‘No Escaping It’: Iraq Vets Are Becoming Terminally Ill And Burn Pits May Be To Blame

LTC (Join to see) That's an excellent point, sir. I feel that as a nation we over-medicate many, if not most conditions. It astounds me the number of my fellow veterans who are prescribed opiod painkillers. Yeah, my shoulders and back are trashed from humping around with alice packs, IBAs, IOTVs, and such, but it just goes with the territory. I didn't exactly expect the Hugh Hefner treatment when I processed through MEPS.

The potential fall out from this medication only treatment plan could just big enough to define an entire generation.

SFC (Join to see) - I do think you have a point with the burn pits but I don't think the VA has a strategy.// And the pills, my BN had a 45% fill rate on sleep medication. The same medication Docs use to treat PTSD patients. We had several NCOs on 4 or more psychotropics and the Providers never informed the CoC. They instead relied on MEDPROs and a single generic sentence that we were supposed to figure out on own own. After three suicides in the BN we figured it out. But by that time the Division leadership was in coverup mode. I'd be willing to bet that a root cause of suicide for the military is directly tied to the over prescription of medication and it is covered up due to HIPPA and the Privacy Act.