Reversing the Outcomes for US Military Families: From Resilience to Risk during a Protracted Armed Conflict

Historically, US military families have shown themselves resilient against numerous risk factors of potentially significant consequence. However, involvement in the longest armed conflict in US historyoften referred to as the war on terror-and concurrent policy changes for service members-has eroded the protection of resiliency for many military families. This chapter concludes the text by discussing these changes, the effects observed on contemporary military families, and confers important considerations for school mental health promotion for the huge student demographic from a military family. A brief summary of this volume is also provided.

Keywords: Combat, Deployment, Family supports, Military, Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Secondary trauma, War on terror.