RAND Veterans Day Web Resource Now Available

Maintaining an effective military—particularly during concurrent wars—largely depends on ensuring the well-being of its service members, veterans and their families. Uncertainty surrounding deployments, long work hours and family separation causes significant stress on military personnel as well as their families. It can also have negative effects on retention.

Since 2001, the United States has deployed more than 2 million service members to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. As these veterans return to civilian life, they face many challenges related to accessing healthcare, employment, and education.

In the week leading up to Veterans Day, the RAND Corporation has several experts who have conducted research and analysis on veterans' issues. A web resource highlighting their work is now available: Focus on the Well-Being of the Military, Veterans, and Their Families.

Among the topics the RAND experts can discuss:

• The stresses and challenges faced by military children and spouses:
  • "Views from the Homefront: The Experiences of Youth and Spouses from Military Families"
  • "Effects of Soldiers' Deployment on Children's Academic Performance and Behavioral Health"
• The psychological and cognitive consequences of deployment among veterans and the services available to them:
  • "The Cost and Quality of VHA Mental Health Services"
  • "Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery"
  • "Mental Health Care for Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans"
  • "A Needs Assessment of New York State Veterans: Final Report to the New York State Health Foundation"
  • "Assessing Combat Exposure and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Troops and Estimating the Costs to Society" (Congressional testimony)
• Preventing deployment related stress:
  • "Promoting Psychological Resilience in the U.S. Military"
  • "The War Within: Preventing Suicide in the U.S. Military"
  • "Helping Children Cope with Violence and Trauma: A School-Based Program That Works"
  • "How Deployments Affect Service Members"
• Veterans employment and education:
  • "Explaining the Increase in Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers During the Global War on Terror"
  • "The Effect of Military Enlistment on Earnings and Education"
  • "Recent Trends in Veteran Unemployment as Measured in the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey"
  • "Service Members in School: Military Veterans' Experiences Using the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Pursuing Postsecondary Education"
• Reserve Component members and their families:
  • "Deployment Experiences of Guard and Reserve Families: Implications for Support and Retention"

RAND Military and Veterans' Health Research Staff

Terri Tanielian is director of the RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research and focuses on the psychological and behavioral effects of combat, terrorism and disasters; public health emergency preparedness; and risk communication. She is co-leader of the study "Invisible Wounds of War."

Anita Chandra is a behavioral scientist focusing on child and adolescent health; community-based participatory research and evaluation; mental health; public health systems and community resilience.

Christine Eibner is an economist; her work in the RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research has focused on demand for TRICARE, maintaining the operational readiness of Department of Defense medical providers, and the economic costs of mental illness resulting from exposure to combat.

Carrie Farmer is an associate policy researcher who has studied access to and quality of behavioral health care services and psychological health programs in the Department of Defense and the Veterans Health Administration.

James Hosek is a senior economist with expertise on defense manpower; he has published studies in the areas of recruiting, retention, compensation, deployment, and personnel quality.

Paul Heaton is an economist and director for research in the RAND Institute for Civil Justice, with expertise in military enlistment, attrition and reenlistment.

Lisa H. Jaycox is a senior behavioral scientist and clinical psychologist with expertise in child and adolescent mental health problems, including depression and reactions to violence exposure, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

David Loughran is a senior economist and associate director of RAND Labor and Population, with expertise on military deployment and earnings, and enlistment and long-term economic well-being.

Grant Marshall is a senior behavioral scientist with expertise in post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health services in disasters, and refugee mental health.

Rajeev Ramchand is a behavioral scientist focusing on military mental health, suicide prevention and substance abuse treatment.

Terry Schell is a behavioral scientist focusing on psychological effects of trauma (including combat), violent behavior, and alcohol and drug use.

Jennifer Steele is an associate policy researcher focusing on education; she is the author of "Service Members in School: Military Veterans' Experiences Using the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Pursuing Postsecondary Education."

Katherine Watkins is a senior natural scientist; she most recently was the lead author on the RAND evaluation of the cost and quality of behavioral health care services for seriously mentally ill patients in the Veterans Health Administration.

Robin Weinick is associate director of RAND Health and can discuss how the U.S. Military is addressing the mental health needs of service members.

Laura Werber is a management scientist with expertise on the deployment experiences of guard and reserve families.

John Winkler is director of the Forces and Resources Policy Center within RAND's National Security Research Division; he is an expert in defense manpower and specifically the deployment and reintegration related issues facing Reserve Component members.

The RAND Center for Military Health Policy Research helps the U.S. Department of Defense and Veterans Health Administration meet the challenges of providing the best care possible to this diverse population, while containing costs.