Researchers Continue to Learn From Vietnam Veterans

The Long Tail of War
War's impact on mental health stays with soldiers long after they leave Iraq and Afghanistan.
US News
By Terri Tanielian and Rajeev Ramchand
June 4, 2015

Since U.S. military operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 2.7 million men and women have served or continue to serve there. Some have been deployed two, three, four or more times. More than 6,800 service members have sacrificed their lives in these conflicts. Untold others have forfeited their well-being. A vast majority of these surviving veterans will carry the wounds of war, both visible and invisible, with them long into their lives.

In the last few years, researchers have made great progress capturing the downstream consequences of coping with injuries sustained in the theater of war, but the emerging picture is shadowed in grays. Taken together, a series of recent findings and statistics presents a bleak portrait of the cost of modern war to service members, their families and their health care providers.

As researchers, and as a society, we continue to learn from Vietnam veterans decades after they returned home from war. They are teaching us about the challenge of delayed-onset illnesses and increased demand for unexpected health-related services. As a group, veterans with PTSD or traumatic brain injury – or both – are more likely to struggle with marital and relationship issues and health problems like substance abuse. These health obstacles can affect workplace productivity, causing increased absenteeism and job loss, and lead to housing instability and homelessness.

Our research released in 2014 shows that military caregivers also face an increased psychological and social burden, with 40 percent of post-9/11 caregivers meeting symptom criteria for depression, compared to 10 percent of non-caregivers. There are an estimated 5.5 million military caregivers in the United States, and the country's overreliance on them poses a threat to the continuity of care for the newest veterans. It also calls into question the nation's ability to meet the long-term needs of post-9/11 veterans. Too many rely on parents who will age out of the role of caregiver, or they depend on their spouses in fragile young marriages that may be vulnerable to divorce.
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Vietnam veterans were noticed in one part but not the part about caregivers. Guess they just didn't notice that Vietnam veterans families have gone through what new generation is a lot longer with no help or attention at all.