Reserve Component

We examined military-related sexual trauma among deployed Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans.

Veterans Affairs (VA) administrative data for 164,603 (87% male) Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans were used to examine the relationship between a positive military sexual trauma screen, demographic and military variables, and mental health diagnoses.

Many military veterans face the challenging transition to civilian employment. Military veteran members of a national program, Troops to Teachers, were surveyed regarding life satisfaction and related internal/external career transition variables.

Ninety mentors (those who had transitioned to a new career and volunteered to help others) and 43 members of Troops to Teachers (a national program that helps Service members’ transition to teaching careers) were surveyed about life satisfaction and career transition variables.

BACKGROUND: Military sexual trauma (MST) is the Veteran Health Administration’s (VHA) term for sexual assault and/or sexual harassment that occurs during military service. The experience of MST is associated with a variety of mental health conditions.

Data from homeless Veterans who visited the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) between October 2009 and September 2010 were analyzed to examine gender and mental health differences between those who had experienced military sexual trauma and those who had not.

Occupational functioning represents both an important outcome for military service members returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom and a predictor for long-term mental health functioning.

Two hundred sixty-two Army National Guard Service members participated in a diagnostic interview and survey within one year of return from deployment to Iraq; they completed a survey one year later to examine the role of mental health diagnosis on occupational functioning.

Objectives.

The authors of this study used a national sample of Veterans within one year of returning from deployment in Afghanistan (OEF) or Iraq (OIF) to examine: (1) mental health symptoms and problematic alcohol/drug use, and (2) differences in mental health and alcohol/ drug use problems by gender, Serv