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One thing that comes up again and again (and again) when working with returning Veterans is the idea that civilians just don't - and can't - know what it's like. Leaving your family behind. Seeing buddies, guys you'd just joked around with that morning, killed - and why wasn't it you? Returning home a different person - a person who is empty, or numb, or angry, a person who can't seem to fall asleep - and when you finally do, your dreams take you back there. Meanwhile, your family expects the same person to come home to them. So how could a civilian possibly understand? And how can people expect civilian behavioral health services to have the things that Vets need?

That's why we're happy to hear that the University of Southern California is expanding its program in Military Social Work. The Military Social Work program is new - the 2009-2010 school year is its first year running - and it's the only one of its kind at a major research university.

The expansion will launch an advanced program in military social work education, which the participants hope will lead to more programs of its kind. The goal is to bridge the gap between the number of available practitioners - ones who really understand the military community - and the demand for services within the military community. Sounds good to us.

We're always excited to see more attention paid to Military Behavioral Health - and we're especially pumped to see an initiative that could make a real difference in the shortage of services available to the Military Community. That's what we're working toward here at Vets Prevail - and we're glad to have allies.