Another Rand Corp study that finds the obvious

| June 25, 2022

The geniuses at the perpetually well-funded Rand Corporation have another intense study that could only be topped by a field grade officer in the name of Captain Obvious. It seems that the Army and Marines have higher amounts of substance abuse and mental health issues. As if living in the mud and being treated like mindless cattle isn’t a hallmark of the grunt services.

From Military Times;

Marine Corps, Army have disproportionate amounts of military substance abuse, mental health issues

Substance abuse and mental health challenges are disproportionately common in the Marine Corps and Army when compared to the other military services, according to a Rand study published Tuesday.

And the reason may have more to do with culture than the individual troops themselves.

Researchers compared the services using 2015 Defense Department survey data from nearly 17,000 active-duty troops.

Marines self-reported the highest instance of binge drinking, alcohol dependance and nicotine use, as well as the highest rates of depression and anxiety. The study found that the Army had the highest rates of prescription drug abuse and post-traumatic stress order, while the Air Force and Coast Guard reported the lowest prevalences.

“After adjustment, service members in the Army, Marine Corps and Navy exhibited nearly two-to-three times the odds of multiple mental health conditions and substance use behaviors relative to the Air Force,” according to the study results, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

The question is why, and it’s something that the study isn’t able to answer.

Even when comparing demographics across the services, as well as multiple, specific, traumatic experiences in combat zones, substance abuse and mental health issues were disproportionately prevalent in the Army and Marine Corps.

Substance abuse and mental health challenges are disproportionately common in the Marine Corps and Army when compared to the other military services, according to a Rand study published Tuesday.

And the reason may have more to do with culture than the individual troops themselves.

Researchers compared the services using 2015 Defense Department survey data from nearly 17,000 active-duty troops.

Marines self-reported the highest instance of binge drinking, alcohol dependance and nicotine use, as well as the highest rates of depression and anxiety. The study found that the Army had the highest rates of prescription drug abuse and post-traumatic stress order, while the Air Force and Coast Guard reported the lowest prevalences.

“After adjustment, service members in the Army, Marine Corps and Navy exhibited nearly two-to-three times the odds of multiple mental health conditions and substance use behaviors relative to the Air Force,” according to the study results, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

The question is why, and it’s something that the study isn’t able to answer.

Even when comparing demographics across the services, as well as multiple, specific, traumatic experiences in combat zones, substance abuse and mental health issues were disproportionately prevalent in the Army and Marine Corps.

“PTSD has been found to be more prevalent among service members in the Army and the Marine Corps compared to other service branches,” according to the report. “Analyses of the Military Health System Data from 2005 to 2016 indicate that prevalences of both depression and anxiety disorders have risen since 2005 and is disproportionately high among Army service members, relative to other branches.”

Service culture may have an effect, not only because of stigma regarding mental health treatment, but because drinking to excess is so common.

“Other contributing factors may include variation in military culture and attitudes regarding substance use as well as stigma and barriers relating to behavioral health treatment seeking,” according to the study. “Culture and attitudes, particularly towards alcohol and tobacco use, have been found to vary across service branches, with prior work suggesting that the Marine Corps, in particular, has more permissive norms regarding alcohol and tobacco use.”

Shocker. You all make fun of us Zoomies by starting the build of any new base with one of our signature golf courses. MWR is a way of life in the Air Force. 😀

Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Army, Marines

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President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Grunts:
Live hard, play hard.

26Limabeans

I think I’ll just stay here and drink.

https://youtu.be/CYXOliWGLMQ

Anonymous

Army and Marines get a lot of it:
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USAFRetired

Did they check to see if there were amy differences in the Marines between those in the FMF Divisions and Air Wings?

Just An Old Dog

That’s a Valid Question. There are totally different cultures in the Air Wing, support elements , base permanent personnel and Ground Combat Elements.

Anonymous

Don’t forget crew rest…

KoB

True Warriors are gonna be depressed when they see perfectly good Artillery Impact and Rifle Ranges turned into golf courses. Expect any different?

Mike B

My son who was a Marine (Trained as Legal), did everything but that. In fact he did a ton of Funeral Honors while pulling I&I Duty…

Most if not all of his fellow “Desk Marines”, to include my son, were binge drinkers. When he punched from the Corps and went to college full time, him and his family stayed with us. Got so bad, I had to make the house dry.

Within the last 3 years, he has quit drinking….and he just received his Masters last week. I don’t know of it’s the culture in the Corps or what, but it doesn’t seem limited to Combat MOS’s in my opinion.

Anonymous

Military drinking: Not a problem if not done driving– safety brief said so. 🙁
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Last edited 1 year ago by Anonymous
Roh-Dog

Had to study this waaaaayyyyy to hard to see if it was me.

26Limabeans

Appears to to be strapped in. Safety first.

A Proud Infidel®™

Where the hell is his PT Belt? Nearly every 1SG and CSM says that will save you every time!

The Stranger

Don’t forget the APEL-approved eye pro and those useless 3M ear plugs!

The Stranger

Give him a couple of Rip-Its and he’ll be fine!🤣

Anonymous

A Proud Infidel®™

In many Combat Arms Units, the saying is “I DON’T have a drinking problem. I drink, I get drunk, I fall down, no problem!”

Anonymous

Concur.

Roh-Dog

Being Awesome As F K always comes at a cost.
Hoisting a breakfast beer to my Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children Brothers!
Just because y’all know 10 words, half of ’em swears, doesn’t mean this Solider loves you any less!

Roh-Dog

Roh-Dog’s List of Excuses, Typo Edition:
1) I’m hungover
2) I’ve been drinking
3) I don’t have my glasses, which I don’t need anyway
4) Ottocarrot is a beach
5) ‘Soldier’ is a hard word to speel for Infuntreemens
6) F ck you, I DO WHAT I WANT!

In sum, shit happened.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

One of my BT3 shipmates aboard the OKIE 3 mentioned to me a number of years ago that when the Marine BLT came aboard after an Op in Viet-Nam, some of the men threw bricks of Mary Jane into the life raft baskets at the flight decks edge after getting out of the chopper and would pick them up later to smoke.

26Limabeans

I forget what it was called but there was a amphetamine like
drug that came in a small brown bottle available anywhere
in Viet of the Nam. God knows what else was in it.

timactual

When I was new to the tropical paradise that was RVN we were once overrun by the usual crowd of indigenous folk peddling their wares. One kid approached me with a plastic bag with about ten non-filter cigarettes, shoving it in my face and asking me “You want cigarette dinky-dau?”. I politely declined, showing him that I already had a pack of Camels. For some reason my companions began laughing at me. When I asked what they were laughing at they informed me that a “cigarette dinky-dau” was a marijuana cigarette. Live and learn.

From what I saw, drugs were easier to get than beer or liquor.

rgr769

Here is an instructive Viet of the Nam anecdote re knowing the provenance of what you are smoking. My XO ran out of smokes while he was in the company orderly room alone, late one night. He saw a pack of his brand on the company clerk’s desk. It had one filter cigarette left in the pack. He smoked it. But it had been laced with China White heroin. Luckily someone wandered in, saw he was in distress, and got him to the medic shop before he OD’d.

Apparently, the enterprising Vietnamese were slitting open American cigarettes and inserting the drug with the tobacco and then resealing them, then selling them to druggy GI’s. I had the satisfaction of filing charges on that company clerk, who was also a thief. I nailed him for the vial of heroine I found in his barracks space when we searched it, as well. I bid him adieu in the stockade in Da Nang.

The Stranger

Similar situation in Afghanistan. We were told not to purchase tobacco products outside of the PX because even the stuff sold in the bazaar on post in Kandahar would be found to be laced with various and sundry drugs.

The Stranger

Hell, that shit grows by the side of the road in Indiana. Probably better quality over there, though. The local “ditch weed” over here is left over from WWII era hemp farms.