Fiber optic sensing provides a level of data granularity that is revolutionizing Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). This presentation details recent research on the application of distributed sensing techniques to capture the complex behavior of critical infrastructure, spanning from laboratory analysis to full-scale field deployment. The first portion of the presentation focuses on laboratory testing to evaluate the performance of fiber optic sensors embedded in concrete structures. Discussion will include the evaluation of strain transfer between the fiber and concrete, novel data processing techniques for crack measurement, and the potential of fiber optics for earthquake damage detection and post-seismic assessment. The second portion shifts focus to field projects utilizing dynamic distributed strain to assess structural performance. First, a monitoring project of a full-scale wind turbine using Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) to assess tower connections under wind loading will be examined, including new methods for inverse modeling. Second, the presentation will detail the monitoring of a large solar array using Brillouin Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (BOFDR). This project highlights the use of distributed strain to measure the torsional response of torque tubes and understand dynamic excitation under stochastic wind loading. Together, these case studies demonstrate the significant benefits of distributed strain in interpreting complex structural behavior.