By Hannah Kuchers, Grant Development Administrator
When I first joined Eagle Rock, two facts stopped me in my tracks.
First, a 2021 study from Brown University’s Costs of War Project found that an estimated 30,177 post-9/11 active-duty service members and veterans died by suicide, compared to 7,057 service members killed in military operations following 9/11. In other words, deaths by suicide were roughly four times higher than combat deaths during the same period.
Second, despite growing awareness of veteran suicide, very few organizations are addressing the moral and spiritual wounds that often accompany military service.
At Eagle Rock, we’ve come to understand that if we truly want to help military families heal, we cannot ignore those wounds.
What is Moral Injury?
Many people are familiar with Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS), but fewer have heard of moral injury.
Moral injury occurs when a person experiences, witnesses, or participates in events that violate their deeply held moral beliefs. For military personnel, this can take many forms: making impossible decisions in combat, experiencing betrayal by leadership, surviving military sexual trauma, or witnessing actions that conflict with their values.
The resulting wounds often look different from traditional trauma. Survivors may carry profound feelings of shame, guilt, anger, fear, grief, or spiritual confusion. Many struggle in silence, believing that what they have done, failed to do, or witnessed is simply too painful to share.
While moral injury is distinct from PTS, the two are often intertwined. The emotional, relational, and spiritual consequences can affect every area of a person’s life.
Why Aren’t We Talking About It More?
Part of the challenge may be the way our culture tends to separate life into categories: physical and spiritual, secular and sacred.
For generations, Western society has largely treated these realms as separate. Mental health is often viewed as something to be addressed by clinicians, while spiritual struggles are left to churches, pastors, or private faith practices.
But human beings are not divided into neat compartments.
We are whole people. Our experiences affect our bodies, minds, relationships, and spirits. When trauma impacts every dimension of a person’s life, healing should address every dimension as well.
This artificial divide creates two significant problems:
1. We Treat Whole-Person Problems with Partial Solutions
Sometimes we try to solve spiritual wounds using only clinical approaches. Other times we attempt to address trauma solely through spiritual practices without recognizing the need for additional support.
Neither approach captures the full picture.
Military families deserve holistic care that recognizes the interconnected nature of emotional, physical, relational, and spiritual health.
2. We Separate the Institutions Designed to Help
Faith communities and professional care providers are often viewed as operating in separate worlds. Yet many military families need both.
Healing from trauma may require counseling, supportive relationships, practical resources, spiritual guidance, and a renewed sense of purpose. No single approach can meet every need.
How Eagle Rock Is Different
At Eagle Rock, we seek to bridge that gap.
Our approach is both faith-based and trauma-informed. We believe healing happens when people are seen as whole persons, not collections of symptoms. We create space for the spiritual questions that trauma often raises while also recognizing the importance of evidence-informed trauma care.
We also know that healing rarely happens in isolation.
That’s why our retreats serve the entire military family. Trauma affects spouses, children, and relationships, not just the individual service member. By bringing families together, we help create environments where healing can be experienced and sustained in community.
A More Complete Vision of Healing
We believe military families deserve more than survival.
They deserve hope.
They deserve connection.
They deserve an opportunity to heal the wounds that cannot always be seen.
