The Invisible Injury, Troops Returning From Iraq With Brain Trauma -ABC

Oct. 6, 2004 — War injuries in Iraq are usually obvious — from shrapnel wounds to lost limbs. But one type of wound is not so obvious. In fact, it often goes undetected.
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Giess, 45, soon healed from his obvious injuries, including several cracked vertebrae and a broken collarbone. But when he went home to Oregon on leave, his wife noticed dramatic changes in his behavior. He would erupt in anger and fail to complete the simplest tasks.

"She couldn't understand, actually, what was going on," said Giess. "She was afraid of me. I thought I was all right, and my behavior was not all right. Not the way I was when I left."

Giess was finally diagnosed with TBI — traumatic brain injury. It is sometimes called "the invisible handicap." Symptoms include irritability, poor memory, lack of inhibition, anxiety, confusion, unusual fatigue, and persistent headaches. These problems are often dismissed as postwar stress reactions.

While an estimated 20 percent of injured veterans in past wars suffered from TBI, doctors say more than 60 percent of injured troops returning from Iraq may be afflicted. The reason: Troops have new body armor that saves lives by protecting the torso, but not the brain..........

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Nightline/Living/brain_trauma_041006-1.html

for decades and I dare say generations! And it was all so unnecessary...
:eyes:

than they otherwise would have. When they come back, their employer will "have" to give them back their job, BUT, if , after a time, they can no longer handle the job, you can bet your last dollar, that they will get laid off..

These are not "lifer-soldiers" who will be getting a pension after 20. These are guardsmen, reservists and young enlisted guys. Probably most are not college educated..

IF they can get a determination of their illness (rememebr how long it took for agent orange??), they will meet resistance at EVERY turn , for treatment..

I forsee lost jobs, broken marriages, and much unhappiness for these poor guys.:(

As Mother Jones reported months ago in a special layout, body armor is keeping many soldiers from getting killed, but soldiers in Iraq who survive the IEDs and other attacks are often left with terrible injuries, like the brain injury mentioned here, blindness, and loss of limbs. This government is not prepared to take care of these vets and their families. Bush & Co. continue with their cavalier war frenzy without a thought of the devastating effects on this and future generations.

What a pathetic group occupying the WH, this is criminal, pure and simple.

against our own soldiers.

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC

I'm sure they'll get to the right people.

Symptoms include irritability, poor memory, lack of inhibition, anxiety, confusion, unusual fatigue, and persistent headaches. These problems are often dismissed as postwar stress reactions.

>lack of inhibition< can u say sniper rifle ....:(

I can tell you that it is very frustrating and hard on the person who has it and their families at times. Every case of TBI is different and it's not your garden variety amnesia like they portray it in the movies.

I hope these people get treatment because it can be a very confusing, frustrating and demoralizing experience.

Since I mentioned it, I must give a shout out to The Shepherd Center.

http://www.shepherd.org/shepherdhomepage.nsf/Home?OpenForm

One of the best hospitals in America dealing with TBI.

terrible-all for a war of choice-this country was safe from Iraq-all this pain for the GOPs collective ego-how great the sin