Professor Receives Grant to Study Socioeconomic Effects of Combat on Veterans

MacLean will be analyzing three large sets of data from various sources including the Veterans Administration, studying veterans and their families from wars stretching from World War II to the present.

(VANCOUVER, Wa.) - Alair MacLean, assistant professor of sociology at Washington State University Vancouver, received a two year grant of more than $162,000 from the National Institutes for Health for her study on veterans' combat exposure and its socioeconomic outcomes. "This issue has taken on increased social and policy significance in light of ongoing combat operations involving the United States' armed forces," said MacLean.

"Since the fall of 2001, more than 700,000 US military personnel have served in combat zones in or around Iraq and Afghanistan. Of these, more than 2,000 have been killed, nearly 16,000 have been injured by hostile fire, and thousands more have been evacuated from combat zones for psychological treatment. If prior wars are any indication, many returning wartime veterans will struggle for years with post-traumatic stress disorder, even if they suffered no physical injuries during their time in a combat zone." MacLean will be analyzing three large sets of data from various sources including the Veterans Administration, studying veterans and their families from wars stretching from World War II to the present. "Part of what we're looking at is trajectories of employment and earnings among combat vets, non-combat veterans and non-veterans," she said. Given the well-established links between health, employment, and socioeconomic outcomes, MacLean seeks to extend previous research on the health and mental health consequences of combat into a realm that has received relatively little attention: the effects of combat exposure on veterans' ability to work and earn in their later civilian lives. She will bring together insights on the effects of combat on physical and mental health with research on the more general effects of military service on veterans' education, training, earnings, occupational and marital status. WSU Vancouver is located at 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave., east of the 134th Street exit from either I-5 or I-205. WSU Vancouver offers 14 Bachelor's degrees, nine Master's degrees and one Doctorate degree and more than 35 fields of study. Visit us on the Web at vancouver.wsu.edu.

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Albert Marnell April 15, 2007 8:08 am (Pacific time)

Sayer, you sound like Sooth. Just because Reagan said, "Mr. Gorbechov, tear down this wall," does not mean that Reagan had anything to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had been falling apart under its own internal problems for years. Carter did not cause the economic problems of the seventies...the Arab Oil Embargo did and I am sure you remember the gas line. The Embargo was the cause of us sending our troops into help Israel....hence the Embargo. You also seem to have a thing with black and white in terms of right and left. That is a very simplistic way of looking at people and their opinions. In psychiatric terms it is called "splitting."

Sayer April 14, 2007 9:11 am (Pacific time)

Recovering from supply-side economics? You seem to be confused about what a wonderful economy came out of Reagan's economic programs, considering what he had to overcome. It continued under Clinton, only because the democrats could not raise taxes because the adults were in charged. (Oregon's economic future will be quite damaged by our current leadership, count on it!). It was actually Carter and the democratic congress that caused severe injury to our economy, then Reagan allowed us to recover from their debacle, while at the same time defeating the Soviet Union. The youngsters, 45 and below would have no way to really understand the dynamics, at least they should have a chance to learn what an absolute savior Reagan was not only to my country, but the world. Missing e-mails, you on the left are really reaching, but for what, and what is your real agenda? Regarding Bush firing the AG's, so what!That's his executive mandated right! Were you all upset when literally hundreds (that's right "hundreds!") of Clinton's staff took the 5th, and then you had all those missing documents. How about those 900 plus FBI files (how many did they already review?) they got caught with? Did you on the left moan about that? How about Sandy Berger's buddy Schwartz selling the gyro's to China (now they have ICBM's that can hit any place on the planet. Also what Berger stole many people are serving life for stealing far less. Why? Was there some deal? I could go on and on, but you would just ignore facts, that's what the left does. May I suggest a re-reading of CRY WOLF, put that fable into perspective.

Albert Marnell April 13, 2007 7:31 pm (Pacific time)

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be recogized as common among Veterans. How come it was not recognized by surviving my parents and a-hole brother?

Hank Ruark April 13, 2007 4:35 pm (Pacific time)

To all: Here's helpful statement from international authority: "To initiate a war of aggression. . . is not only an international crime, it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." - Nuremberg Tribunal =

Osotan; April 12, 2007 8:02 pm (Pacific time)

I view the grant with mixed emotions, as studies done for decades already dealing with outcome., but on the other hand if the results benefit those who need it then of course. The best option would be not to go to war at all unless we have to, but I'm sure to be labled for such simplistic thoughts.,which are too late for those now involved anyway.

Hank Ruark April 12, 2007 3:28 pm (Pacific time)

Very fact of this study goes to "the heart of the matter" re the real costs of this wasteful war, in no way computable in any form of currency. We as a nation will be paying through the nose --and a huge new hospital/clinic/followup system-- for decades to come. Historians and economists now agree that it took more than 20 years to recover from the Reagan-Stockman debacle via "supply side" economics. This one is far more destructive and deeply nation-damaging...which is why those White House e-mails are suddenly "lost" --they may be the Nixon-type "smoking tape".

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Professor Receives Grant to Study Socioeconomic Effects of Combat on Veterans

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