2008 Woodie Awards
Multiple tours in Iraq still cause of strain in soldiers
Megan Feil
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: World
Concerns about soldiers' mental health emerged in the midst of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Bush's decision to keep 140,000 troops in Iraq until Election Day.
Petraeus proposed a 45-day evaluation period ending in July. Bush approved this, saying Petraeus can have "all the time he needs" before deciding to pull out any troops.
With the war entering into its sixth year, 513,000 soldiers have been on active duty. Almost half of them have been deployed more than once and 53,000 have deployed three or more times.
A report produced by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) in Jan. 2008, says that 30-40 percent of Iraq veterans will face serious psychological issues including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
"Multiple tours and inadequate time at home between deployments increase rates of combat stress by 50 percent," according to IAVA.
The Washington Post reported in Dec. 2006 that the army's first survey on mental health gave the same statistic.
Several Guilford students have family and friends who are serving in Iraq.
With the 10th Mountain Division for his second tour, sophomore Nicholas MacSeoin's cousin has been in Iraq since Sept 2007 and his tour has been extended until Dec 2008.
"Before he was deployed the first time I asked if he was nervous and I got a macho, man-up mentality from him, but that wasn't the case after the first tour," said MacSeoin. "He was much more subdued about it."
Soldiers have been dealing with multiple deployments as well as longer tours.
"At 12 months, we were still stressed and stretched thin," said Spc. William Maule to The Washington Post, who also deployed with the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. "Fifteen months just made it worse. I don't think returning to 12 months is going to fix the original problem."
Twelve percent of soldiers deployed for less than six months screened positive for PTSD, whereas the number rose to 19 percent after more than six months. The Mental Health Advisory Team studied this for the first time in their fifth survey, looking at soldiers deployed between 2005 and 2007.
Petraeus proposed a 45-day evaluation period ending in July. Bush approved this, saying Petraeus can have "all the time he needs" before deciding to pull out any troops.
With the war entering into its sixth year, 513,000 soldiers have been on active duty. Almost half of them have been deployed more than once and 53,000 have deployed three or more times.
A report produced by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) in Jan. 2008, says that 30-40 percent of Iraq veterans will face serious psychological issues including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
"Multiple tours and inadequate time at home between deployments increase rates of combat stress by 50 percent," according to IAVA.
The Washington Post reported in Dec. 2006 that the army's first survey on mental health gave the same statistic.
Several Guilford students have family and friends who are serving in Iraq.
With the 10th Mountain Division for his second tour, sophomore Nicholas MacSeoin's cousin has been in Iraq since Sept 2007 and his tour has been extended until Dec 2008.
"Before he was deployed the first time I asked if he was nervous and I got a macho, man-up mentality from him, but that wasn't the case after the first tour," said MacSeoin. "He was much more subdued about it."
Soldiers have been dealing with multiple deployments as well as longer tours.
"At 12 months, we were still stressed and stretched thin," said Spc. William Maule to The Washington Post, who also deployed with the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. "Fifteen months just made it worse. I don't think returning to 12 months is going to fix the original problem."
Twelve percent of soldiers deployed for less than six months screened positive for PTSD, whereas the number rose to 19 percent after more than six months. The Mental Health Advisory Team studied this for the first time in their fifth survey, looking at soldiers deployed between 2005 and 2007.
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