Study pairs military veterans and shelter dogs to ease transition home

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Of the 2 million United States Service members that have been in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s estimated that up to 50 percent experience combat-related issues ranging from substance abuse to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Now, a University of Missouri professor is conducting a unique study that will give military veterans a “training buddy” to help them cope while helping shelter dogs become more adoptable.

The University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine’s Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction (ReCHAI) has been supported and funded through a series of grants from Mars Petcare (the WALTHAM Foundation, PEDIGREE Foundation and Banfield Charitable Trust) and the MU Research Board, to conduct a study of the mutual benefit of veterans training shelter dogs. Researchers hope this partnership between man and animal will make the dogs better family members and assist the veterans’ adjustment after returning home.

“Health professionals are seeing increasing reports of combat-related stress in returning veterans,” said Rebecca Johnson, director of ReCHAI and associate professor for the MU Sinclair School of Nursing and College of Veterinary Medicine. “This study benefits both ends of the leash, because we know that interaction with animals relieves stress and lessens symptoms of depression and anxiety. Not only will veterans help dogs exercise and receive necessary training, but the dogs will potentially provide stress relief for the veterans.”

The three-phased study, which started in early 2011, will be conducted in two locations in Missouri, namely Columbia and Springfield over a two-year period. Veterans are learning to train dogs in basic obedience in the first phase of the program. In phase two, veterans will be mentors to families who adopt shelter dogs. In phase three, the best of the trained dogs will be trained as PTSD service dogs to work with soldiers who need this assistance.

http://www.news-record.com/blog/60759/entry/123658

Cost of Treating Veterans Will Rise Long Past Wars

WASHINGTON — Though the withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan will save the nation billions of dollars a year, another cost of war is projected to continue rising for decades to come: caring for the veterans.

By one measure, the cost of health care and disability compensation for veterans from those conflicts and all previous American wars ranks among the largest for the federal government — less than the military, Social Security and health care programs including Medicare, but nearly the same as paying interest on the national debt, the Treasury Department says.

Ending the current wars will not lower those veterans costs; indeed, they will rise ever more steeply for decades to come as the population of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan expands, ages and becomes more infirm. To date, more than 2.2 million troops have served in those wars.

Studies show that the peak years for government health care and disability compensation costs for veterans from past wars came 30 to 40 years after those wars ended. For Vietnam, that peak has not been reached.

In Washington, the partisan stalemate over cutting federal spending is now raising alarms among veterans groups and some lawmakers that the seemingly inexorable costs of veterans benefits will spur a backlash against those programs.

BY James Dao
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/us/28veterans.html?_r=2