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Pentagon statistics measure about 32,000 members of the military as having suffered brain damage in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, stated ABC's Bob Woodruff (no link), as he covered a report from the RAND Corporation that finds that number to be wrong by a factor of ten. RAND counts 320,000 with brain injury and 300,000 with mental illness, mostly psychological depression or shell shock, known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Woodruff stated that number as a proportion: nearly one of five of those who went to war returned with PTSD. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski cited the RAND estimate that "only half" of those who need psychiatric treatment "actually seek it."
On CBS, Kimberly Dozier brought us the personal profile of Jonathan Norrell, a 22-year-old combat medic, to illustrate the statistics, After a year's duty in Iraq his PTSD symptoms included "anxiety, sleeplessness and flashbacks." His doctors recommended discharge. His army commanders refused. Norrell "turned to drugs and alcohol." The army, in response, "threatened to expel him without medical benefits." After months, Norrell's case was resolved and he is now under psychiatric care at Fort Hood. His story, Dozier reflected, "reveals the showdown between the new school and the old school view on how to handle PTSD."
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