The Long War Comes Home

A key role of mental health providers is to educate communities about the impact of combat deployments on service members, veterans, and their families. Through increased awareness about multiple systems of care, a national public health response can increase awareness and education, screening and early identification, mitigation of risk and promotion of resiliency factors, and access to treat-ment for veterans and their families. Most military families successfully adapt to a service member’s deployments for military duties.1 Nevertheless, almost a decade of wartime stress associated with the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has presented unprecedented challenges for military families.2 These families have negotiated a cycle of recurrent and prolonged deployments; faced parental absences and caregiving changes; and endured parental combat stress, safety worries, and disrupted routines.