In this article (printed in a country where nearly 35,000 U.S. troops are regularly based), it is noted:
“More than 27 percent of troops on their third or fourth combat tour [in Iraq or Afghanistan] suffered anxiety, depression, post-combat stress and other problems. That compared with 12 percent among those on their first tour.”
In rugged Afghanistan, many soldiers have had a particularly tough time getting mental health treatment. In 2003, three soldiers who were veterans of Afghanistan occupation & fighting returned home and killed their wives.
Suicide is also rife in both Afghanistan and Iraq for American soldiers, too. On the other hand, whereas in Afghanistan there were only four reported suicides this past year, in Iraq some 34 Americans have reportedly killed themselves—the highest rate during the past 5 years.
CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS & CONTINUED UNDERCOUNTS
A series of military, medical and governmental reports and draft-reports have reviewed the mental health of veterans.
The following are some of the recommendations which have been made time-and-again to help troops in-and-out of battle zones:
(1) Give them longer home time between deployments
(2) Undertake more focused suicide prevention training
(3) Give more insurance for marital and family counseling
Since the wars began, the U.S. military has actually raised the length of the tour of duty for U.S. forces in both war theatres.
In addition, it has also been recommended in a recent Army report that much additional private or civilian psychiatric help for the battlefield areas needs to be hired and deployed, i.e. as the VA and military are currently overwhelmed.
Interestingly, it would seem that the overall number of veterans with mental issues, such as depression, are still being undercounted by the U.S. government and the U.S. military.
Some years back, a much more independent report on the psychiatric needs of Americans in war zones, like Afghanistan and Iraq, was issued by the New England Journal of Medicine. The article was called “Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers to Care”, and it notes that there were in 2004 already 103,000 instances of mental health disorders among veterans at that stage, i.e. stemming from these two wars.
I really doubt the numbers have gone down annually since that time.
Moreover, the lack of sleep felt by soldiers—few of whom get their nightly ration of sleep while living and operating in war zones—reinforces both long and short-term psychological stress.
