A fifth of soldiers at PTSD risk

A fifth of soldiers at PTSD risk

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

More than five years of recycling soldiers through Iraq and Afghanistan's battlefields is creating record levels of mental health problems, as about three in 10 GIs on their third tour admit emotional illnesses, according to an Army study released Thursday.

Soldiers in combat suffering emotional issues and who saw friends killed were twice as likely to abuse civilians by kicking or hitting them, or destroying their property, the study shows. Half of those soldiers admitted unethical conduct compared with a quarter of all other soldiers in combat.

From 15% to 20% of all soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan show signs of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), says the study of almost 2,300 soldiers finished last fall. That rate jumps to about 30% for soldiers who have been on three or four combat deployments.

The study, conducted by mental health teams from the Army Surgeon General's Office, is the fifth since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

"Mental health problems are just one of the cascading costs we're seeing after a five-year war," said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who leads a Senate subcommittee on military personnel.

"Psychological wounds affect families, both emotionally and financially, just as much as physical wounds."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-03-06-soldier-stress_N.htm

One more reason to help out families like mine. Up until the last couple of years, the families have been forgotten in all of this. In the 90's the VA had support groups for the families and it helped to cope with the PTSD patient. I tried to volunteer at the Orlando VA when we moved down here but was told they stopped support groups because of money and wouldn't be starting them again. This shocked me because four years ago, we were looking at hundreds of thousands already. Now advocates are saying they could reach about 800,000 in the next couple of years as they come to understand what came home with them. If you really want to know how bad this is going to get all you need to do is take the Vietnam figures and then add in the increase risk of 50% for each deployment back into combat.