How House of Cards Gets Veteran Transition Wrong

*Spoilers follow—but it’s been enough time to see this part*

“Though Conway’s post-election temperament is miles away from Clinton’s reflective grace, it’s tough to imagine people haven’t bolstered her spirits with the same kind of encouragement.” —Yohana Desta, Vanity Fair

Season 5 of House of Cards plays the election in a reality reflecting (& distorting) way. The Republican challenger, Will Conway, is an Air Force veteran who saved airmen in combat. Yet, the series has a subplot clouding that rescue, questioning whether it's honestly depicted. 

Conway may have been an opportunist in combat. But it’s not explored beyond creating reasonable doubt in his service. It does however begin a very nuanced downfall for the character who beat Underwood in the general election. A downfall not best reflecting political veterans after the uniform.

GAMES AND THERAPY

Frank Underwood loves video games. In the first two seasons, he was deep in Call of Duty. He would play it to decompress. It’s odd an elected politician, who can order soldiers to combat, enjoys violent video games. He even had a handheld game system he played while in his official limo.

Conway isn’t a game player. He’s stoic and reserved. During the show though, one of the airmen he saved shows him VR-based game used for PTSD. He tries it on as an experiment, and you can see Conway affected by it's realism. Yet when he tells his political manager as an aside, Conway’s team makes it clear no one else can know he even donned the VR.

THE SETUP

What gets me is the virtual therapy displayed negatively. 

In Season 2 & 3, former President Walker left the Presidency after marriage therapy and antidepressants. Conway's use of VR gear for his own escape gets played the same way. As a parting shot in the show—his wife Hannah looks on him with disdain while he has the visor on in their living room.

That’s the moment where it hit me. The fact Conway even wore this gear could question his mental fitness for the Presidency!

Wow—incredible. And unfortunate.

THE RETURN

“Truth is, I am still trying to defeat Exile. Every day, I feel called more toward one world over the other.” —David Danelo

You don’t get a lot about Conway’s background—how he went from being in the military to being Governor of New York. You do learn he went into the military after 9/11 because he was sure about entering politics with a military record. While politics was his ambition, it’s interesting how the writers focused more on Conway's record either by implication or association.

Through all the character’s political work, his time in combat always affected him.

I wish his personal work facing the darkness after service wasn’t portrayed as a negative. As something preventing him from becoming President. I doubt the Return limited career Officers like Grant & Eisenhower. Or those who served in the short term like Kennedy & Bush. 

That part, House of Cards got wrong.

REALITY

There are 80 veterans in the House and 20 veterans in the 100-member Senate. They’ve each faced the return from the uniform in their own way—successfully enough to transcend their contribution by serving in the highest levels of civilian Whatever their path—it’s the same communal yet solitary journey we all have to face.

This is exactly why transition is the mission. It shouldn’t be construed negatively or viewed askance. It's something everyone in the uniform has to endure & emerge from. And every effort should be taken to make that as positive an experience as possible. I love you House of Cards, but not about this.