Report Finds 101st Airborne and Tennessee National Guard Soldiers Bear Disproportionate...

Report Finds 101st Airborne and Tennessee National Guard 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 the 101st Airborne Division's Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs)
have borne a disproportionate share of the burden of our wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan:
-- All four BCTs of the 101st are currently deployed: three to Iraq and
one to Afghanistan.
-- The four brigades of the 101st have twelve tours to Iraq and
Afghanistan between them.
-- The 101st's 3rd BCT is currently serving its fourth tour overseas.
These Soldiers will serve 15 months regardless of the expected return
to 12 month tours later this year.
-- During the 2nd BCT's second tour to Iraq, the unit's Soldiers were
twice as likely to die as they were during their first tour.

"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 101st
Airborne Soldiers returning to Iraq multiple times for excruciatingly long
tours with insufficient time at home. Our Soldiers are beginning to unravel."
Our reports also found that Army National Guard members who deploy to Iraq
and Afghanistan regularly see high-intensity combat. This is a dramatic
change for units designed primarily for domestic missions.
Almost half of the National Guard members who have been deployed to Iraq
and Afghanistan have returned from war with mental health problems. Members of
the National Guard who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are almost a
third more likely to develop post-combat mental health problems than active-
duty Soldiers.
When the Tennessee National Guard's 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment
deployed to Iraq in 2004, it marked the largest single deployment of Soldiers
from Tennessee since World War II.
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.
Reports can be found at www.veteransforamerica.org
SOURCE Veterans For America

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