Objective: Some Veterans who recently served in the military report significant psychological problems based on their experiences in the military. Stressors that these Veterans face when they transition out of the military can exacerbate these problems and negatively impact their long-term physical and psychological well-being. We are conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the efficacy of providing Veterans who are transitioning back into their civilian communities trained, peer mentorship (Pro Vetus) and membership in a Veteran Support Organization (VSO- Team Red, White, and Blue) to reduce transition stressors, maintain psychological and physical health, reduce suicides and reduce criminal incidents. Method: Six hundred, New York City area Veterans who transitioned out of the military since 2002 will be randomized to one of three study arms (1. Team Red, White and Blue membership plus trained, peer Pro Vetus mentorship; 2. Team Red, White, and Blue membership; and 3. Waitlist control). Intent-to-treat analysis will compare changes in transition stressors (proximal measures) as well as psychological and physical health, suicide, and criminal incidents (distal measures). For this preliminary investigation of the full RCT, the results of 58 Veterans who completed the pre-intervention and post-intervention were analyzed. For the analysis, the first and second study arms were combined into one intervention arm because of the unbalanced nature of the arms. Results: The preliminary results indicate that Veterans in the combined intervention arm experienced less transition difficulties and had higher levels of social support at the four month post-intervention assessment. Though promising, there are still extensive limitations to the inferences that can be drawn from this research. These limitations will be reduced as data points increase and more Veterans participate in the research study. Keywords: Veterans, transition, peer mentorship, Veteran Support Organization, PTSD, suicide

Despite the growing need, prior research on how the civilian work domain may affect posttraumatic stress is scarce. Moreover, few if any studies have investigated how perceptions of one's job and insomnia may shape traumatic stress symptoms, post-combat. Presently, about 4 million Americans have served in the "Global War on Terrorism," including nearly 1 million reservists. By contrast, 8.7 million Americans served in the Vietnam War: over twice the number of U.S. military personnel who have fought since 9/11. Surprisingly, combat experiences alone do not explain the majority of posttraumatic stress disorder cases, even after multiple deployments, suggesting the presence of moderators of the stressor-strain conceptual model. Based in occupational stress theories of allostatic load, job demands-resources, strain, and social support this thesis applied frequentist and Bayesian analytical strategies to investigate the psychological experiences and occupational health of three subgroups of combat veterans. In the present study, sleep quality and a job situation characterized by isolated, demanding civilian work with low decision authority (i.e., "iso-strain") were hypothesized to moderate the effect of combat experiences on posttraumatic stress. As part of the larger SERVe reintegration project, survey data were collected among a baseline sample (N=382) of post-9/11 veterans living in the Pacific Northwest. The research question of whether greater perceived psychosocial stressors among active reservists driving that group's higher perceived levels of poor sleep, iso-strain, and posttraumatic stress was unfounded. Overall, however, the central hypotheses of the simple effects of iso-strain and sleep quality on posttraumatic stress following combat were significant.

The psychological effects of combat experience on war veterans has been widely documented, ever since what is now called posttraumatics stress disorder (PTSD) was discovered in soldiers and given names like shell shock, battle fatigue and war neurosis.

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