Report Finds Georgia Soldiers Bear Disproportionate Share of Burden of Wars

Veterans for America's Wounded Warrior Outreach Program Releases New Reports: The Consequences of Churning: A State-by-State Account of the Toll of Deployments on Frontline Active-Army Units

Weekend Warriors to Frontline Soldiers: A State-by-State Account of the Toll of Deployments on National Guard Brigade Combat Teams

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

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Veterans for America

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

Web site: http://www.veteransforamerica.org/

2008-04-07 22:06:08 0330143 PRNEWSWIRE