Aerial bombing missions during counterinsurgency operations are often counterproductive because they drive neutral civilians to the enemy side, according to peer-reviewed research that examined detailed data from Vietnam.
Bassam Yousif, associate professor of economics at Indiana State University, grew up in Iraq until he emigrated to the United Kingdom when he was 14. He says for conditions in Iraq to improve, the nation must address the void left from millions of Iraqis fleeing the nation.
A study from Indiana University finds the link between veteran status and volunteering is stronger for some subgroups than for others, raising questions about military-civilian relationships.
After analyzing data on 2,155 private contractors, diplomats and other civilians supporting war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan who were medically evacuated out of combat zones, researchers have found they are more likely to be evacuated for noncombat-related injuries, but more likely to return to work in-country after treatment for these conditions.
Four new fact sheets addressing the impact of the injuries of war, both physical and psychological, on intimacy have just been released for healthcare providers and affected military families. Developed by USU's Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress the injury and intimacy fact sheets are part of a larger military health campaign called Courage to Care Courage to Talk (www.couragetotalk.org) that was launched in March of 2010 by the Center’s Child & Family Program as a resource for military health treatment centers and organizations dedicated to wounded warrior care that educate about and facilitate communication around difficult topics involving the impact of combat injury on service members and families.
A new support service is being offered to personnel at Fort Hood in Texas. It is operated by the University Behavioral HealthCare unit of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and patterned after a successful UMDNJ program that has served N.J. veterans for nearly six years.
Hannah Rudstam, senior extension associate at the Employment and Disability Institute in Cornell University’s ILR School comments on implications of the poll, “Recruiting Veterans with Disabilities: Perceptions in the Workplace.” The Cornell institute and the Society for Human Resource Management released the poll of more than 1,000 human resource professionals on Jan. 14.
Details of a new mental health training program being used throughout the Army to promote psychological resilience and improve soldiers’ performance are featured in a special issue of American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association.
Noncombatant military personnel do not engage in direct combat with the enemy during war, but they still face trauma that elevates their risk for developing combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), new research shows.
Animal experiments suggest that taking the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexanoic acid (DHA) might offer a new way of protecting against traumatic brain injury (TBI), reports the February issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
A team of researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine has developed the first web-based screening tool for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). It is estimated that about seven percent of people in the United States have diagnosed or undiagnosed TBI.
Combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms appear to be associated with longer-term physical (headache, tinnitus), emotional (irritability) and cognitive (diminished concentration or memory) symptoms, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Conversely, concussion/mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) do not appear to have long-term negative effects on troops.
Post-traumatic seizures and epilepsy can develop anytime from immediately to days or weeks to more than a decade after brain injury. Not all military personnel who have experienced combat-related TBI obtain care in the VA hospital system. Many integrate into civilian medical practice and receive care from healthcare professionals who might not recognize TBI as the cause of the epilepsy.
More than half of all combat-related injuries sustained by U.S. troops are the result of explosions, and many of those involve injuries to the head. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, about 130,000 U.S. service members deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan have sustained traumatic brain injuries — ranging from concussion to long-term brain damage and death — as a result of an explosion. A recent analysis by a team of researchers led by MIT reveals one possible way to prevent those injuries — adding a face shield to the helmet worn by military personnel.
Inside a non-descript, soundproof building on the south side of town, researchers from Missouri University of Science of Technology are building an audio battlefield, complete with the sounds of tanks, ordinance, gunfire, shouting and helicopters.
As the nation recognizes Veteran’s Day on Nov. 11, the University of Michigan Health System has experts available to discuss the health and well-being of America’s troops. Read on for story ideas related to the work and sacrifices of the military.