PTSD Combat

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Statistics for OEF / OEF AFGHANISTAN * A recent study showed that 18 percent of 45,880 veterans were diagnosed with psychological disorders, including 183 with PTSD. IRAQ * According to a 2005 VA study of 168,528 Iraqi veterans, 20 percent were diagnosed with psychological disorders, including 1,641 with PTSD. * In an earlier VA study this year, almost 12,500 of nearly 245,000 veterans visited VA counseling centers for readjustment problems and symptoms of PTSD. * The Marines and Army were nearly four times more likely to report PTSD than Navy or Air Force because of their greater exposure to combat situations. * Enlisted men were twice as likely as officers to report PTSD. "

"Every month, Ilona Meagher, author of Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops, posts a collection of "combat clips"-essentially a stack of statistics reported in the mainstream media but buried by the daily barrage of news and chatter. The stats, collected at her blog, PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within, cover a lot of ground, from suicides to face transplants, but I wanted to pull out some numbers relating to women in the military:"

"If you haven't seen Ilona Meagher's website focused on combat-related post-traumatic stress among US soldiers and veterans, go here. Meagher wrote a book called, Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops. And this week, she's gathered a very useful collection of statistics on the military services with some of the following highlights. Better not to quote me directly here; go to Ilona's site and see the sources she cites for the study parameters and context:"

"Vets Connect program, which the Stanford School of Medicine launched this summer. The program provides free mental health treatment and other services for veterans of the two ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom."

"Margaret Ortiz"

"Nicholas A. Horner"

"Eric R. Jines"

"Ilona Meagher, the author of "Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops," maintains a detailed online list of resources for veterans seeking help with PTSD. In the past, she has featured the warrior poets. "Everybody coping with PTSD needs an outlet, some way to express themselves," she said during a telephone interview from Chicago. "This is one powerful way to not only to help the veterans cope, but to make the public at large aware of this serious problem.""

"A new study says Wisconsin veterans are more likely to commit suicide than the general population is. The report says veterans make up 8 percent of Wisconsin's population but committed nearly 21 percent of suicides in the state. Kenneth Black is the secretary of the state Department of Veterans Affairs. He says his department sees the issue of veteran suicide as a growing concern. "

"Brandon Shepherd"

"Despite strict US Army rules on communications, modern soldiers are relatively free to express their opinions about the validity of their operations and their leaders - provided they have the anonymity of a blog, as American Soldier acknowledges. In contrast, infantry in the Roman army may have been less likely to criticise their leaders or their mission. The practice of decimation, in which every tenth soldier would be beaten to death by the other soldiers was used during republican times up until the Augustan era. It was chosen as a method of punishing a cohort or group of soldiers for cowardice and, while it was a brutal punishment, it was chosen by commanders as an alternative to killing the whole group. "

"More U.S. military personnel have taken their own lives so far in 2009 than have been killed in either the Afghanistan or Iraq wars this year, according to a Congressional Quarterly compilation of the latest statistics from the armed services. As of Tuesday, at least 334 members of the military services have committed suicide in 2009, compared with 297 killed in Afghanistan and 144 who died in Iraq, the figures show."

"Every day, people all across the country do solid work to help veterans successfully transition from combat to civilian life. Every effort has meaning. Every person donates uniquely to the pool. Today, I'd like to introduce you to one of these individuals: Darin C. Farr of the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs. "

"Joe Gonzalez"