NursingLink

Here is just one example of what I am talking about.

 Associated Press

© August 13, 2008

By Carla K. Johnson

CHICAGO

National Guard and reserve combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to develop drinking problems than active-duty soldiers, a new military study suggests.

The authors speculate that inadequate preparation for the stress of combat and reduced access to support services at home may be to blame.

The study, appearing in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to compare Iraq and Afghanistan veterans' alcohol problems before and after deployment.

It should help guide planning for future prevention and treatment programs, said study co-author Dr. Edward Boyko, who works for the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System.

The research is one of the first major studies to emerge from the Pentagon's landmark "Millennium" study, launched in 2001 because of concerns about possible health effects from the Persian Gulf War. It is designed to evaluate the long-term health effects of military service.

In the alcohol study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 80,000 military personnel, including more than 11,000 who were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. They looked at whether deployment and combat exposure were linked with new alcohol problems, such as binge drinking.

They found that more than 600 combat troops who reported no binge drinking at the start of the study developed the problem after deployment and combat exposure. That accounted for about 26 percent of the estimated 2,400 military personnel exposed to combat who did not report binge drinking at the start of the study

New patterns of regular heavy drinking and alcohol problems, such as missing work because of drinking, occurred more often in guard and reserve troops who experienced combat. Their risk of developing new drinking problems, compared to guardsmen and reservists who weren't deployed, was about 60 percent higher.

Alcohol abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression make up an "unholy trinity" that haunts some combat soldiers, said psychologist William Schlenger of the consulting firm Abt Associates Inc. in Durham, N.C. He was a principal investigator of the influential National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study but was not involved in the new research.

The military has leaned heavily on the National Guard and reserves in the current conflict. At certain times in 2005, the guard and reserves made up nearly half the troops fighting in Iraq.

whoa ladies.....this is not we can't take care of our vets...this is we did not PREPARE our vets.......I don't know about psych and substance abuse but our local VA provides EXCELLENT outpatient care to my dad for myasthenia and parkinsons.

I cannot imagine Vietnam...I agree that all men who fight for our country should have all the help they can get when it comes to giving them help

I went to Hawaii in March and was shocked in the number of homeless vets there. They are sleeping on the beaches and nobody seems to pay any attention to them. The people I talked with said that it is due to being right there where Pearl Harbour is. The one man that sticks in my mind is a guy who was laying on the beach no blanket or anything just sand. His leg was blck to his knee with eruptions on them. From diabetes I am sure along with no health care. He was frothing at the mouth and people just walked around him. It is sad the way our vets are living.

There has been a great deal of information on the national news about our poor care of our vets. there has been plenty posted on here in news articles on the lack of care that we give our vets. We have many vets and vet's spouses on here who have also  given us the same information.

There was an article I saw online today about the rising counts of suicide among our troops.  No, not only were they NOT prepared to handle what they would endure, it is sad to say that treatment when coming back is hard to get at times.  For instance, my brother who was 45 at the time went into the reserves after 9/11.  Having been out of the Navy for too many years, he was told to go into the Army reserves.  He was with an MP unit out of Alabama and his unit received many citations and medals.  Unfortunately, after his 15 month TOD in Bagdad, he is now considered 100% disabled from PTSD.  One time he was feeling so distressed, he went to the VA.  They were not able to help him in a way he needed and he had to feign hurting himself and others.  He said it was sad that our vets have to go to such an extent at times to get the help they so desperately deserve. 

Oh, and CD, yes my interest is tweaked at the thought of being a psych nurse in the correction facilities, however coming from a big NAVY family (I have a son that has been serving in the Navy for the past 11 years), my heart goes out to the Vets.

I have posted several articles and news stories on this very subject on here if any of you want more information