Commentary: Forensic Evaluation of Military Personnel

Forensic psychiatric evaluations of military personnel in civil litigation are reportedly infrequent. One such case involved former prisoners of war after Operation Desert Storm. These evaluations presented many challenges to the evaluators with regard to resources and time limitations. Discussion of these issues is relevant to forensic evaluations generally. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 37:329–31, 2009 Domestic and global violence, including terrorism, remains prevalent, sometimes necessitating military action by governments throughout the world. Thus, emotionally traumatic reactions to such violence, whether formulated as a diagnosable disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder or otherwise, will re-main with us. Such prevalence has profound public health, legal, clinical, and financial implications, among others. Forensic mental health practitioners play an important role in the administration of jus