Report Finds Georgia Soldiers Bear Disproportionate Share of Burden of Wars

Veterans for America's Wounded Warrior Outreach Program Releases New Reports:

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- VFA's Wounded Warrior
Outreach Program has chronicled the experiences of the units of the U.S. Army,
on a state-by-state basis, that have been among our nation's most heavily used
in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. VFA has aggregated information on each
frontline unit's number of deployments, intensity of combat, and dwell time.
Our reports make clear that the Soldiers who have seen the most combat are
the ones who are deployed repeatedly for extended periods of time.
Unfortunately, Department of Defense studies prove that with each deployment,
Soldiers are 60% more likely to develop severe post-combat mental health
problems.
VFA found that Georgia's four active-Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCT's) and
one National Guard BCT have borne a disproportionate share of the burden of
our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
EXTENDED TOURS: During their first deployment, Soldiers from the 3rd
Infantry Division's 1st BCT were in Kuwait and waiting to fly home when they
were told that their tour had been extended by three months.
MULTIPLE TOURS WITH INSUFFICIENT DWELL TIME: The 3rd BCT of the 3rd
Infantry Division is currently serving its fourth tour in Iraq and had only
three months at home between its first and second tours. Even though it was
activated in 2004, the 3rd Infantry's 4th BCT is in Iraq for the second time.
Both BCTs will serve 15 month tours regardless of the expected return to 12
month tours later this year.
HEAVY RELIANCE ON THE NATIONAL GUARD: The National Guard's 48th BCT
suffered the highest fatality rate of any National Guard brigade in Iraq:
Soldiers were four times as likely to be killed as those in other Guard BCT's
in Iraq.
Veterans For America's Wounded Warrior Outreach Program has worked closely
with Soldiers and their families across the country and we are deeply
concerned with the toll that our deployment cycles have taken.
"When elected representatives talk about the 'readiness' of the military,
they must also talk about the health of our troops," said Bobby Muller,
President of VFA. "We cannot consider our military 'ready' while we have
Soldiers at Fort Benning returning to Iraq multiple times for excruciatingly
long tours with insufficient time at home. Our Soldiers are beginning to
unravel."
Reports can be found at www.veteransforamerica.org
SOURCE Veterans for America

Adrienne Willis, +1-202-557-7509, awillis@veteransforamerica.org, for Veterans
for America