LOP BURI, Thailand — The helicopters come first.
Their rotors cut through the humid Thai air as Soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division conduct an air assault mission during Hanuman Guardian. The mission is visible — movement to objectives, coordination with Royal Thai Army partners, and repeated iterations under demanding conditions.
What is harder to see is the strain.
Long days, unfamiliar terrain, and sustained operational tempo place continuous cognitive and emotional demands on soldiers. In Lop Buri, behavioral health support operates alongside those conditions, addressing stress before it affects performance.
U.S. Army Capt. Taylor Ryan, a behavioral health officer assigned to 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, operates forward rather than from a fixed clinical setting.
“Behavioral health is typically located farther back, but out here we integrated forward with the medical team and unit ministry team so we could operate closer to the fight,” Ryan said.
Ryan and her team conduct regular battlefield circulation, moving into unit areas of operation multiple times each week. That approach reduces barriers to care and allows Soldiers to engage without leaving the training environment.
“We’re going into their area of operations multiple times a week and giving Soldiers the opportunity to engage with behavioral health right where they are,” Ryan said. “They don’t have to reach out, we’re already there.”
Operating forward also allows earlier identification of stress-related concerns. By working alongside medics, leaders, and support personnel, behavioral health becomes part of the system that helps sustain readiness.
“By building relationships with medics and providers, they can identify stress early and connect Soldiers to us before it becomes something more serious,” Ryan said.
That integration shifts behavioral health from a reactive function to a preventive one.
“When we get closer to soldiers and integrate into the formation, we’re able to manage stress before it reaches the point where someone needs to be evacuated,” Ryan said. “That helps keep soldiers mission-ready and conserves the fighting force.”
The value of that approach becomes most clear when something goes wrong.
During the exercise, a real- time training incident involving a soldier required immediate medical response. As care was rendered, leaders and soldiers across the formation processed the event while maintaining mission focus.
Ryan did not have to introduce herself.
She already knew the leaders. They already knew her.
“You don’t want to build relationships in the middle of a crisis,” Ryan said. “When something serious happens, you need to already know the leaders and the soldiers, and they need to trust you.”
Because those relationships were already in place, Ryan quickly connected with the chain of command and engaged with those affected, helping stabilize the formation in the immediate aftermath.
The work was not visible, but it was immediate, deliberate, and built on trust.
That continuity begins before soldiers arrive at the mission site. During the Soldier Readiness Processing phase, Ryan and her counterparts engage with deploying personnel, establishing familiarity and identifying potential risk factors early.
“Because we met soldiers during the readiness process before deployment, they recognized us out here,” Ryan said. “That made it easier for them to come forward and engage when they needed support.”
By the time soldiers enter a training environment like Hanuman Guardian, behavioral health is no longer an external resource–it is part of the formation.
“If we can integrate with command teams and medical teams, we’re preventing issues instead of reacting to them,” Ryan said. “That means we’re not losing soldiers to evacuation, we’re keeping them in the fight.”
During Hanuman Guardian, U.S. Army and Royal Thai Army forces train side by side to strengthen interoperability and regional partnerships. Within that environment, behavioral health support contributes directly to sustaining performance across formations operating under pressure.
As training continues across Lopburi, the most visible elements of the exercise remain constant–aircraft movement, troop maneuver, and multinational coordination.
Less visible is the work that keeps Soldiers focused, supported, and in the formation.
In a high-tempo environment, readiness depends on more than execution.
It depends on access, trust, and timely support.
(U.S. Army feature article by Staff Sgt. David Barrette)