Air Force Capt. Michael McCarthy ’96 went along for the ride with an army convoy into southern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. “It isn’t the first thing most social workers believe will be part of their job,” he said. As an Air Force social worker, however, it was part of his deployment duties, and it earned him the Social Worker of the Year 2004 award.

Not that he’ll take the credit. “I won Social Worker of the year because I was lucky enough to draw unusual missions and was always blessed with a phenomenal support staff and command structure,” McCarthy said. “I think it was largely situational.”

Still, his “situations” have been extraordinary. His first day of active duty was September 4, 2001, at Andrews Air Force Base. He was deployed to the Pentagon to assist with the trauma of Sept. 11. “I’ve been put in situations where people who have uniquely acute trauma,” he said.

McCarthy and his social work colleagues help keep military personnel mission ready, and that includes taking care of the family. “The military at large was bright enough to realize that healthy families make for mission readiness,” he said.

He helped create a program for new parents to ensure that babies reach their developmental milestones.

“We have a lot of things that they don’t on the outside, and we’re doing a good job taking good care of our families,” he said.