When two worlds collide: a story about collaboration, witnessing, and life story research with soldiers returning from war

The story we share here stems from our research with British military personnel who are adapting to life with a physical and/or psychological disability after serving in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. Throughout our research, we have struggled to answer the kinds of questions that plague qualitative researchers: How might we gain insights into intense, traumatic, even life-changing experiences? Should we be inviting individuals to recount or revisit such potent moments from their lives? What interpretive framework might we draw on to make sense of what are sometimes senseless experiences? How can we share any ensuing understanding with others without diluting, diminishing, or disrespecting the lives of soldiers or their families? The story we share here—which responds to Denzin’s challenge to reanimate life and Erickson’s provocation to do so with greater modesty, visibility, and reflexivity—offers one answer to these questions.