The cost of combat stress: a billion dollars a year

In a war, death comes in many forms: jury-rigged bombs, sleek fighter jets, assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades. But a stealthier killer lingers long after the fighting is done, in the psychological toll that combat exacts, Wired reports. More than 6,000 veterans take their own lives every year — about 20 percent of the 30,000 American suicides annually.
In an effort to quantify the psychological cost of war, a recent report from the National Bureau of Economic Research has come up with the magic numbers, Wired reported. They estimate that lower-bound costs of mental health problems from the global war on terror are between $750 million and $1.35 billion annually.

Despite trying everything from portable weatherproof brain scanners to drug treatments with ecstasy and MDMA, servicemembers are still suffering with post-traumatic stress and other mental health issues.

In fact, 26 percent of returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are depressed, drug and alcohol-dependent, homeless or suicidal, says the NBER report. This quoted number was independently calculated in a study done by the Rand Corporation, a non-profit policy and research think tank.

Read "The cost of combat stress: a billion dollars a year" on Wired.