OK. So I forgot that you, the reader, may have no idea what I'm up to with this Ft. Hood gig. This post's for you. Maybe you should get a Bud first.

Ft. Hood is located about an hour or so west of Austin and the town just outside the post is Killeen. I don't know which came first, the post of town, but at this point, who cares, right? Anyway, I haven't really had time or inclination to explore much as I've been pretty focused on just climbing the learning curve. It has been pretty hot and humid but not as bad as I thought it might be after being in the arid SW of Arizona and New Mexico. There are some rolling hills about but I'm used to seeing mountains out the window and so looking out the second floor window of my room there isn't much to see for a long ways other than more tree tops and hazy sky. It h&h doesn't really invite one to do much outside anyway at mid-day but perhaps I'll need to brave it anyway or my legs may atrophy.

I'm working for Mental Health Network who has a contract with the Department of Defense to provide short-term, solution-focused counseling to military personnel and their families. We basically do short-term problem solving and referral counseling (though we can see a client up to 12 sessions, which goes beyond what is usually considered short term) for all kinds of issues, e.g. pre-deployment/reintegration stress, marital issues, child behavioral issues, communication, problem solving, screening and referral for longer term issues such as PTSD, etc., which also includes briefings to command at all levels, seminars and workshops, etc.). Our "mission" isn't to do psychotherapy. There are military services already available and functioning in that capacity. It would be closer to accurate to describe us as a military EAP (employee assistance program) with all the caveats that come with that, e.g. the program is free, we don't report anyones participation to anyone outside, we don't even keep records of have a paper trail and of course the exception is danger to self/others, domestic abuse, etc.

I've been surprised and impressed at how much help is actually available to military personnel these days. When a soldier is already working in one that we'd be duplicating then we can't accept them as clients.
Basically this program started in response to an event in 2004 when a battalion which was scheduled to return from Iraq had that cancelled at the last moment and was extended another six months. The military realized that both the men and their expectant families would need some special focus for their response and concerns. It was so successful that it has been continued and expanded to include all services and at posts throughout the world.

What I am is a professional mental health sub-contractor that is hired to provide services through MHN on one of three different length rotations - 30 days, 45 days, 90 days. I'm on a 45 day rotation. There are other counselors who are hired to work primarily with children in youth programs, some who come specifically to work with newly returning troops (coming back to the US from Iraq or Afghanistan), and some who provide on-going available counseling in local areas.

So, I'm here at Ft. Hood until the end of September.
A day in the life looks something like this:
Get to the office on-post (fifteen minutes from the hotel I'm staying in in Killeen, the town just outside the post).
Several counselors will be present to take phone calls, take walk-ins and/or make appointments to see clients, see clients already scheduled, or go to networking, do briefings for various of the military units, etc.
The office (and many of the daily activities on post) shut down at 1700hrs (see, I'm learning) sharp (I mean - you got to leave the building now)! That's a good thing. If you're out when revellie is being played you stop your car and get out and face the music (if you can't see a flag) literraly.
There are some briefings and activities we might be called upon to do into the evening but we aren't an emergency service after hours or on the weekend.
This is a huge base and some parts of the post are 40 or more minutes from the main office. So far I haven't been to the other offices but it's only a matter of time.

Our office is on a block of the post that has been designated as the Resiliency Campus, and includes us - Military and Family Life Consultants (I'm a MFLC), a Financial Counseling office which helps with loans of both long term and emergency nature, a fitness center which helps with nutritional counseling, and also includes massage, relaxation machines (really, there's one shaped like a big egg that you can sit in quiet in or listen to music!), aerobics and other such things. All quite unlike the military that I remember or have known about.
Basically, it seems that the DOD and the military are taking seriously the emotional and practical impact of military life (especially for those impacted from serving in a war zone) and the need to address the consequences of "running its business", so to speak, perhaps in a way that the private sector corporation might or should take as seriously.

I'm glad when I'm able to be working with the clients or giving a briefing. When it comes to the details about doing the paperwork to get paid, to track our contact activities, and learning the resources for referrals, locations of places, etc, important of course, but makes me want to whine. No whining zone ahead.

I'm feeling lots of feelings and thinking lots of the same 0ld same old. I'm trying to remember that I'm not them or my thoughts or my expectations. In the moment I remember, I feel happy to be doing this work in general and typing this blog in particular. Otherwise, I get lonely and can't decide if I'm just a malcontent who doesn't know when to stay put. So, here I am and here I am.