Battleland

America’s Medicated Army, 2.0

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The Los Angeles Times does a good job of refilling the prescription we first filled nearly four years ago:

The Times, over the weekend:

After two long-running wars with escalating levels of combat stress, more than 110,000 active-duty Army troops last year were taking prescribed antidepressants, narcotics, sedatives, antipsychotics and anti-anxiety drugs, according to figures recently disclosed to The Times by the U.S. Army surgeon general. Nearly 8% of the active-duty Army is now on sedatives and more than 6% is on antidepressants — an eightfold increase since 2005.

Time, June 2008:

For the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan…about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope. Escalating violence in Afghanistan and the more isolated mission have driven troops to rely more on medication there than in Iraq, military officials say.

The more coverage of this topic, the better, Battleland figures. This is yet another mental IED planted by recycling troops back into combat, time and time again, by political masters who felt the wars were worth fighting, so long as they could do it cheaply enough to leave most Americans out of it.