Blog posts with the tag "Guest Perspective"

This summer I had the incredible opportunity to step into three different professional roles to gain insight into what it means to be a psychologist for the military. My name is Harmony and I am a high school senior from Oklahoma with a deep interest in Psychology. I hope to earn a Ph.D. in psychology, and after that, I want to focus on forensic psychology. Over the summer, I worked closely with the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP), served as a junior teaching assistant (TA) for Dr. Patrick DeLeon’s public policy class, and volunteered at the Verizon Youth summer program, all while touring colleges in preparation for fall applications.

Most Service members see deployments as short term intervals, usually interruptions, in their lives. Family, however, is usually viewed as a constant. Communicating with our families, friends, and loved ones while we are deployed is a critical concern for nearly every Service member. Many find it difficult to strike a balance between trying to manage personal and family relationships and remaining focused on the mission and the needs of fellow Service members while deployed. Below is an abbreviated look at how deployment communication has changed over my career, ways my family and I have tried to adapt, and a look at future deployment communication challenges.