The Growing Problem Of Addiction In The U.S. Military

Report: Military Hospitals Over Prescribing Painkillers, Leading Soldiers On A Path To Addition -- CBS News

(CBS News) A branch of the National Academy of Sciences reported today that doctors in military hospitals appear to be over prescribing pain pills and the result is often addiction.

Thirty-year-old Michael Long still has the bullet he took in his back during a tour in Iraq in 2005. He says removing it would have been too dangerous.

You can feel the bullet by just touching the bullet wound on Long's back. He said the injury is still "extremely painful."

In a military hospital, he got hooked on painkillers.

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More News On The Growing Problem Of Addiction In The U.S. Military

Study: Military drinking 'culture' now a 'crisis' -- AP
Study: Nearly Half of Military Binge Drinks; Painkiller Abuse Skyrockets -- US News and World Report
Study: Level of military substance abuse now a ‘public health crisis,’ Pentagon care outdated -- Washington Post/AP
Military Substance-Abuse Programs Critiqued by Panel -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Report: Military not adequately handling addiction in the ranks -- CBS
Military not doing enough to help soldiers with substance abuse, study finds -- Baltimore Sun
Military hospitals helping to addict our troops to pain medicines -- Examiner
The Downer Side of War -- Time

Alcohol Abuse Becoming One Of Many Problems For U.K. Vets

One In Seven UK Soldiers Blot Out The Horror Of War With Alcohol -- The Daily Mail

Thousands of British servicemen and women are abusing alcohol to block out the horrors of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An authoritative study has concluded that as many as 23,000 members of the Armed Forces - around one in seven - are drinking ' hazardous and harmful' levels of alcohol.

Servicemen and women who deploy to the front line are 22 per cent more like to suffer serious problems than other troops, according to the study.

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More News On the Growing Problem Of Alcoholism For U.K. Vets

Study finds alcohol abuse a problem in UK forces -- Reuters
UK troops in war zones 22% more likely to misuse alcohol than colleagues -- The Guardian
Alcohol ‘more of a problem for returning troops than stress disorder’ -- Times Online
Alcohol a problem for war veterans, study finds -- The Independent
Mental trauma 'not rife among UK troops' -- BBC
Medical journal warns of 'tidal wave' of mental trauma among servicemen -- The Telegraph
Drinking is embedded in army culture -- The Telegraph

Alcohol Abuse By GIs Soars Since '03

From USA Today:

The rate of Army soldiers enrolled in treatment programs for alcohol dependency or abuse has nearly doubled since 2003 — a sign of the growing stress of repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Army statistics and interviews.

Soldiers diagnosed by Army substance abuse counselors with alcoholism or alcohol abuse, such as binge drinking, increased from 6.1 per 1,000 soldiers in 2003 to an estimated 11.4 as of March 31, according to the data. The latest data cover the first six months of the fiscal year that began in October.

"We're seeing a lot of alcohol consumption," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, told top officers during a briefing on the Army's growing number of suicides.

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My Comment: My father and his friends were World War 2 vets, and while they were not alcoholics, they did love the bottle. It was from them that I learned that these men .... because of their experiences .... did need to "escape" (especially when they were together), and alcohol was the thing for them. I can only presume that today's vets are just like my dad and his friends .... continuing a tradition that goes back generations if not centuries.