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The new wars have also brought new problems. While PTSD has been recognized as a condition since 1980, TBI has become a major issue in Iraq and Afghanistan because while armor protects troops from external injuries, blast waves affect their brains.
“In previous wars a lot of veterans never had these issues,” said Mike Erwin an active duty captain and founder of Team Red White and Blue, which pairs up volunteers with wounded veterans to help them reintegrate into society. “They never made it home because they died on the battlefield.”
Of the more than 178,000 TBI cases reported from 2000 to the first quarter of 2010 in the U.S. military, 1,891 were severe and 3,175 were penetrating. Those are the easy ones to diagnose as there is physical damage to the outside of the head. But more than 168,000 were mild or moderate, where there is no external sign of injury.
By March 2009, the Pentagon estimated as many as 360,000 U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts may have suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBI), including 45,000 to 90,000 veterans with persistent symptoms requiring specialized care.
In February 2007, one expert from the VA estimated that the number of undiagnosed TBIs were higher than 7,500.
According to USA Today, by November 2007 there were more than an estimated 20,000 US troops who had signs of brain injuries without being classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mental illness and suicide
A top U.S. Army psychiatrist, Colonel Charles Hoge, said in March 2008 that nearly 30% of troops on their third deployment suffered from serious mental-health problems, and that one year was not enough time between combat tours.
A March 12, 2007, Time article reported on a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. About one third of the 103,788 veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars seen at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities between September 30, 2001, and September 30, 2005, were diagnosed with mental illness or a psycho-social disorder, such as homelessness and marital problems, including domestic violence. More than half of those diagnosed, 56 percent, were suffering from more than one disorder. The most common combination was post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
2 comments:
The US military is not currently overextended.
Where will they be sent next?
Place your bets...
re: current state of the US military
These numbers are hard to fathom.
SIGNATURE WOUNDS
The new wars have also brought new problems. While PTSD has been recognized as a condition since 1980, TBI has become a major issue in Iraq and Afghanistan because while armor protects troops from external injuries, blast waves affect their brains.
“In previous wars a lot of veterans never had these issues,” said Mike Erwin an active duty captain and founder of Team Red White and Blue, which pairs up volunteers with wounded veterans to help them reintegrate into society. “They never made it home because they died on the battlefield.”
Of the more than 178,000 TBI cases reported from 2000 to the first quarter of 2010 in the U.S. military, 1,891 were severe and 3,175 were penetrating. Those are the easy ones to diagnose as there is physical damage to the outside of the head. But more than 168,000 were mild or moderate, where there is no external sign of injury.
source: Special report: For U.S. veterans, the war after the wars
Traumatic brain injuries
By March 2009, the Pentagon estimated as many as 360,000 U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts may have suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBI), including 45,000 to 90,000 veterans with persistent symptoms requiring specialized care.
In February 2007, one expert from the VA estimated that the number of undiagnosed TBIs were higher than 7,500.
According to USA Today, by November 2007 there were more than an estimated 20,000 US troops who had signs of brain injuries without being classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mental illness and suicide
A top U.S. Army psychiatrist, Colonel Charles Hoge, said in March 2008 that nearly 30% of troops on their third deployment suffered from serious mental-health problems, and that one year was not enough time between combat tours.
A March 12, 2007, Time article reported on a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. About one third of the 103,788 veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars seen at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities between September 30, 2001, and September 30, 2005, were diagnosed with mental illness or a psycho-social disorder, such as homelessness and marital problems, including domestic violence. More than half of those diagnosed, 56 percent, were suffering from more than one disorder. The most common combination was post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
source: Casualties of the Iraq War
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