PTSD:Growing need of National Guard and Reservists

This is one of the biggest reasons I made this video. The problem is, too few cities and towns are stepping up to help them really come home.

The risk of mental health problems may be more persistent among National Guard soldiers, the study suggests. A greater proportion of men and women in the National Guard than in the Army were diagnosed with PTSD and depression one year after their return, although the two groups had similar rates at the three-month mark.

"These were soldiers who were exposed to the same level of combat; who, by and large, reported similar rates of being attacked, ambushed, [and] rocketed; and who reported similar symptoms when they got home," says the lead author of the study, Major Jeffrey L. Thomas, Ph.D., the chief of military psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Depression, PTSD plague many Iraq vets
By Amanda Gardner, Health.com
June 7, 2010 5:30 p.m. EDT


STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Up to 31 percent of soldiers returning from combat in Iraq experience depression or PTSD
In extreme cases, relationship problems and stress can lead to suicide
The time between deployments may not be sufficient for many soldiers to recover

(Health.com) -- Up to 31 percent of soldiers returning from combat in Iraq experience depression or post-traumatic stress disorder that affects their jobs, relationships, or home life, according to a new study by Army researchers.

For as many as 14 percent of these veterans, depression and PTSD cause severe problems in their daily life. These problems are often accompanied by alcohol misuse and aggressive behavior, the study found.

"These things begin to snowball," says Robert Bossarte, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, New York. "Your work performance suffers; you experience job loss and economic strain."

In extreme cases, the resulting relationship problems and stress can lead to suicide, adds Bossarte, who was not involved in the new study.

The researchers analyzed mental health surveys from more than 13,000 Army and National Guard infantrymen who fought in Iraq. The soldiers completed the surveys between 2004 and 2007, three and 12 months after returning to the U.S.
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http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/06/07/iraq.vets.ptsd/

also

National Guard Troops question Army Weekend Warrior Healthcare
Robert L. Hanafin

Members of an Oregon National Guard unit have made complaints about medical care they are receiving or have received from the Regular Army in a throwback to the Weekend Warrior mentality of active duty Regular Army prior to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, frankly an RA attitude of the Guard as weekend warriors was held as the Guard really did transform from an expectation of being weekend warriors to becoming part of the Total Force. We believe that the Guard has earned the right to have that attitude pushed back to the Vietnam War Era when the National Guard truly were weekend warriors enlisting to avoid combat.

In order to politically avoid the publicly unpopular Selective Service Draft, but to have the adequate bodies needed to sustain wartime operations tempo of multi-deployments to two war zones, the Pentagon and Congress has exploited the use of each state’s National Guard. While this approach of avoiding THE DRAFT allows the vast majority of Americans’ to not have to relate to the war(s) that only our federal government, Pentagon, and war profiteers are committed to, it is our National Guard troops and families who take the heat.
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