Few saw it coming, but six years into combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, health care providers are overwhelmed by the demand of returning veterans suffering from mental health stress or traumatic brain injury.Ok, technically that emphasized section COULD BE DEFENDED as having almost been near towards truthier....
Few understood the financial impact war would have on the Veterans Affairs medical system, projected by a Harvard economist's study earlier this year to be as much as $600 billion.
But Linda Bilmes, a professor at the Kennedy School of Government and author of the study, said Wednesday that disability claims were slamming the system, with more than 25 percent of returning veterans filing. Roughly 180,000 claims needed to be addressed -- on top of 400,000 pre-existing claims from veterans of past wars, many of whom are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.
[ cf Experts tally Iraq war's health cost (emphasis mine) ]
But hum.... What if there is a Grave Structural Problem with 'few saw it coming' - in that those who were all running around with the Argumentum Ad Populum that this was the Coolest Thing, EVER!!! and that Everyone who was Cool Was DOWN with doing the whole ThatIraqiThingiePooh...
While those who were stuck in the space that said the use of a logical fallacy to advance a national policy may be indicative that there is more than one issue in dire need of help here.
Granted, those of us who have been dealing with the Long Term Cost And Consequences of Low Intensity Warfare Theory as it impacts social systems, were not on the list of folks who were being asked to blithely go along with the Stoner's Vision that all one needs to do is get to the Mission Accomplished Disco Duck Dance and all will be the Coolest Thing EVER!!!! Because all of the Cool Kids are Really Stoked About How Cool It IS!!!!
Hey, would this be a bad time to talk about how Faith Based Military Policies may not be working quite as well as some folks would have hoped that they could have/should have worked????