Rock Solid Warrior: Staff Sgt. Jonas Prewitt

Published May 28, 2012
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Name: Staff Sgt. Jonas Prewitt

Deployed Unit: 386th Expeditionary Medical Group

Duty Title: Mental Health Clinic

Home unit/station: 96th Medical Operations Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

Family's military heritage:
My father was in the Army during Vietnam and my Grandfather was in the Navy during WWII

What is your mission here?
The primary purpose for me being here is to help provide mental health services to deployed members here on the Rock as well as the Army/Navy at LSA. We provide individual counseling and also offer different classes on stress management, sleepy hygiene, tobacco cessation and also a communication class.

What are some of the best parts of your mission?
Some of the best parts of my job are getting to meet new people. I get to meet new people during my walk-a-bouts to the different units. I also get to interact with the different military services here. The best part is knowing that I am helping people during the stress that come along with deployments and allowing them to complete the mission at hand.

What are some of the challenges you face while conducting your mission, and how do you overcome them?
Some of the challenges we have faced so far is getting into contact with forward deployed units when we have one of their members that needs to be evacuated out of the theater. We rely heavily on the Army LNO's at the LSA to help make this happen. There is also the challenge of getting people to come to mental health when they need help. Most people still believe that it will hurt their career if they are seen by mental health. This is why I got to each of the unit and talk to them and help promote the fact that mental health is here it help no matter what the problems may be.

How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base?
This job differs a lot from my home base because I work in the ADAPT Clinic back home. At home station I normally only see people that have gotten into trouble and have to have an ADAPT eval conducted. Most people I get to interact with back home are not too happy about being in ADAPT so they don't really open up and talk.

How many times have you deployed?
This is my third deployment. I have been to the Rock once before in 2006 and then I was in Afghanistan in 2088/2009.

What makes this deployment unique?
This deployment I unique compared to the last two because I get to do more teaching and outreach compared to the last two deployments.

Why did you join the Air Force?
I joined the Air Force in 2003 because I wanted to get away from the direction that my life was going. I also wanted to see the world and travel for free. I have only had that chance during my three deployments and was actually stationed 20 min from where I grew up for the first 7 years of my career.