Researchers: Alcohol misuse, divorce rates higher among returning troops

Edited on Fri Dec-09-05 03:58 PM by lebkuchen

Bush's legacy, and this is just the tip of the iceberg of the social problems he has wrought upon the US:

WASHINGTON — Army researchers saw alcohol misuse rise from 13 percent among soldiers to 21 percent one year after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, underscoring the continuing stress of deployment for some troops.

In post-deployment reassessment data completed in July, researchers also saw soldiers with anger and aggression issues increase from 11 percent to 22 percent after deployment. Those planning to divorce their spouse rose from 9 percent to 15 percent after time spent in the combat zone.

And that’s just the start of the problems, according to military family support groups.

“At the end of the day, wounded servicemembers have wounded families,” said Joyce Wessel Raezer, government relations director for the National Military Family Association. “More must be done to link servicemembers and families with the services they need and the information about PTSD and other mental health issues.”

The data and other testimony about the effects of deployment stress came at a briefing called by House Democrats on Thursday to look at the issue of mental health care and resources for servicemembers.

But House Democrats at the briefing said more needs to be done to monitor the troops’ health, especially for guardsmen and reservists who may not be under as close observation as active-duty servicemembers.