HealthDay (7/10, Preidt) reports that according to a study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, “muscle, bone and joint injuries, as well as mental health disorders, are the main reasons why US soldiers who served in Iraq left the military.” For the study, investigators tracked some “4,100 Army soldiers, aged 18 to 52, from the start of a 15-month deployment in Iraq in 2006 until the end of four years after their return to the” US.
Researchers found that “among those who were unable to return to a military career after the deployment, 60 percent had muscle, bone or joint injuries and nearly half had mental health conditions.” The most common conditions cited for leaving included traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and low back pain.
Related Links:
— “Muscle and Bone Injuries, Mental Disorders Plagued U.S. Iraq War Vets,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 9, 2014.