Combat events and negative emotions associated with postdeployment illicit drug use among Army National Guard soldiers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background and Study Aim One of the major health policy issues for the 1.3 million U.S. military personnel who supported combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has been their post deployment adjustment, in particular, reservists after having returned and reverted back to their part-time military service. This study provided preliminary estimates of illicit drug use among deployed reserve military personnel and its relationship to combat exposure. Method Relying on archived survey data, the present study examined illicit drug use among Army National Guard (ARNG) (N = 4,567 in 50 company-sized units) who had been deployed to Iraq in 2010 and returned recently to home station. Results Self-reported illicit drug use was relatively low during post deployment (2.2%) but use was related to specific combat events, such as having seen killed or wounded or having killed and wounded others. Feelings of anger and frustration associated with combat (i.e., experienced trauma, seen wounded or killed, or wounded or killed someone) were predictive of illicit drug use and mediated the relationship of combat events to drug use. Conclusion Findings provide a broader understanding of illicit drug use among veterans and suggest preventive strategies for drug use.