It’s about “combat experiences,” not length of deployment.

By Mark Thompson
@MarkThompson_DC
Feb. 04, 2014

This Army graph makes crystal clear what many U.S. troops, and their loved ones, have long suspected: the more combat events they experience, the more mental-health problems they will suffer. In fact, according to this illustration from a new Army report, there is a direct linear relationship between combat exposure and resulting mental maladies.

http://swampland.time.com/2014/02/04/military-troops-iraq-afghanistan-ptsd-combat/#ixzz2smKxMCsM

combat experience long term effects, cost of war, What's Troubling American Troops