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Military Health and Health Care

Combat Support Operations
commentary
Lives on the Line: The A2AD Challenge to Combat Casualty Care
Marta Kepe @martakepe
Jul 31, 2018
Modern War Institute (West Point)
Countries such as Russia and China continue to develop and expand the ability to integrate long-range strike, anti-ship, anti-air, space and cyber abilities. Provision of medical support could be a worthy priority for NATO planners when considering deterrence of and defense against near-peer or peer adversaries.
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Suicide
commentary
Comparing Suicide Rates: Making an Apples to Apples Comparison
Rajeev Ramchand
Apr 2, 2018
The Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention
As the national suicide rate continues to rise, an increasing number of stakeholders are looking within their own communities and asking: “Do we have a suicide problem?” It's a difficult question to answer.
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Military Health and Health Care
commentary
The Lack of Clarity Over Medical Support for Light Footprint Operations and How It Could Be Solved
Susanne Sondergaard, Marta Kepe @martakepe
Sep 19, 2017
Pan European Networks
Early identification and planning for medical support for EU-led military operations are vital to saving lives, treating injuries and keeping personnel healthy. Common standards would ensure high-quality and consistent medical support regardless of which country is providing it.
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Military Personnel Retention
commentary
Military Power Is All About People: A Return to Personnel Policy
Radha Iyengar Plumb, Brad R. Carson, Amy Schafer, John D. Winkler
Jul 27, 2017
War on the Rocks
Ensuring the strength of U.S. armed forces is critical to U.S. national security and the key source of strength is its people. True investment in personnel is a long-term legacy and an investment worthy of attention and policy debate to ensure the United States continues to recruit and retain the most effective fighting force in the world.
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Military Personnel
essay
Transgender Troops: Fit to Serve
Aug 18, 2016
The Pentagon's decision to open the ranks to transgender service members was informed by months of RAND research into the costs and numbers involved.
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Military Families
commentary
'In the Deployment Life Study, I Saw My Own Family'
M. M. Smith
Jul 18, 2016
SpouseBUZZ
RAND's Deployment Life Study was designed to examine how deployment affects the health and well-being of military families. M.M. Smith, an active-duty military spouse, offers her response to the study.
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Military Families
essay
The Resilience of Military Families
Jun 16, 2016
Deployment of a spouse and parent can shake a military family to its core. But according to RAND research, these families display remarkable resilience.
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Military Health and Health Care
commentary
As Congress Drafts the NDAA, What Are Options for TRICARE Reform?
Susan D. Hosek, Nathaniel Lutovsky
Feb 8, 2016
The RAND Blog
A stronger TRICARE program that provides greater value-based care in a more efficient manner could result from adopting innovations made in the private sector, while also recognizing the unique role of military treatment facilities.
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Suicide
commentary
Veterans Day 2015: Three Priorities for Preventing Veteran Suicide (And It's Not All on the VA!)
Rajeev Ramchand
Nov 11, 2015
The RAND Blog
The suicide rate among veterans is three times that of nonveterans. Additional research and policy intervention in three important areas could help ensure that fewer veterans die at their own hands.
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Suicide
q&a
Helping the Most Vulnerable: Q&A with Rajeev Ramchand
Oct 26, 2015
Rajeev Ramchand discusses drug abuse, suicide, and how research can make a difference for society's most vulnerable.
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Military Health and Health Care
commentary
Tools for Coping with a Military Spouse's Drinking
Karen Chan Osilla
Oct 5, 2015
SpouseBUZZ
A new research study and web program, Partners Connect, was launched in September to help military spouses concerned about a loved one's drinking.
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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
commentary
Veterans Battle Mental Health Issues After Iraq and Afghanistan
Terri Tanielian @TerriTanielian, Rajeev Ramchand
Jun 4, 2015
U.S. News & World Report
Researchers have made great progress capturing the consequences of coping with injuries sustained in the theater of war, but the emerging picture is shadowed in grays. A series of recent findings presents a bleak portrait of the cost of modern war to service members, their families, and their health care providers.
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Military Personnel
commentary
Book Review: 'God Is Not Here' by Bill Russell Edmonds
Linda Robinson @RobinsonL100
May 19, 2015
New York Times
'God Is Not Here' shows how not to send a soldier to war. The experience is searing and often brutal, and only a well-led, well-trained, cohesive unit can help servicemen and servicewomen do their duty and survive both mentally and physically.
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Sleep
commentary
U.S. Soldiers Denied Sleep Suffer Major Health Effects
Wendy M. Troxel @wendytroxel, Regina A. Shih @ReginaShih
May 11, 2015
U.S. News & World Report
More than 60 percent of service members don't get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep per night. About a third get by on five hours or less. The military, and society at large, needs to recognize the importance of sleep as a crucial link to physical and mental well-being.
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Military Veterans
commentary
Learning to Let Go
Kayla M. Williams
Apr 16, 2015
More Magazine
Kayla Williams discusses being a minority in the veterans' community, then finding a group of other female veterans, strangers who knew more about her life than many family members.
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Veterans Health Care
commentary
Military Turns to Collaborative Care to Treat PTSD, Depression
Charles C. Engel @CharlesEngel
Nov 19, 2014
Psychiatric News
Collaborative care has been an important part of Army efforts to reach out to those struggling with PTSD and depression. It has brought a science-based solution to an essential military problem and has helped thousands of men and women in uniform in ways that also nudge the larger mental health system toward greater effectiveness for all Americans.
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Military Health and Health Care
commentary
Compromised Confidentiality in the Military Is Harmful
Charles C. Engel @CharlesEngel
Oct 27, 2014
Psychiatric Times
Mental health stigma exists across American society, but the problem in the military is fundamentally different. It boils down to the jarring and institutionalized military failure to place adequate boundaries between the workplace and the therapist's office.
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Military Health and Health Care
commentary
Military and Veteran Mental Health: Why Should Psychiatrists Care?
Charles C. Engel @CharlesEngel
Aug 6, 2014
Psychiatric Times
What's happening in the mental health world of the U.S. military and veterans is of great interest to all American psychiatrists. The local impact of recent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan runs much deeper than just the number of veterans in a particular practice or community.
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Gulf War Illness
q&a
Gulf War Illness: Still Looking for Answers
Jul 8, 2013
Bernard Rostker and Ross Anthony, RAND senior economists with expertise on Gulf War Illness (GWI), discuss a study by scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center that suggests the symptoms of GWI are biological in nature, and a GWI study RAND conducted more than a decade ago.
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Military Families
commentary
Research Is a Fundamental Component of Suicide Prevention
Rajeev Ramchand
May 24, 2013
The RAND Blog
While our research has taught us many things about suicide prevention we think additional research is critically needed in two areas, writes Rajeev Ramchand. The first is gun control. The second area is the quality of behavioral health care available to those who need it.
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Military Families
blog
RAND Research for Military Family Month
Nov 7, 2012
RAND is a resource for research and policy recommendations that address the challenges faced by military members, spouses, and their children.
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Military Health and Health Care
blog
Stigma Reduction Programs Could Help Those with PTSD, but the Evidence Is Weak
Carrie M. Farmer @carriefarmer
Jul 3, 2012
Determining the effectiveness of programs designed to reduce the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder is essential to helping servicemembers seek and receive the care they need.
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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
blog
Resources for Servicemembers and Veterans with PTSD
Jun 21, 2012
As Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Day approaches on June 27th, policymakers continue to look for ways to best help our nation's servicemembers and veterans with PTSD and other combat related mental health problems.
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Military Health and Health Care
commentary
Preventing Military Suicides Is a Nationwide Effort
Rajeev Ramchand
Jun 14, 2012
The RAND Blog
The military is experiencing a higher number of suicides than it has ever experienced at this time before. RAND research has a number of recommendations to prevent suicide among military personnel based.
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Military Families
blog
Celebrating the Month of the Military Child
Apr 5, 2012
April is the Month of the Military Child, a national initiative to support and honor America's service members and their families. The celebration is being recognized with events around the country, and is a key national initiative of First Lady Michelle Obama.
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Military Families
commentary
Military Families: What We Know and What We Don't Know
Sarah O. Meadows @SarahOMeadows
Mar 2, 2012
National Council on Family Relations Report Magazine
Never before in our nation's history have our service members and their families been so challenged and never before have their struggles (and successes) been the topic of so much scholarly attention, writes Sarah O. Meadows.
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Military Families
commentary
In Memoriam
Rajeev Ramchand
May 28, 2011
Newsday
Not only would the delivery of quality behavioral care prevent suicides, but it would also aid in the recovery of the nearly 20 percent of service members with post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, writes Rajeev Ramchand.
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