Tag Archives: study

BENS releases ‘Veterans Integration’ report

Posted on by Chris

At the “Path to Healthy Homecomings” conference held in Feb 2009, a number of organizations came together to discuss the problems facing service members transitioning out of the military–namely, that while myriad resources exist for the military community, there are numerous obstacles that prevent easy discovery of and access to these resources.

As a result of the questions raised at this conference, BENS (Business Executives for National Security), Booz-Allen Hamilton, and Gallup teamed up to perform a study looking at challenges facing veterans at the state and local levels, specifically through the eyes of State Directors of Veterans Affairs (SDVA).

The study was undertaken by conducting interviews with 21 SDVAs. The interviews sought to shed light on some of the following questions:

  • Where are the gaps between veterans’ needs and services?
  • Why do those gaps exist?
  • How can our nation best address them?

 

Veterans Reintegration

 

The study concluded with a report entitled Veterans Reintegration: A View from the States.  Following is an excerpt from the report:

While the study reveals that veterans initiatives at all levels need additional resources, it is also true that as a nation, the United States already devotes enormous resources to veterans’ issues. But reintegration doesn’t occur at a national level. It happens at the community level. And so key to addressing reintegration challenges is identifying and quantifying the needs in specific regions and communities, and then ensuring that appropriate resources are made available and communicated to veterans in a timely manner.

These goals can be accomplished through greater collaboration and partnership among reintegration stakeholders—at all levels of government and within all sectors of society—that have shared?mission responsibilities to assist our nation’s veterans. This will require moving beyond the traditional lines of communication and authority to determine how the varying needs of veterans in different regions and communities can best be served, and then applying resources to bring about the necessary changes.

You can view or download the report by clicking the image above or by clicking here. It’s a worthwhile read and presents some very valuable conclusions on the situation facing our returning service members. The findings of the study were in fact instrumental in driving the creation of the Warrior Gateway. Feel free to read it, share it with your colleagues, and let us know what you think by leaving a comment or by contacting us.

Military families coping: a new study

Posted on by Chris

An article in Foreign Policy touches on an issue that is pressing but often absent from the public eye – the challenges faced by military families.

The article focuses on a new study undertaken by two researchers at the Army War College, which looks at the effects of multiple deployments on a servicemember’s adolescent children (those between 11 and 17). The study found the following:

- Contrary to conventional wisdom, the study found that with each additional deployment, the adolescent’s stress level actually decreases (but not beyond the 4th and 5th deployment). Gerras and Wong speculate that Army adolescents mature and increasingly learn to cope with each new deployment, and that there is no evidence that multiple deployments have a cumulative negative effect on their mental health.
- Army adolescents are a lot more optimistic about their own well-being than their deployed parent.
- 14-16 year olds have noticeably less stress about a deployed parent than other ages according to Stephen Wong, who cited interview responses that said the absence of a disciplinarian made life easier. The stress level of 17 year olds goes back up, however, because they keenly feel the absence of a deployed parent at important life events, like high school graduation, sports matches, and the college or job search. A “flat daddy” would be a lousy substitute at these rites of passage.
- The two best predictors of an adolescent being able to successfully cope with having a deployed parent are the beliefs that their mom or dad is making a difference in the world and that the American public supports the war. It also helps if you are from a ‘strong family’ and play sports. (Let’s get those pasty teen Warcraft players out into the sunshine!)

Read the full article here.