Lieutenant Colonel (Dr.) Carrie L. Lucas is Chief of the Behavioral Health Branch, Air Mobility Command (AMC). She leads mental health operations, advising the AMC Commander, AMC Surgeon General, and 18th Air Force Commander on behavioral health needs for 11 installations and 33 Geographically Separated Units. She serves as a Community Action Team and Board member shaping Air Force response policies, protecting 65,000 Airmen and beneficiaries and $2,500,000 in resources. She provides guidance and support for AMC’s Family Advocacy, Mental Health, Substance Use, and Operational Support Team programs.
Lieutenant Colonel Lucas entered the Air Force in 2009 with experience working with adolescents and adults in substance use and mental health treatment. Since joining the Air Force she has provided clinical and administrative oversight of Mental Health, Family Advocacy, Substance Use, and Primary Care Behavioral Health programs, provided treatment for active-duty members, dependents, and retirees, ensured compliance with the Personnel Reliability Program, obtained her PhD at the University of Southern California, served as faculty and Chief of Behavioral Medicine for 36 family medicine residents, and stood up an Operational Support Team.
Lieutenant Colonel Lucas’ research includes highlighting experiences and evident disparities for active-duty members and veterans, with an emphasis on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and those who have experienced military-related sexual trauma (i.e., sexual harassment, gender discrimination, stalking, and/or sexual assault). Finally, she volunteers as a co-lead for the Department of the Air Force (DAF) Women’s Initiatives Team Line of Effort #9 to address sexual harassment, stalking, domestic violence, and sexual assault. Her team identified 51 recommendations for the Secretary of Defense, which (a) led to the establishment of a DAF pilot for co-location of services for victims that was found successful with reporting timelines going from five months to six weeks and (b) were vital to the Executive Order signed by President Biden to remove sexual assault prosecution from the chain of command and establishment of the Office of Special Trial Counsel.