America has been at war for 14 years. The longest sustained engagement on foreign soil in the history of America. For my capstone project I will be exploring and discussing the resulting diagnosis of PTSD and TBI related injuries on American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. I will be discussing the unintended consequences of PTSD and Traumatic Brain injuries in these technology driven wars and combat zones. I will be constructing a video and an info graphic of pictures of my personal experiences and those of my Platoon members of our time in Iraq and the city of Baghdad in 2004.
There have been roughly 1 million Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines that have been deployed to Afghanistan, and or Iraq over the last decade and a half, many on multiple tours. The resulting diagnosis and mental health condition of these service members is extremely high. Higher than projected before the wars and increasingly higher than the Veterans Administration ever intended or prepared for. The Department of Defense has estimated that 22% of all combat casualties are brain and mental health injuries. This compared to 12% of all combat related injures of the Vietnam War. It is also estimated that 60% to 80% of all blast injuries resulted in traumatic brain injuries (TBI) The unique combat climate of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as well as the IED and close quarter combat experiences have lead to larger PTSD related stressors on soldiers.