WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON -- If statistics trends continue, almost half of the Maryland guardsmen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will face mental problems within a few months of coming home.
Between 10 percent and 25 percent will be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and 1 in 5 will plan to separate from or divorce their partners, all within a year.
These figures came out of a Defense Department study from June 2007, before Congress voted to put National Guard soldiers through a post-combat support program like their counterparts in the regular military.
The program might not benefit many in the Guard because the Bush administration failed to fund it, but it will be reality for the largest Maryland Guard deployment since World War II, thanks to a funding partnership between the state and the Guard. Still, the battle to take the program national continues.
Maryland Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski co-sponsored an amendment to create the national reintegration program for returning Guard and Reserve troops. It passed in the 2008 defense bill in January but wasn't funded.
Without federal funding, Maryland lawmakers and Guard officials scrambled during the past few months to fund a state reintegration program to lessen the blow for Maryland troops moving between combat and home.
That funding allowed the program to continue for the 1,200 Maryland Guard troops who will return this spring, including about 120 troops who returned to Easton on Thursday night after nine months in Iraq as part of the 158th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Squadron, B Troop of the Maryland National Guard.
Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, an Army Reserve colonel who served in Iraq, said he understood the need for a reintegration program to help soldiers and families. Maryland contributed $800,000 for the program.
"It's about taking care of our neighbors who live in Maryland," Brown said. "Having spent 10 months in Iraq in a combat environment and coming back to a community environment, I know that there are some challenges and potholes and pitfalls and surprises along the way."
Chaplain William Lee, who has been with the Maryland Guard since 1987, said he sees firsthand how combat affects people.
"Personally, I've seen both sides of the coin," Lee said. "Overall, the majority of families and the soldiers do well."
But, some soldiers will just compartmentalize stress while deployed because of their intense focus on the mission, he said.
