Steps Necessary to Ease Iraq and Afghanistan Service

More than 2.2 million military service members have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and although the majority of have readjusted well to post-deployment life, a large minority -- 44 percent -- have reported problems. Although the U.S. departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs and other agencies are actively trying to address the support needs of service members, veterans, and their families, the response has been slow and has not matched the magnitude of this population's requirements as many cope with a complex set of health, economic, and other challenges, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. DOD and VA should ensure that their systems have sufficient capacity to provide timely and adequate care to service members, veterans, and family members, and boost efforts to reduce the stigma associated with getting care for mental health and substance abuse problems, the report says. DOD and VA also should ensure that they are using diagnostic tools and therapies that are in line with the latest medical evidence and speed the development of tools that help these individuals more easily navigate the services offered by each department and ease the transition from one to the other. In addition, DOD and VA need to take into account the increasing diversity of this population as the number of women in the armed forces rises and nontraditional families become increasingly common. In particular, DOD should intensify its efforts to eliminate sexual harassment and...
Source: News from the National Academies - Category: Science Source Type: news