Deployment Cycle Research Articles

IMPROVED ASSESSMENT OF CHILD CUSTODY CASES INVOLVING COMBAT VETERANS WITH POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

Despite increasing recognition that combat veterans' mental health needs demand a specialized approach to sentencing and adjudication in criminal courts, this lesson has yet to reach family courts. In child custody disputes, evaluators and judges would greatly benefit from a differentiated approach to service‐connected “invisible” wounds, which allows them to address the unique contextual factors surrounding each case, rather than applying a one‐size‐fits all approach to mental illness. Attributes of the proposed framework include: (1) avoidance of stereotypes and biases about military service and mental illness that often confuse custody appraisals and lead to error; (2) an expanded understanding of potential harm to the child posed by secondary trauma that need not be physical; (3) attributes of treatment programs oriented to trauma and tailored to gender differences; and (4) knowledge of comprehensive services available to veterans by virtue of earned entitlements that enable more responsive and effective interventions for all family members.Key Points for Family Court Community: Qualified veterans with mental health conditions like PTSD are eligible for counseling and treatment services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Increasingly, these programs include the full spectrum of counseling services for children and other family members. Family courts can take advantage of the VA's programs to supplement custody arrangements and parenting plans in the same way civilian criminal courts are using the VA in sentencing arrangements. It benefits all family law practitioners to evaluate themselves for common biases against military families and their children. When unchecked, these biases often lead to incorrect conclusions about negative consequences on such children and the cause of the consequences. It is vital for family law practitioners to understand the consequences of the deployment cycle on all family members and the special considerations that arise when families must adjust to the return of a servicemember‐parent who has been injured mentally or both mentally and physically. A recovery perspective is helpful in assessing the parenting skills of combat veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder since most parents with this condition can, and do, recover in a relatively short period of time, if provided with the proper supports, including continued access to their children. In conceptualizing potential harm to children from combat veteran parents with diagnosed Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, aside from physical violence, custody courts and evaluators should also consider the possibility of Secondary Traumatic Stress and proven methods to guard against it. In considering treatment for combat veterans within the context of child custody cases, courts, custody evaluators, and attorneys should account for gender differences in treatment programs as well as differences in programs intended specifically for trauma survivors. Generic counseling or counseling targeted at general problems of anger management, substance abuse, or Interpersonal Violence is not likely to address the underlying problems facing traumatized combat veterans.

Risk propensity and health risk behaviors in U.S. army soldiers with and without psychological disturbances across the deployment cycle

Anecdotal and preliminary evidence suggests that Soldiers returning from a combat deployment engage in an increased number of health risk behaviors. Three potential factors driving this change were examined in this study; posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), concussion and traumatic brain injury (TBI), and perceived invincibility. We studied members of a combat arms brigade one month prior to a deployment to Iraq and approximately one month after their return (N = 319). Participants anonymously completed surveys characterizing attitudes about risk, risk propensity, invincibility, engagement in health risk behaviors, and personality. Using standardized screening instruments, participants were categorized with respect to PTSD and probable TBI. Results suggest that Soldiers engage in more alcohol use and reckless driving behaviors post-deployment. These changes were exaggerated in those who screened positive for PTSD. Perception of one’s invincibility and survival skills increased post-deployment thus suggesting that participants felt less susceptible to adverse consequences and more adept at surviving dangerous situations. This study provides documentation of the pattern of health behavior in Soldiers engaged in the deployment cycle. Our findings suggest increases in the number of risks Soldiers’ engage in post-deployment are not limited to those with PTSD symptomtotology. This study has implications for not only adjustment to life post-deployment at the individual level but also operational readiness.

The Parenting Cycle of Deployment

Parents of dependent children comprise approximately 42% of Active Duty and National Guard/Reserve military members serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom. Recent estimates indicate that more than two million children have experienced parental deployment since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This article seeks to characterize the impact of the deployment life cycle on parenting roles among service members and at-home partners/caregivers of dependent children. Specifically, a new conceptual framework is presented for considering the ways in which parenting and co-parenting processes are affected by the demands and transitions inherent in contemporary deployment to a war zone. Although the phase-based emotional cycle of deployment continues to offer an instructive description of the broad challenges faced by military couples, a parenting cycle of deployment model shifts the perspective to the critical and largely ignored processes of parenting in the context of deployment and war, and to the realities faced by parents serving in the U.S. military. Implications for prevention, intervention, and future research related to military families are addressed.

Military youth and the deployment cycle: Emotional health consequences and recommendations for intervention.

The United States military force includes over 2.2 million volunteer service members. Three out of five service members who are deployed or are preparing for deployment have spouses and/or children. Stressors associated with the deployment cycle can lead to depression, anxiety, and behavior problems in children, as well as psychological distress in the military spouse. Further, the emotional and behavioral health of family members can affect the psychological functioning of the military service member during the deployment and reintegration periods. Despite widespread acknowledgment of the need for emotional and behavioral health services for youth from military families, many professionals in a position to serve them struggle with how to best respond and select appropriate interventions. The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirically based and theoretically informed review to guide service provision and the development of evidence based treatments for military youth in particular. This review includes an overview of stressors associated with the deployment cycle, emotional and behavioral health consequences of deployment on youth and their caretaking parent, and existing preventative and treatment services for youth from military families. It concludes with treatment recommendations for older children and adolescents experiencing emotional and behavioral health symptoms associated with the deployment cycle.

The case for treating depression in military spouses.

The increased operational tempo associated with current deployments to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) is placing considerable strain on military families. Among other sequelae of OIF and OEF deployment, findings from recent studies suggest high rates of depression in spouses of service members. This review presents a rationale for targeting depression among military spouses. It examines how stressors relating to the deployment cycle may contribute to depression in spouses and outlines the effects of spousal depression on the mental health of service members and their children. Mental health services currently available to military spouses as well as barriers to their care are also described. Considerations for the adaptation of treatment to their unique circumstances and needs are discussed.

Information Security Policy in E-Government Management: Two Case Studies on Internal Revenue Service and Virtual Election System

When government agencies make a decision to provide services and information on the Internet, assurance and security become imperative issues throughout the planning, design, deployment, and improvement project cycles. Certainly, it is hard to argue the convenience for citizens to access and process tasks like filing incoming taxes, casting votes on an election, and renewing driver’s license online, etc. Nonetheless, how can citizens trust the e-government service applications that would protect their privacy? On the other hand, perhaps more importantly, as more government data are made available via global public network connections, how can the government agencies ensure their employees are following proper policies and procedures to safeguard the network and computer systems? In these two case studies, computer security issues that could happen to IRS and online voting systems are portrayed and discussed. The solutions to a number of key security questions are also provided.

Suicide Prevention in a Deployed Military Unit

Objective: Military suicide and parasuicidal behaviors have been increasing over the last several years, with rates highest in the deployed environment. This article presents a deployment cycle-specific suicide prevention plan utilized during one U.S. Army division’s 15-month deployment to Iraq.Methods: Education, identification, and intervention programs were implemented at each phase of the deployment cycle based on the specific unit activities and predicted stressors.Results: During the deployment, there was an annual suicide rate of 16/100,000 within the trial cohort, compared to a theater rate of 24/100,000. Peaks in suicidal ideation and behaviors occurred during months two, six, and twelve of deployment.Conclusions: A deployment cycle prevention program may decrease rates of suicide in the combat environment. This program may serve as a model for other suicide prevention programs.

Virtual Reality Goes to War: A Brief Review of the Future of Military Behavioral Healthcare

Numerous reports indicate that the incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in returning OEF/OIF military personnel is creating a significant healthcare challenge. These findings have served to motivate research on how to better develop and disseminate evidence-based treatments for PTSD. Virtual Reality delivered exposure therapy for PTSD has been previously used with reports of positive outcomes. This article details how virtual reality applications are being designed and implemented across various points in the military deployment cycle to prevent, identify and treat combat-related PTSD in OIF/OEF Service Members and Veterans. The summarized projects in these areas have been developed at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, a U.S. Army University Affiliated Research Center, and this paper will detail efforts to use virtual reality to deliver exposure therapy, assess PTSD and cognitive function and provide stress resilience training prior to deployment.

Integration of ECQFD and LCA for enabling sustainable product design in an electric vehicle manufacturing organisation

In the early stages of product development, designers need to take environmental performance into account together with traditional design objectives. Sustainable products are products that are fully compatible with nature throughout their entire life cycle. This paper presents a case study in which the integration of environmentally conscious quality function deployment (ECQFD) and life cycle assessment (LCA) has been applied to enable sustainable product development of an electric vehicle. In this study, ECQFD has been used to handle environmental and traditional quality requirements of the product, whereas LCA has been used for assessing the environmental impact of products and processes. A cost model has been developed by integrating production and environmental costs as well as the technical status of an old part product for reuse. The results obtained from the case study reveal that integration of ECQFD and LCA considers the equal importance of environmental requirements to the traditional requirements of cost and quality thereby ensuring sustainability in product design in an electric vehicle.

U.S. Army combat operational stress control throughout the deployment cycle: A case study

As military conflicts around the world persist, a comprehensive approach in managing behavioral health issues will continue to be a key component of military healthcare. Deployed military personnel frequently exposed to trauma are well-known to be at high risk for developing behavioral health disorders, including combat stress reactions and posttraumatic stress disorder. In the U.S. Army, members of combat operational stress control (COSC) units have unique skills to assist soldiers and their families not only throughout all phases of a deployment, but also throughout a soldier's entire career. The purposes of this article are twofold, first to describe the role of COSC operations with an emphasis on interventions in a deployed environment. The second purpose is to present a case study from Operation Iraqi Freedom highlighting the efficacy of the COSC approach to meet a Soldier's behavioral health needs in a deployed environment.

Feasibility Assessment of Deployable Composite Telescope

Volume constraints in existing launch vehicles require large space-based sensors to be folded during launch and subsequently deployed in space. This paper outlines the development of a prototype deployable astronomical telescope that would maintain both structural stability and optical alignment for potential space-based deployment. To achieve this goal, the structure must possess adequate stiffness and maintain its positional accuracy after a deployment cycle has ensued. The development and testing were based on a consumer-astronomy Newtonian telescope. A foldable carbon-epoxy composite replacement structure was integrated to replace the aluminum-truss assembly provided by the manufacturer. The composite telescope’s structure and optical output were evaluated using computational (finite-element analyses and closed-form equations) and experimental methods. The structure was subjected to postdeployment displacement tests to quantify alignment accuracy. The stresses introduced in folding the tape springs were evaluated for both magnitude and mode of failure using the Tsai-Wu failure criterion.

Integrated topology control and routing in wireless sensor networks for prolonged network lifetime

This study considers an integrated topology control and routing problem in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), which are employed to gather data via use of sensors with limited energy resources. We employ a hierarchical topology and routing structure with multiple sinks and devise a topology control scheme via usable energy fraction at the sensors. We develop and examine three different mathematical models whose solutions prescribe clusterhead and sink locations and data routing from sensors to sinks in a period of a deployment cycle. We develop a heuristic solution algorithm which provides very small optimality gaps for the models. The approach utilizes two types of solution representations, a combination of multiple neighborhoods, and objective value-based cut inequalities for improving the evaluation of candidate solutions. We present extensive numerical test results and analysis of the models and the solution approach. We determine that our proposed model, which minimizes average energy usage and the range of remaining energy distribution at the sensors, captures important characteristics of topology control and routing integration in WSN design and exhibits significantly better performance than our benchmark models and a well-known protocol HEED in extending network lifetime.

Accelerating the Media Business with MPEG Extensible Middleware

The development of successful multimedia applications is becoming a challenging task due to short deployment cycles and the huge amount of applications flooding the market. One major problem that the multimedia industry is facing in this area is the heterogeneity of the content-delivery chain. The classic model in which all the components, such as the authoring, distribution, and playback, were known in advance, has now evolved into an interconnected network of programmable processing units that are no longer dedicated and built for one purpose.

Accelerating the media business with MPEG extensible middleware

The development of successful multimedia applications is becoming a challenging task due to short deployment cycles and the huge amount of applications flooding the market. One major problem that the multimedia industry is facing in this area is the heterogeneity of the content-delivery chain. The classic model in which all the components, such as the authoring, distribution, and playback, were known in advance, has now evolved into an interconnected network of programmable processing units that are no longer dedicated and built for one purpose.

Implementing Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD With the Newest Generation of Veterans and Their Partners

As the newest generation of veterans returns home from the fronts in Afghanistan and Iraq, increased attention is being paid to their postdeployment mental health adjustment as well as the interpersonal sequelae of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions. The Department of Defense has begun to invest in relationship-enhancement programs to ease the burden on both service members and their families across the deployment cycle. However, when there is the presence of PTSD, a disorder-specific conjoint treatment may be needed to address both PTSD and associated relationship difficulties. Cognitive-behavioral conjoint therapy (CBCT) for PTSD is a disorder-specific, manualized conjoint therapy designed to simultaneously improve PTSD symptoms and intimate relationship functioning. This article reviews knowledge on the association between PTSD and relationship problems in recently returned veterans and provides an overview of CBCT for PTSD. We then present a case study to illustrate the application of CBCT for PTSD to an Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veteran and his wife and conclude with recommendations for how mental health providers can apply the treatment to recently returned veterans and their loved ones.

Integration of ECQFD and LCA for sustainable product design

The purpose of this paper is to report a research carried out for ensuring sustainable product design by the integration of environmentally conscious quality function deployment (ECQFD) and life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches. Sustainability refers to the capability of an organization to maximize resource efficiency for ensuring clean and green atmosphere. The sustainable product development model integrated with ECQFD and LCA has been used for ensuring sustainable product design. The implementation study was carried out by gathering data from a single manufacturing organization. The implementation experiences indicated that methodology of sustainable product design is practically feasible and compatible. The findings and contributions of this research would be useful to the majority of the organizations situated in the world.

When a parent goes to war: Effects of parental deployment on very young children and implications for intervention.

Young children (birth through 5 years of age) are disproportionately represented in U.S. military families with a deployed parent. Because of their developmental capacity to deal with prolonged separation, young children can be especially vulnerable to stressors of parental deployment. Despite the resiliency of many military families, this type of separation can constitute a developmental crisis for a young child. Thus, the experience may compromise optimal child growth and development. This article reviews what is known about the effects of the military deployment cycle on young children, including attachment patterns, intense emotions, and behavioral changes and suggests an ecological approach for supporting military families with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Specifically, home-based family focused interventions seem to warrant the most serious consideration.

Commentary on the Reaction Panel in Response to the Keynote Lecture presented by Col. Carl Castro and Dr. Mark Chapin titled The Deployment Cycle: Expectations and Implications

Commentary on the Reaction Panel in Response to the Keynote Lecture presented by Col. Carl Castro and Dr. Mark Chapin titled The Deployment Cycle: Expectations and Implications

Impact of Combat on the Mental Health and Well‐Being of Soldiers and Marines

This presentation introduces a summary of leading edge research and recommendations for a number of changes regarding mental health needs and services for Veterans. Those Veterans who experienced combat exposure and those who have perceived their leadership negatively have greater risks for developing subsequent PTSD. Research data provide support for the use of Battlemind Training as a useful approach to prevent mental health issues at all phases of the deployment cycle. The author also challenges the current use of DSM–IVTR diagnoses with combat Veterans.

Deployment and Families: Hero Stories and Horror Stories

Families who experience the deployment of their military member are exposed to unique stressors, are able to take advantage of military specific resources for support and coping, and experience a wide range of adaptational outcomes, from growth and resilience to dysfunction and disintegration. This article applies McCubbin's Family Resilience Model to the unique demands of each of the three phases in the military deployment cycle.