Building Trust and Connection: A Family Systems Perspective on Black Veteran Reintegration

Reintegration after military deployment is often viewed as an individual process, though it occurs in family systems. Black veterans remain underrepresented in reintegration research, particularly in studies focusing on relational trust and racialized stress. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) revealed four interrelated themes: presence, communication, racial identity, and family role negotiation. Findings indicate that trust was built through everyday relational processes rather than immediate emotional disclosure, and racial identity served as both a resource and a strain. These findings highlight trust as a relational process shaped by family dynamics and sociocultural contexts, extending reintegration literature.