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: 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 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

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Veterans For America

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

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

2008-04-07 23:10:30 0330151 PRNEWSWIRE