Report Finds Hawaii 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 both the active-Army and National Guard Brigade Combat Teams (BCT's) stationed in Hawaii have suffered from the Army's long and unpredictable deployment cycles to Iraq and Afghanistan:

-- The first Iraq tour of the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd BCT was
extended by 60 days; it's currently deployed to Iraq for the second
time. These Soldiers will serve for 15 months regardless of the
expected return to 12 month tours later this year.
-- The 3rd BCT of the 25th Infantry suffered higher than average
fatalities in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
-- The 29th BCT of the Hawaii National Guard is scheduled to deploy to
Iraq for the second time this year, three years before it was expected
to return.

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 in Hawaii 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 22:42:20 0330148 PRNEWSWIRE