family if there is a war and I am not home? Do I have to kill and perhaps die myself? The soldiers' homes become, in these contexts, a place for reflection, a vent for questions of moral and existential nature with the possibility to encompass a range of both new and recurring identity perspectives.

The motto of the Swedish Soldiers' Homes Association: "When you need us – wherever you are," will soon gain an additional concrete meaning. Sweden's entry into NATO means that the Swedish Armed Forces will send a reduced battalion to Latvia in 2025. We will be present for the Swedish soldiers through a soldiers' home with staff, established at Camp Adazi together with the Danish soldiers' home movement.

We look forward to continuing to accompany the military personnel in Latvia, who spent their free time at one of our soldiers' homes during conscription.

In the soldiers' home, we want to create an open living room for recovery, with sensitivity to the questions and psychosocial stresses that may arise during deployment – also with the hope that our presence on site will have a threshold-lowering effect for those who wish for further support after returning home.

Andreas Philipsson
Secretary General
Swedish Soldiers' Homes Association