THE DRUG AND ALCOHOL FACTOR: MASKING THE PAIN

• 20/20 exposed the grueling reality of substance abuse resulting from time served in Iraq: “Soldiers go into war drug-free but turn to cocaine, amphetamines, and prescription drugs to deal with their traumatic experiences.”

• A recent study of 5,437 British Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans found that 25 percent of soldiers who had been deployed for longer than 13 months within a three-year period had developed “severe alcohol problems”.

*American soldiers are currently doing
15 month-straight tours in Iraq

• US military journal, “Stars & Stripes,” approximate that alcohol abuse rises from 13 percent to 21 percent within a year of returning from combat, though others would put these figures higher.

• Many of these veterans try to mask the physical and mental pain by “self-medicating.” Some turn to drugs and alcohol in a desperate attempt to wipe out the intrusive memories of war, and escape the taxing re-emergence to everyday life.