NYTs “War Torn” Print Abuse (Update)

I’d thought that the New York Times had gone on the wagon, after the discrediting of New York Times’ earlier long but misleading “War Torn” articles about the mental health damage to our soldiers and Marines from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sadly, the NYTs has again fallen off the wagon.

The NYTs latest binge in its “War Torn” series is “After the Battle, Fighting the Bottle at Home.” This time, in a rambling 3363 words, we’re told that alcoholism and drug abuse is a serious problem among veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and is caused by their distress from their service.

But, the NYTs debunks itself near the front of the piece, in the 6th paragraph, following the tale of a former Marine who was convicted of drunken driving that “caused the death of a 16-year-old cheerleader.”

Mr. Klecker’s case is part of a growing body of evidence that alcohol abuse is rising among veterans of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, many of them trying to deaden the repercussions of war and disorientation of home. While the numbers remain relatively small, experts say and studies indicate that the problem is particularly prevalent among those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, as it was after Vietnam. Studies indicate that illegal drug use, much less common than heavy drinking in the military, is up slightly, too.

Nonetheless, the article proceeds to contradict this conclusion by citing official studies that indicate a much larger problem:

In the Army, which has the bulk of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon’s most recent survey of health-related behavior, conducted in 2005 but released last year, found that for the first time in more than 20 years, roughly a quarter of soldiers surveyed considered themselves regular heavy drinkers — defined as having five or more drinks at least once a week. The report called the increase — to 24.5 percent in 2005, from 17.2 percent in 1998 — “an issue of concern.”

Perhaps the best monitor of recent combat veterans’ mental health is the Pentagon’s postdeployment survey. Reflecting concern about heavy drinking, the latest report, published last November, introduced a question about drinking habits. Of the 88,235 soldiers surveyed in 2005 and 2006, three to six months after returning from war, 12 percent of active-duty troops and 15 percent of reservists acknowledged having problems with alcohol.

OK, let’s introduce some statistics that the NYTs conveniently omits. The National Institute of Health reports that between 1998-2002, a period when our troops were not in Iraq and had just entered Afghanistan in late October 2001, “heavy alcohol use increased significantly from 1998 to 2002 for the first time since 1988.”

That 24.5% of heavy drinkers in 2005, in the NYTs article, again contrasts with the National Institute of Health’s report that the percentage of heavy drinkers (using the same definition as the NYTs) was, “In 2002, 27 percent of young adults in the military reported heavy drinking.” That 27% is comprised of males and females in all branches, with those in the Army and Marines having higher percentages. So, indeed, the 2005 percentages cited by the NYTs is lower than in 2002.

There is a real problem. The incidence of heavy drinking, defined as five or more drinks at one time at least once during a week, is double what is found among comparable civilians. The NYTs article makes clear that the military takes alcohol or substance abuse very seriously and is exerting itself to provide care.

Perhaps the latest NYTs binge into disreputable statistics qualifies it for a print abuse program, having ranted for over 22,000 words so far in this disreputable series that should be renamed “Print Torn,” that paints the problem as due to our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

My earlier posts about the previous “War Torn” binges are, in order for parts 1-4, here, here, here, and here.

UPDATE:
This morning (morning after the late-night writing of the above post), the Associated Press reports that:

An Associated Press analysis of federal records found that 157 college-age people, between the ages of 18 and 23, drank themselves to death from 1999 through 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available. The number of alcohol-poisoning deaths per year nearly doubled over that span, from 18 in 1999 to a peak of 35 in 2005, though the total went up and down from year to year and dipped as low as 14 in 2001.

There’s no mention of this being due to the Iraq or Afghanistan war.