Study: Risk of Alcoholism High in Returning Combat Vets

clipped from ap.google.com National Guard and Reserve combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to develop drinking problems than active-duty soldiers, a new military study suggests. The authors speculate that inadequate preparation for the stress of combat and reduced access to support services at home may be to blame. The study, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to compare Iraq and Afghanistan veterans' alcohol problems before and after deployment. The research is one of the first major studies to emerge from the Pentagon's landmark "Millennium" study, launched in 2001 because of concerns about possible health effects from the first Gulf War. It includes tens of thousands of military personnel and is designed to evaluate the long-term health effects of military service. The Millennium study will continue to track veterans' health and may determine whether drinking problems among returning combat troops are long-lasting, Boyko said.

The article includes this statement:

Alcohol abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression make up an "unholy trinity" that haunts some combat soldiers, said psychologist William Schlenger of the consulting firm Abt Associates Inc. in Durham, N.C. He was a principal investigator of the influential National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study, but was not involved in the new research.

"They have intrusive recollections: 'I keep remembering it, I have nightmares about it, I can't escape it,'" Schlenger said. Vets try to escape the memories through alcohol or drugs, he said.

This is a lasting damage to the country that we'll pay for for decades.