Approximately 4 million U.S. service members took part in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Shortly after troops started returning from their deployments, some active-duty service members and veterans began experiencing mental health problems. Given the stressors associated with war, it is not surprising that some service members developed such mental health conditions as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance use disorder. Subsequent epidemiologic studies conducted on military and veteran populations that served in the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq provided scientific evidence that those who fought were in fact being diagnosed with mental illnesses and experiencing mental healthâ€"related outcomesâ€"in particular, suicideâ€"at a higher rate than the general population. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the quality, capacity, and access to mental health care services for veterans who served in the Armed Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn. It includes an analysis of not only the quality and capacity of mental health care services within the Department of Veterans Affairs, but also barriers faced by patients in utilizing those services.

In the World War I era, veterans fought for a unique right: access to government-sponsored health care. In the process, they built a pillar of American social policy. Burdens of War explores how the establishment of the veterans’ health system marked a reimagining of modern veterans’ benefits and signaled a pathbreaking validation of the power of professionalized institutional medical care. Adler reveals that a veterans’ health system came about incrementally, amid skepticism from legislators, doctors, and army officials concerned about the burden of long-term obligations, monetary or otherwise, to ex-service members. She shows how veterans’ welfare shifted from centering on pension and domicile care programs rooted in the nineteenth century to direct access to health services. She also traces the way that fluctuating ideals about hospitals and medical care influenced policy at the dusk of the Progressive Era; how race, class, and gender affected the health-related experiences of soldiers, veterans, and caregivers; and how interest groups capitalized on a tense political and social climate to bring about change. The book moves from the 1910s—when service members requested better treatment, Congress approved new facilities and increased funding, and elected officials expressed misgivings about who should have access to care—to the 1930s, when the economic crash prompted veterans to increasingly turn to hospitals for support while bureaucrats, politicians, and doctors attempted to rein in the system. By the eve of World War II, the roots of what would become the country’s largest integrated health care system were firmly planted and primed for growth. Drawing readers into a critical debate about the level of responsibility America bears for wounded service members, Burdens of War is a unique and moving case study. -- Jennifer D. Keene, Chapman University, author of Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America

The health and economic costs of tobacco use in military and veteran populations are high. In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) make recommendations on how to reduce tobacco initiation and encourage cessation in both military and veteran populations. In its 2009 report, Combating Tobacco in Military and Veteran Populations, the authoring committee concludes that to prevent tobacco initiation and encourage cessation, both DoD and VA should implement comprehensive tobacco-control programs.

The challenges facing military veterans who return to civilian life in the United States are persistent and well documented. But for all the political outcry and attempts to improve military members' readjustments, veterans of all service eras face formidable obstacles related to mental health, substance abuse, employment, and — most damningly — homelessness. Homelessness Among U.S. Veterans synthesizes the new glut of research on veteran homelessness — geographic trends, root causes, effective and ineffective interventions to mitigate it — in a format that provides a needed reference as this public health fight continues to be fought. Codifying the data and research from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) campaign to end veteran homelessness, psychologist Jack Tsai links disparate lines of research to produce an advanced and elegant resource on a defining social issue of our time.

No detailed description available for "Wounds of War".

This guide is designed to provide Veterans and their families with the information they need to understand VA's health care system - eligibility requirements, health benefits and services available to help Veterans and copayments that certain Veterans may be charged. Updated Topics and Benefits: Stay Connected with VA p. 2 Combat Veterans can Apply for Enrollment by Telephone p. 3 Seamless Care for Traveling Veterans p. 7 Enrolled, but Later Determined Ineligible p. 15 Free Transportation to VA Appointments p. 33 Audience: Military veterans and their families seeking to use the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system and learn more about how it works, with contact information for a variety of VA health care services. Related products: Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents and Survivors 2016 iis available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/051-000-00258-0 Code of Federal Regulations, Title 38, Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief, Pt. 0-17, Revised as of July 1, 2016 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/869-084-00145-6 Code of Federal Regulations, Title 38, Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief, Pt. 18-End, Revised as of July 1, 2016 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/869-084-00146-4

Military Veteran Reintegration: Approach, Management, and Assessment of Military Veterans Transitioning to Civilian Life offers a toolkit for researchers and practitioners on best practices for easing the reintegration of military veterans returning to civilian society. It lays out how transition occurs, identifies factors that promote or impede transition, and operationalizes outcomes associated with transition success. Bringing together experts from around the world to address the most important aspects of military transition, the book looks at what has been shown to work and what has not, while also offering a roadmap for best-results moving forward. - Contains evidence-based interventions for military veteran-to-civilian transition - Features international experts from North America, Europe and Asia - Includes how to measure transition outcomes - Outlines recovery programs for the injured and sick - Identifies factors that promote or impede successful transition

Too often American veterans return from combat and spiral into depression, anger and loneliness they can neither share nor tackle on their own. Military Mental Health Care: A Guide for Service Members, Veterans, Families, and Community seeks to aid our troubled, returning forces by dissecting the numerous mental health problems they face upon arriving stateside. Don Philpott and Cheryl Lawhorne-Scott, co-authors with Janelle Hill of the highly successful Wounded Warrior Handbook, detail not only each issue’s symptoms, but also discuss what treatments are available, and the best ways for veterans to access those treatments while readjusting to civilian life. In addition, they connect and explain many alarming trends, such as joblessness, poverty and addiction, appearing in our nation’s veteran population on a broader scale. PTSD and struggles with anxiety affect far more than veterans themselves, as sobering phenomena like homelessness, suicide, domestic violence and divorce too often become realities for those returning from war. Military Mental Health Care is both a resource for struggling veterans and a useful tool for their loved ones, or anyone looking for ways to support the veterans in their lives.