March 29, 2010

Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service, Members, and Their Families

This report was written by the Committee on the Initial Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Military Personnel, Veterans, and their Families. It states that the United States began combat operations in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. That war is officially referred to as Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), and the war in Iraq, which began in March 2003, is referred to as Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Since October 2001, about 1.9 million US troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. OEF and OIF have many unique features with regard to the military force being sent to fight those wars. The all-volunteer military has experienced multiple redeployments to the war zone, great use of the reserve components of the military and National Guard, deployment of high numbers of women and of parents of young children, and a high number of military personnel who survive severe injuries that in previous wars would have resulted in death.

Many men and women return from the war zone successfully and adjust to their lives out of theater, but others have had difficulty in readjusting or to family life, to their jobs, and to living in their communities after deployment. Numerous reports in the popular press have drawn attention to those readjustment issues and have suggested that onset or exacerbation of mental disorders - particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, and depression - might hinder readjustment. In addition, traumatic brain injury (TBI), often called the signature wound of OEF and OIF, is associated with a host of long-term adverse health outcomes, such as unprovoked seizures, decline in neurocognitive function, dementia, and adverse social- function outcomes, including unemployment and diminished social relationships, depression, and aggressive behaviors.