This chapter investigates the issue of landpower from a demographic perspective, exploring the realities of military manpower in a time when fewer than 1 percent of the American people serve in uniform. Since 9/11, the United States has deployed in combat situations this minority of the population in Afghanistan and Iraq, where thousands have been exposed to a new-age weapon of choice, the IED, the Improvised Explosive Device. Many hundreds have been killed or maimed for life. Many thousands more have suffered debilitating, if not life-changing, head and brain injuries. The latest generation of diagnostic tools now available to medical professionals, magnetic resonance imaging, makes clear the catastrophic damage such weapons inflict on the human brain. These findings have enhanced the scientific and popular understanding of the nature of post-traumatic stress disorder, and such precursors as Combat Fatigue, Shell Shock, and Soldier's Heart. The lingering question remains the extent to which the USgovernment and the governed will recognize and act on the revealed science.
An Update on the Complexity and Importance of Accurately Diagnosing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Comorbid Traumatic Brain Injury