Soldier To Soldier

Dear Service Members and Veterans

Thank you for your service to our nation. I am conducting a research study to understand the impact of combat deployment on a variety of behavioral health outcomes and would like to offer eligible service members and veterans the opportunity to participate.

Let me tell you a little bit about who I am and why I am asking for your help. I am a prior-enlisted U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Soldier. When I returned from my OIF-I deployment in the spring of 2004, I thought carefully about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, and ultimately I decided to dedicate my career to supporting service members and veterans by becoming a behavioral health provider. So, for the past several years I have been getting education and training in clinical psychology at the University at Albany - State University of New York. This research project is part of my education and goal of giving back and helping soldiers, veterans, and their families.

When I complete my training this year, I will return to active duty as an Army psychologist in order to help service members and their families adjust to life after returning home from combat. As part of my educational training, I am conducting a research study to understand the impact of combat deployment on a variety of behavioral health outcomes, and I would greatly appreciate your assistance with this effort.

Your participation will take only about 20 minutes of your time. My hope is that if the response to this request is large, then we will learn much about areas that affect the adjustment of soldiers returning from combat duty. More importantly, I expect that this knowledge will hopefully lead to improved resources to meet the needs of Soldiers and their families.

I want to be clear that I am not currently on active duty, and this research is not supported by, or affiliated with the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army, or the VA Health Care System. Your participation is completely voluntary and will only take about 20 minutes of your time. This study will take place entirely online and is completely anonymous. As a way of thanking you for your time and participation, you will be eligible to be entered into a lottery to win a $500 www.amazon.com gift card.

In order to participate you must:

-       be a United States Military Service Member or Veteran who deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom
-       be between the ages of 18 and 65
-       be able to write and read Englis at an 8th grade level or higher
-       be willing to respond to a completely anonymous 20-minute online survey.

For more information or to participate, please visit the study website at www.soldiertosoldier.net or go directly to the online survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/soldiertosoldier

Please also feel free to contact me at sean@soldiertosoldier.net

Again, thank you for your service and for considering my request for assistance.

Sean C. Sheppard
www.soldiertosoldier.net

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