Missing Limbs,
More Suicides, No Jobs:
9 Battles for Today’s Vets
- By Katie Drummond katiedrumm@gmail.com">
- November 11, 2011 View as gallery
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were in many ways acutely different from their predecessors. This time, American soldiers were fighting in urban settings, dodging improvised explosives and often searching for enemies indistinguishable from civilians.
With a new kind of war came a new host of challenges for those who fought in it. Fewer fatalities has led to more life-long injuries, an economy in crisis will translate to fewer jobs and less federal funding, and the use of unconventional weaponry is already apparent in the prevalence of invisible, untreatable mental wounds.
No Longer Fatal,
Injuries Become Life Sentences
More soldiers than ever are surviving their injuries: Last year, 7.9 percent were fatal, which represents an all-time low for the American military. But the mangled limbs, burned flesh, shredded muscles and missing body parts that once guaranteed death now need to be patched up. And despite improvements, the results are far from ideal.
The military has invested upwards of $100 million in cutting-edge prosthetics, from research into brain-controlled limbs to the development of synthetic skin. They've also thrown $250 million into regenerative medicine to help repair some of the damage. Still, a prosthetic that's as good as the real thing is likely a decade off, while new body parts will no doubt take even longer. "I’m not satisfied we’re doing it rapidly enough," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen said last year. "Ten years doesn't satisfy any of us."
Photo: U.S. Air ForceLess Stigma, But Still More Suicides
Now more than ever, the military is talking about suicides. In 2010, an Army task force released a massive report, including 250 recommendations, on reducing suicides among soldiers and veterans. "The hard part is eliminating the long-standing stigma, breaking down the invisible barrier," Army Gen. Peter Chiarelli said. "I do not believe we are losing this battle."
That's up for debate. A stunning 18 veterans commit suicide every day, another 1,000 attempt suicide every month, and suicides among this generation's active-duty soldiers and vets frequently break their own monthly records.
Photo: U.S. MarinesA Government Low on Money,
a Country Low on Jobs
The VA's budget is set to increase slightly in 2012, but it's still a reflection of lean times for the federal government. The budget, proposed at $132 billion, won't go nearly as far as it needs to in covering the growing expenses of American veterans, which are estimated to hit $55 billion spread over the next 10 years for medical care of today's vets alone.
And vets won't have an easy time paying their own way. Around 12.1 percent of veterans who deployed after 2001 are currently unemployed. That rate continues to rise, even as joblessness in the U.S. takes a turn in the right direction and the federal government launches new initiatives to help vets and their spouses find work.
Photo:Barmony FlickrTraumatic Brain Injuries
Foreshadow Lifelong Illness
An estimated 200,000 troops have suffered a traumatic brain injury since 2002 — but since military officials still can't accurately diagnose the condition, and often ignore symptoms among soldiers, that number is likely much higher.
Granted, the Pentagon is investing billions into better diagnostic tools and treatments for TBIs, the rates of which soared because of exposures to IED blasts. But for this generation of veterans, the damage might already be done: In addition to neurological symptoms like confusion and vision loss, vets with TBI are also more vulnerable to dementia, Parkinson's and other degenerative brain ailments — most of which can't be treated, either.
Video: PBS
State of the Unions
We can be grateful that fewer military families are mourning a loss from this decade's wars. But living with a dad, sister, uncle or wife who's endured combat has its own implications for today's households.
Recent research suggests that military kids are more likely to suffer learning disabilities, behavioral disorders and violent tendencies. Military spouses are vulnerable to alcohol and drug abuse, as are veterans themselves. And as a couple, they're twice as likely as civilians to divorce and four times more likely to contend with domestic violence.
Photo: U.S. Air ForceThe Singular Struggles of Women
They've gone to war before, but never like this: Women still aren't sanctioned to take combat roles, but thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan experienced it nonetheless. The wars "advanced the cause of full integration for women in the Army by leaps and bounds," Peter Mansoor, a retired Army colonel, said in 2009.
As veterans, these women now face unprecedented challenges. One 2010 study estimated that 15 percent experienced sexual trauma overseas, while a recent Pentagon report found that female vets were twice as likely as men to develop combat-related PTSD, but less likely to seek treatment. Not to mention that for women, a return from war often means reconciling life as a former soldier with life as a mother.
Photo: U.S. MarinesA Pandemic of Pill-Popping
A combination of chronic pain and mental health symptoms mean thousands of soldiers have been prescribed narcotic pain-killers, psychotropics, sleeping pills and other addictive, often dangerous drugs: 14 percent of Army soldiers have been proffered an opiate pain-killer, and 73 percent of the Army's accidental deaths in 2010 were blamed on prescription medication overdoses.
For many of those coming home with a bottle of pills, the habit can be tough to shake. At least 25 percent of injured soldiers in one warrior transition unit were hooked on prescription meds, according to an Army inspector general report, and 31 percent of those at Walter Reed were using both prescription and street drugs.
Photo: Texas National Guard
Plenty of Ideas for PTSD, But No Cure
Arguably the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, post-traumatic stress disorder affects at least 20 percent of all soldiers deployed since 2001. And symptoms like insomnia, rage and depression are, despite a swath of prescription meds doled out by VA doctors, largely untreatable.
At least, for now. The Pentagon has invested millions into all kinds of research that aims to find a better remedy for PTSD. So far, the military has studied dozens of treatments, including fear-erasing drugs, yoga, virtual-reality therapy and meditation. Sadly, they still aren't open to everything: Marijuana, one substance that's got a lengthy track record helping vets calm down, has yet to get the green light.
Photo: U.S. Pacific CommandLungs Clouded With Chemicals
Today's veterans might also be up against their very own Agent Orange. Open-air burn pits, used to incinerate household trash, computer parts and human waste at most bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, are now being linked to a host of serious health ailments.
But we might never know what — whether burn pits, toxic dust storms or chemical agent exposure — caused the conditions, which so far include neurological disorders, cancers and chronic respiratory infections. A recent Institute of Medicine report noted that it was impossible to determine the source of airborne toxins overseas, because of "a lack of data" collected by the Department of Defense.
Photo: U.S. Air Force
Katie Drummond is a New York-based reporter at Danger Room, covering the wild world of military research, and a contributing editor at The Daily.
Follow @katiedrumm on Twitter.
