Report Finds Indiana National Guard Soldiers Bear Disproportionate Share of Burden of Wars

Veterans for America's Wounded Warrior Outreach Program Releases New Report: Weekend Warriors to Frontline Soldiers: A State-by-State Account of the Toll of Deployments on National Guard Brigade Comb

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.

This report makes clear that the Soldiers who have seen the most combat are the ones who are deployed repeatedly. Unfortunately, Department of Defense studies prove that with each deployment Soldiers are 60% more likely to develop severe post-combat mental health problems.

The Indiana National Guard's 76th Brigade Combat Team (BCT) is currently the most deployed brigade in the Army National Guard. The 76th has just deployed on its third tour overseas since September 11, 2001. Both of its previous tours, one to Iraq and one to Afghanistan, were longer than normal for National Guard units.

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 Indiana National Guard Soldiers returning to war 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, Veterans for America, +1-202-557-7509,
awillis@veteransforamerica.org

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

2008-04-07 22:36:48 0330145 PRNEWSWIRE