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As the longest war in US history winds down, military families are preparing for a new phase of dealing with its impact: the enduring consequences of deployment separations, physical and psychological injuries, and loss. The urgency and uniqueness of two simultaneous wars of long duration fought by an all-volunteer military have propelled the rapid evolution of research and practice regarding the impact of war on military families. Consistent with existing developmental and prevention science research, data emerging from the study of military and veteran families suggest that both stress and resilience reverberate across the family system. There is growing evidence that the impact of war and its sequelae are experienced by not only the service member or veteran, but also their children, partners, and other family members. Recognizing that the implications of these experiences do not end with active duty service, but may cascade for decades underscores the need for ongoing research focused not only on the impact of wartime military service on children and families, but also on shaping a science-informed approach to costeffective, and scalable behavioral health preventive interventions and treatment for military and veteran families. The scale and tempo of this war has left our country with a large social, psychological, and medical footprint that now must be addressed by our systems of care; an undertaking that may well require unprecedented levels of support and coordination across military, veteran and public health institutions for years to come. Both Parts 1 and 2 of this special issue are designed to contribute to the current national dialogue on how best to plan for and provide services for our military families. Part 1

The scope of sustained military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has placed great demands on the Armed Forces of the United States, and accordingly, military families have been faced with deployments in more rapid succession than ever before. When military parents fulfill occupational duties during wartime, military children and families face multiple challenges, including extended separations, disruptions in family routines, and potentially compromised parenting related to traumatic exposure and subsequent mental health problems. Such challenges can begin to exert a significant toll on the well-being of both individuals and relationships (e.g., marital, parent–child) within military families. In order to respond more effectively to the needs of military families, it is essential that mental health clinicians and researchers have a better understanding of the challenges faced by military families throughout the entire deployment experience and the ways in which these challenges may have a cumulative impact over multiple deployments. Moreover, the mental health field must become better prepared to support service members and families across a rapidly evolving landscape of military operations around the world, including those who are making the transition from active duty to Veteran status and navigating a return to civilian life and those families in which parents will continue to actively serve and deploy in combat zones. In this article, we utilize family systems and ecological perspectives to advance our understanding of how military families negotiate repeated deployment experiences and how such experiences impact the well-being and adjustment of families at the individual, dyadic, and whole family level.