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Occupational Therapists Share Deployment Experiences from Iraq and Afghanistan

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Psychiatrists in Combat

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Abstract

Providing occupational therapy (OT) in a deployed environment can be demanding, but the opportunity to provide rehabilitative care for fellow Service Members in a combat theater, although momentous, far outweighs any challenge. Throughout 15 years of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, deployed military occupational therapists (OTs) conducted rehab missions in austere environments, performed therapy in fast-paced nontraditional clinical settings, and adjusted to and overcome provider burnout. This chapter highlights firsthand experiences from OTs who deployed with Army behavioral health (BH) units. Deployed OTs primarily worked in secure locations performing routine rehab missions according to doctrine and training. A few shared their experiences that did not proceed as planned. Risk and challenges exist for everyone over the duration of a deployment, which requires perseverance, prudence, and courage.

Arriving in country just past midnight; it had been a hot, sweaty flight on a C-130 from Kuwait. We were bussed to the temporary sleeping arrangements on the Forward Operating Base (FOB). Soon after falling fast asleep a loud overhead speaker announced ‘incoming, incoming, incoming!’ Jumping out of our beds and seeking cover; we waited in apprehension to hear the explosion … Instead we heard an ‘all clear, all clear, all clear.’ That night was the first of many uneasy sleeping nights.

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Enrique Smith-Forbes, Occupational Therapist, US Army, Active Duty

Some of the unique missions, circumstances, and challenges experienced by occupational therapists during the last decade and a half (2001–2016) in support of OEF and OIF are demonstrated in this chapter by personal, firsthand accounts.

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Acknowledgments

Without the contributions and sacrifices of Active Duty and Army Reserve OTs who courageously served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, this chapter would not have been written. More specifically, tremendous gratitude goes out to those who provided detailed accounts of their deployment experiences with COSC units the past 15 years. We would like to specifically thank LTC Enrique Smith-Forbes, LTC Arthur Yeager, CPT Francisco Rivera, MAJ Daniel Bash, MAJ Tammy Phipps, and CPT Jo Ann Zahn for their contributions. These accounts were essential to the formation of this chapter, and we hope that these stories generously passed along will help to formulate a perspective of the life of an OT before, during, and after a deployment.

Disclosure: The views expressed in this chapter are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, US Army Medical Command, US Army, Department of Defense, or the US Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Uniformed Services University, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA

    William Heath Sharp B.S. & Krustin Yu B.A.

  2. Occupational Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center; Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA

    Matthew G. St. Laurent M.S., O.T.R./L.

  3. Outpatient Occupational Therapy Behavior Health, Department of Rehabilitation, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center; and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA

    Michelle J. Nordstrom M.S., O.T.R./L.

  4. Rehabilitation Sciences Doctoral Student, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA

    Brian T. Gregg O.T.R./L.

Authors
  1. William Heath Sharp B.S.
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  2. Matthew G. St. Laurent M.S., O.T.R./L.
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  3. Michelle J. Nordstrom M.S., O.T.R./L.
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  4. Brian T. Gregg O.T.R./L.
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  5. Krustin Yu B.A.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew G. St. Laurent M.S., O.T.R./L. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Georgetown University School of Medicine, Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine, Professor of Psychiatry, Howard University School of Medicine, Professor of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Elspeth Cameron Ritchie

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

    Christopher H. Warner

  3. San Diego County Mental Health, San Diego, California, USA

    Robert N. McLay

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Sharp, W.H., St. Laurent, M.G., Nordstrom, M.J., Gregg, B.T., Yu, K. (2017). Occupational Therapists Share Deployment Experiences from Iraq and Afghanistan. In: Ritchie, E., Warner, C., McLay, R. (eds) Psychiatrists in Combat. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44118-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44118-4_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44116-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44118-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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