91原创

91原创 graduate student Asli McCullers鈥� parents are both disabled military veterans. Gregory McCullers and Shelia Russell McCullers met as specialists in the Army. 

鈥淢y mom was named Soldier of the Year, and my dad always talked about how he saw her picture on the wall and said, 鈥業鈥檓 going to marry her!鈥� They鈥檙e both very proud of their service,鈥� Asli McCullers said. 

Both of McCullers鈥� parents now serve on the Command Council for the , which was established to address injustices all veterans face through service.   

鈥淭hey also push to ensure that stories of Black veterans who have been forgotten are amplified in the present,鈥� McCullers said.  

Their experiences advocating for marginalized veterans have helped inform and shape the graduate student鈥檚 research in epidemiology. While this marks the first time she's delved into veterans鈥� health, McCullers has always been interested in health equity and social justice. 

鈥淗aving that lens and seeing their journey made me realize this is a pocket of instability in the United States,鈥� she said. 

McCullers, a second-year student in the masters of public health in epidemiology program, recently had an editorial published in the .

鈥淗aving her work featured in the American Journal of Public Health, which is published by the American Public Health Association, is a tremendous accomplishment,鈥� said Jennifer Horney, professor and founding director of 91原创鈥檚 epidemiology program. "Beyond the personal achievement, the inclusion of this work in the premiere journal of public health research and practice demonstrates the importance the public health community places on hearing different voices on social determinants frameworks."

Her work was published in response to a call for papers on how peace can be used as a catalyst for outcomes of conflict, violence and political instability and how peacekeeping and a lack of peace can influence health outcomes. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 this built-in adoration for the military. Our armed forces in the U.S. are seen as one of the most powerful in the world,鈥� McCullers said. 鈥淢y parents are proud veterans but realizing in their journeys with the disabilities they acquired from their service, including adjustment disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and them being Black veterans as well, it interested me to look into the illusion of peace that鈥檚 structurally built into the armed forces and health equity outcomes."

McCullers found that African American men and women, Hispanics and other races and ethnicities report worse self-rated health, greater Veterans Administration healthcare use and more combat exposure than their white counterparts, according to an article published in the . 

鈥淭hat makes you think of the history of our country with the enslavement of Africans,鈥� McCullers said. 

, African Americans are targeted for military recruitment at a 2:1 ratio compared to Black men in the civilian workforce. She called into question various recruitment strategies. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 a commercial on Pandora that has hip hop music to it and recruits people to join the military. Why does it have an urban feel?鈥� McCullers said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 specificity in that targeting, and it leads to those kinds of outcomes. We see that over representation of historically marginalized folks in the military.鈥�

She also pointed to motivations for joining the military, as identified in a Rand Corporation .

鈥淢otivations can be income-related; they may need to pay off debt and joining the military might be the best option. Or they need to get out of a bad situation and joining the military was their only option,鈥� McCullers said. 鈥淭hinking about that intersectionality鈥o be in a country where 鈥榡ustice for all鈥� didn鈥檛 apply to them, but they are getting increased combat exposure, more likely to have PTSD.鈥�

McCullers hopes her paper inspires others to think harder about military sacrifice through a social justice lens.

鈥淲hat does it mean to say: 鈥楾hank you for your service?鈥� Is it just automatic? Or do we understand what鈥檚 underneath that?鈥� she asked. 鈥淧eople who are military veterans are exchanging their peace to protect the peace of a country that for minoritized veterans wasn鈥檛 built for them.鈥� 

She said she also hopes her piece encourages people to think more about promoting peace in their daily lives. 

鈥溾�楶rotecting my peace鈥� is something we see on social media a lot these days,鈥� McCullers said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 a lot of depth in nodding to the significance of mental health preservation and how external factors like violence, fragility and political instability influence that.鈥�

As a current at 91原创, a program that aims to bridge the gap between mental health and diverse identities, McCullers stressed the need to have more conversations around mental health as one way of achieving more peace in the U.S.  

鈥淢ore robust, affordable, culturally sensitive, equitable mental healthcare services would be a good start,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e can advocate for that by speaking out more about mental health and checking in on friends.鈥� 

She also encouraged people to be mindful of their day-to-day interactions with others. 

鈥淥ur bandwidth to pass happiness or peace forward in our daily interactions is within our control,鈥� McCullers said. 鈥淵ou can make a little footprint of peace in your everyday interactions.鈥� 

When it comes to the military, she hopes her published editorial promotes an ongoing conversation about improving the health of marginalized military personnel. 

鈥淎 military infrastructure that decenters violence and global domination and instead centers on justice for all, authentically, should define the future of peacekeeping for the next generation,鈥� she wrote in her paper.