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Show Summary
On this episode of Behind The Mission, Army Veteran and Military Social Worker Dr. Samuel Odom and Army Officer and Military Social Worker First Lieutenant Marlon Dortch join the show to talk about the role of military social workers and the importance of diversity and inclusion from a military social worker perspective.
About Today’s Guest
Dr. Samuel Odom is President of the CRISP Board of Directors. He is an Adjunct Professor at Tulane University School of Social Work and a former professor in the Millie M. Charles School of Social Work on the campus of Southern University at New Orleans where he served as Faculty Senator and Faculty Senate Secretary.
A native of Brewton, Alabama, he joined the United States Army in 1986 as a Forward Observer, Field Artilleryman, later becoming a Logistician and ultimately earning an Army ROTC Commission as a Medical Service Officer where he worked in Behavioral Health for more than ten years. Dr. Odom served as a Company Commander for the 377th Theater Sustainment Command. Dr. Odom is a US Army Combat Veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom /Operation Iraqi Freedom. Dr. Odom served 24 in the United States Army with deployments in Southwest Asia and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Expert Field Medical Badge, Global War on Terrorism, Army Achievement Medal with Two Oak-leaf Clusters and several other awards.
He earned a BA degree in Philosophy at Dillard University, a Master of Social Work degree at Southern University at New Orleans and he earned a PhD in Counseling at the Harold Abel School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Capella University. Dr. Odom is currently or has held memberships in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), National Association of Social Workers, Council on Social Work Education, Academy of Certified Social Workers, American Psychoanalytic Association, Association of Military Surgeons United States (Life Member), American Philosophical Association and Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons.
He is a member of the American Red Cross Regional Board of Directors (New Orleans). He served on the ABO Board for the City of New Orleans. Dr. Odom is a Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. where served as a board member of the Southwestern Province (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas). He is currently the C. Rodger Wilson Leadership Conference National Chairman for Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
1LT Marlon Dortch commissioned in 2017 and earned an MSW in the Army – University of Kentucky program in 2019. He earned an MEd from Iowa State University in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and a BA in Sociology from Norfolk State University. He is currently in the Army’s Social Work Internship Program at Fort Bliss, Texas under clinical supervision with Senior Leader Sustainment Program at the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy. Prior to the Army, 1LT Dortch worked in higher education as a student affairs practitioner, teaching and presenting at national conferences on politics related to race, gender, and identity.
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
The PsychArmor resource for this week is the PsychArmor Course, Telling Your Story. This course provides a compelling glimpse into the lives of four United States military Veterans. Narrated by David Vobora, CEO and co-founder of the Adaptive Training Foundation and former NFL Linebacker, this course offers service members and Veterans insight into talking about their military experience.
Links Mentioned In This Episode
Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy
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Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com