Responding to an earlier post from Noonan here…

Jason Van Steenwyk (who I believe was the first regularly-posting, long term milblogger from Iraq) found a similar story this week:

When you’re standing in ranks, look at the soldier or marine to you’re right. Now look at the one to the left. Now look at the guy in front of you. If none of them are crazy, statistically, it means you’re the nutcase. At least according to researchers in (ahem) San Francisco.

It’s one of those storylines trotted out periodically – the current effort fueled by the heat generated by the Walter Reed story. (And yes, it harkens back to much of the psycho-Vietnam-vet mythology of the ’70s and ’80s).

I found an earlier Iraq-based example two years ago, shortly after I came home from my first trip “over there”.

Mental Disorders Are On The Rise Among Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans

Funding cuts could overburden system

As many as one out of four veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals in the past 16 months were diagnosed with mental disorders, a number that has been steadily rising, according to a report in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.

To make a long story short, I compared numbers to published figures for the U.S. population as a whole…

If all the various claims above are accurate – and I’ve no reason to dispute them, the numbers turn out like this:

Percentages of all Americans / OIF and OEF Vets with

PTSD: 2.4% / 2%
Drug/Alcohol abuse: 9.4% / 1.8%
Depression: 6.6% / 1.4%
Anxiety disorders (phobias and panic): 6% / 1.2%

Let’s be clear about this: returning vets deserve the best treatment available. Spare no expense! But these numbers for my fellow vets are so low they’re stunning, especially in an article headlined “Mental Disorders Are On The Rise Among Afghanistan, Iraq Veterans – Funding cuts could overburden system”. While that might be factual, it also appears intentionally deceptive.

As I pointed out back then, most reporters play word games with these numbers to make them appear larger than they are. And though they never acknowledge the military/general population ratios, these stories almost always do include a claim that untold numbers of military members fear seeking help for such afflictions due to the perceived negative impact on their career. That’s a pre-emptive strike on anyone who would point out the actual facts.

I’m absolutely in favor of maximum funding for VA medical centers (really, I love it when Dems and Repubs try to outdo each other to tangibly support the troops), and I’m fully aware that PTSD and other such issues are real, and potentially devastating to those afflicted. But for some reason I always get the feeling such issues aren’t the real purpose behind most of the media coverage

Or maybe, being an OIF vet, I’m just paranoid.