Two members of the Lycoming College community have released a new book titled “Deployed: How Reservists Bear the Burden of Iraq.” The book looks at the lives of military reservists deployed during the declared war on terror. Dr. Susan Ross, an associate professor of sociology and chair of the criminal justice department, and Dr. Michael Musheno, a 1969 Lycoming graduate and former visiting professor of justice and social policy, co-authored the book, which was released by the University of Michigan Press in mid-March in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq.

“We wanted to give a voice to the men and women who have been called to extraordinary service while the rest of us are asked to sacrifice nothing under these wartime conditions,” said Ross, who has taught at the College since 1998.

Ross, whose primary area of research is family sociology, developed an interest in military sociology after seeing several Lycoming students deployed after the start of military activity in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ross kept in touch with these students and listened to their stories, concerns and thoughts, which inspired her and Musheno to write “Deployed.”

The book details the stories of soldiers in an Army reserve unit, which Ross and Musheno name the 893 Army Military Police Company to protect the identities of the soldiers involved. The unit served for two years on active duty, including nine months in Iraq.

The unit first served a one-year deployment state-side, policing a military base. Then, a couple of months after this term was complete, the unit received word that they were going to be deployed overseas after a short training period in the United States. Ross said that at first, the members of the unit did not know their final destination.

“It was completely unclear what their mission was going to be until they were actually on the ground in Iraq,” she said. The unit ended up policing a prison near Baghdad, trying to bring order to a system that had fallen into chaos.

“They were at a makeshift prison, trying to sort out who was dangerous and who had just violated curfew,” Ross said. The unit returned to the United States after nine months in Iraq. Their deployment, both state-side and overseas, had lasted nearly two years, and had left the soldiers with experiences and stories that changed their lives.

According to Ross, three major groups appeared among the soldiers that categorized their mindset and experiences while serving: the adaptive reservists, who can move in lock step with the institutional demands of the military; the struggling reservists, whose civilian lives provide them with stressors which make the adjustment both to and from military life difficult; and the resistant reservists, who are conflicted between their loyalty to the military and their opposition to the war.

 “This was probably the most emotionally draining work that I’ve ever done,” she said. “The book has a very personal flavor to it.”

Ross said that this is reflected in the book, which weaves personal accounts from the soldiers amidst the authors’ analysis of the impact of the military policy shifts that have brought about an all-volunteer force.

Ross said that she and Musheno worked well together and created a book that reflects their complimentary working relationship.

“Collaboratively we created something that neither of us would have created individually,” she said.

In addition to “Deployed,” Ross is the editor of the book “American Families Past and Present: Social Perspectives on Transformations,” and the author of several published articles on topics such as corporal punishment and child abuse. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Millersville University and a master’s and Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire.

Musheno is professor and chair in the department of criminal justice studies at San Francisco State University and distinguished affiliated scholar at the Center for the Study of Law and Society at the University of California at Berkeley. He co-authored the book “Cops, Teachers, Counselors: Stories from the Front Lines of Public Service,” which won the American Political Science Association’s 2005 Herbert A. Simon Book Award and the 2005 Best Book of Public Administration Scholarship from the American Society of Public Administration.

Musheno is the recipient of Lycoming’s 2006 “Outstanding Achievement Award,” which is given to a graduate in recognition of a professional or personal accomplishment which reflects positively on the College. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Lycoming in 1969, he went on to earn a master’s and Ph.D. from American University in Washington, D.C.

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