War Stories of a Brigade Behavioral Health Officer

In this chapter, the author focuses on combat social work practice in a combat area of operation as a brigade behavioral health officer (BHO) while active combat engagements are going on simultaneously. After offering a brief overview of her career background prior to her commission as an officer, she focuses on the highlights of her military career as a combat social worker. Much of her attention in the chapter is her experiences providing clinical social work practice as a brigade BHO with an infantry brigade combat team during her second deployment to Afghanistan. The author shares several models of combat social work practice that she employed during these operations, as well as describing her personal experiences and reactions.