At War in Iraq and Afghanistan: Children in US Military Families

Abstract

In late 2001, the lives of United States military troops and their families drastically changed as almost overnight thousands of troops were deployed to Afghanistan and then Iraq. Although the effect of combat deployments on soldiers has been described previously, little is known about the impact of these deployments on the health and mental health of military families and their children, especially within the context of the current involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. We will briefly review the available literature relating to the health and mental health of military troops, and their families and children. We will describe the reasons that the impact may be greater on children in the Reserves and National Guard. Finally, we will describe gaps in our current knowledge regarding these issues. Many military personnel have been sent to combat zones in support of these wars. Currently, 140 000 troops are stationed in Iraq and 23 000 in Afghanistan, and recently the US Army has projected that the troop levels in Iraq will remain unchanged through 2010. A striking difference about this conflict is that almost 40% of these deployed soldiers are activated Reserve and Guard troops. Traditionally, members of the National Guard serve the emergency needs of states, while the Reserve mandate has been to fill in active-duty troops when they were deployed. These roles have been expanded in the face of current combat requirements. Little is known about how combat deployments in support of this war are affecting military troops and their families, especially children, and whether or not the impact may be greater on Reservists (we will use this term to include members of the National Guard as well) and their families. According to the most recent Department of Defense Statistics, over 2700 troops have been killed, and almost 20 000 have been significantly injured. Almost 17% of