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The 2000s in America

Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans

by Anna Accettola

Definition: Veterans from any branch of the military who took part in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were spurred by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States

Regardless whether they suffer physical or emotional trauma from their service, Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans confront numerous challenges when returning to civilian life, including obtaining employment and finding housing. Public response to veterans’ needs in the 2000s indicates a shift from the widespread anti-troop sentiment expressed during and after late twentieth-century conflicts.

On September 11, 2001, Islamic extremists from the fundamentalist group al-Qaeda hijacked four planes and attacked several buildings in the United States, destroying the World Trade Center towers in New York City, damaging the Pentagon, and killing almost three thousand American civilians. On September 18, US president George W. Bush signed a joint resolution permitting the use of force in order to combat terrorism; this led to the bombing of Afghanistan to target the Taliban government, which was protecting al-Qaeda. After the initial destabilization of the Afghan government, the United Nations set up a provisional government and established the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in December 2001. In 2002, ground forces were sent into Afghanistan to try to locate terrorist cells in the mountain caves. The War on Terror, as it came to be known, was accompanied by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in which Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted. Hussein was alleged to have had connections to several terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda, and have possessed weapons of mass destruction. Both claims were later disproved.

President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared that “major combat” was over in Afghanistan and Iraq by May 2003, but troops remained in order to rebuild infrastructure and support the government and local security forces. Violence continued to escalate through 2000s, especially in the form of suicide bombings. Thus, in 2009, newly elected US president Barack Obama promised to rededicate and reorganize efforts overseas. With an increased amount of monetary aid heading to Pakistan, new commanders in Afghanistan, and five thousand additional NATO troops, a new “focused counterinsurgency strategy” was implemented in the region. In December 2009, President Obama declared that thirty thousand more troops would be sent to Afghanistan (in addition to the sixty-eight thousand already there), with the intent of training Afghan security more effectively and creating the conditions that would allow the United States to begin pulling out troops in July 2011.

Problems Facing Returning Veterans

While most veterans leave the service and return to civilian life without too many lasting detriments from their time overseas, they have unique challenges that most of the population do not understand. The 2.4 million veterans who served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan make up only about 1 percent of the total population.

One of the largest and most difficult problems that troops face after deployment is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can vary in intensity from mild to extreme cases in which the sufferer has difficulty distinguishing friend from foe. A 2011 Pew Research Center poll reported that 37 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, who may or may not have received formal diagnoses, had suffered PTSD symptoms. According to a 2009 study by Michael P. Atkinson, Adam Guetz, and Lawrence M. Wein, risk of developing PTSD increased significantly for service members who were deployed multiple times. The determination of whether a soldier has the condition varies, depending on several factors such as when they are examined. Because symptoms do not always appear immediately or present in the same manner, diagnosing the condition can be difficult. Other factors such as combat fatigue and separation from family are among other issues that service members face, both before and after deployment, and can lead to a very fragile mental state.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) also became common during these wars. Many former service members were left with speech, memory, and/or motor impairment, as well as emotional problems, due to TBIs. TBIs and PTSD were frequently blamed for the increase in suicide among both active-duty and discharged service members; between 2005 and 2010, one service member committed suicide every thirty-six hours.

Abuse of opiates and narcotics has been a particular problem among service members and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including those who have incurred severe injuries and those with PTSD. Between 2005 and 2010, over fifteen thousand veterans had been prescribed opiates for pain, among them nearly three thousand PTSD sufferers and over eighteen hundred with non-PTSD mental health concerns. Untreated withdrawal from these and other battlefield prescriptions has led a significant number of veterans to seek out drugs illegally upon their return to civilian life and to committing petty crimes. A program known as the Veterans Court has begun in Philadelphia to stem the rise in crime committed by veterans, many of whom are addicted to drugs or alcohol and have untreated mental health issues. Through probation, community service with veterans’ support groups, and rehabilitation or counseling for offenders, the Veterans Court is helping reduce recidivism.

Sexual violence against female service members is a newer wartime phenomenon, and it places female veterans at increased risk of self-harm. In 2010, nearly a third of female service members said they had been victims of assault during their term of service, though far fewer had reported it to officials. This, along with emotional strain and higher incidence of PTSD, likely contributes to the statistic showing that the risk of suicide among female veterans is threefold higher than that for female civilians.

Despite Department of Veterans Affairs’ home loans and housing assistance, homelessness has long plagued returning service members, and Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are joining the ranks of the homeless in large numbers. By 2011, veterans made up 16 percent of the total adult homeless population, and of these, young veterans were far more likely to be homeless than their counterparts in the greater communities. Between 2006 and 2010, the number of women veterans who were homeless soared, rising by 141 percent.

Support Networks

Even the service members who return home and are able to deal with their experiences without severe negative impacts on their lives face issues that make reintegration into civilian society difficult; more than 40 percent of recent veterans report difficulty with reentry. Especially with the economic crisis of the last part of the decade, veterans have trouble finding work, and nearly a third are unemployed. Veteran support groups, such as the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and Veterans for Common Sense, assist veterans with finding jobs, obtaining health insurance, and pursuing higher education. The IAVA, established in 2004, is not only committed to helping veterans build a community for themselves when they return home, but also connecting them to other veterans who have had similar experiences. While healthy service members previously had little organized support once they left the military, these types of support groups keep growing in number and influence.

Service members who are seriously injured or mentally unstable used to face a similar position upon discharge from the military and from whichever hospital they recuperated in. After returning home, most veterans could only receive help from the Department of Veterans Affairs offices and medical centers, which were often underfunded and located far from veterans’ homes. New programs, such as the Wounded Warriors Project, which was founded in 2003, are filling in the gaps by providing rehabilitation services, higher education, employment training and placement assistance, and peer mentoring for veterans who have serious physical or mental issues. Like the IAVA, the Wounded Warriors Project also advocates for pro-veteran government policies and aims to raise public awareness of veterans’ issues and funds for support services. By creating an atmosphere of support and teaching veterans how to aid one another, these programs help service members grow and relearn their strength and independence.

Impact

The increase in public support for returning service members may be a direct result from disrespect and lack of compassion often shown veterans from other conflicts, namely the Vietnam War. In the 2000s, those who did not agree with US involvement in the Middle East were more likely to distinguish between the wars and the troops fighting them. Even those who supported the wars themselves were glad to see troops withdrawn from Iraq; about three-quarters of those polled by the Pew Research Center supported the move. Over 90 percent of survey respondents also indicated they felt proud of the troops, and 75 percent had thanked service members for their efforts.

Despite the warm feelings the American public had for its troops, veterans and civilians alike recognized the disparities between themselves. Over 80 percent of recent veterans polled said that the public does not understand their challenges, making the public-awareness campaigns of veterans’ support groups all the more important. Government and military officials have also increased efforts to address the problems of active-duty service members and veterans. Among these are better screening for and treatment of psychological problems, facilitating reporting and prosecution of sexual violence within the military, cracking down on for-profit educational institutions that mislead veterans about employment prospects, and giving incentives to companies that hire veterans.

Further Reading

1 

The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. Washington: GPO, July 2004. PDF file. The official US governmental report on the terrorist attacks that prompted US involvement in the Middle East.

2 

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. IAVA.org, 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. Website of one of the support groups for returning veterans, detailing their mission and activities.

3 

“Mission.” Wounded Warriors Project. Wounded Warriors Project, Inc., 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. Explains the purpose and mission of Wounded Warrior Project and how they seek to help injured service members.

4 

“Obama’s Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan December 2009.” Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 1 Dec. 2009. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. A transcript of President Obama’s speech to the nation outlining his goals and actions concerning troop deployment in the Middle East.

5 

“US War in Afghanistan: Tracking a War (1999–Present).” Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. A timeline showing events leading up to the war and during the decade.

6 

“War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era: The Military-Civilian Gap.” Pew Social & Demographic Trends. Pew Research Center, 5 Oct. 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. A survey of service members, veterans, and civilians regarding various aspects of the post–September 11 wars and military service.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Accettola, Anna. "Iraq And Afghanistan War Veterans." The 2000s in America, edited by Craig Belanger, Salem Press, 2013. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=2000_0201.
APA 7th
Accettola, A. (2013). Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans. In C. Belanger (Ed.), The 2000s in America. Salem Press.
CMOS 17th
Accettola, Anna. "Iraq And Afghanistan War Veterans." Edited by Craig Belanger. The 2000s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2013. Accessed September 18, 2025. online.salempress.com.