The Department of Defense's largest longitudinal study in military history received an endorsement from the Army's surgeon general Sept. 19, emphasizing the importance of the Navy-led study across the military services.

Study findings indicate that there is insufficient data to conclude that dust and pollution in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly from the burn pits used by the military to incinerate garbage, could cause long-term health problems in troops.

DoD medical researchers have found that service members who suffered multiple combat exposures during a deployment, and especially those who had witnessed death as a result of war, were much more likely to report hypertension (chronic high blood pressure) compared to those who had not seen combat.

Despite being held to stringent weight and body fat standards, newly published research shows that one in five individuals from a sample of U.S. military personnel from 2001 - 2008 have obesity. Further, shortly after separating from active duty, U.S. military veterans are as likely to have obesity as civilians. Data from the research also showed an association between military personnel who have obesity - including both active duty and veterans - and mental health conditions like depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The research led by Toni Rush, MPH, is published in the July issue of Obesity, the scientific journal of The Obesity Society.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2008 - Defense Department officials are assessing ways to better prepare servicemembers, particularly members of the reserve and National Guard, for the stresses of combat so they're better able to avoid alcohol-related problems when they return home, defense officials said today ...

The Department of Defense's ongoing Millennium Cohort Study of 150,000 members of the military and veterans has helped researchers learn important new information about many deployment health-related concerns, according to the leader of the study.

According to the Millennium Cohort Study soldiers who are deployed and exposed to combat, "are at increased risk of new-onset heavy weekly drinking, binge drinking, and other alcohol-related problems."

A growing number of experts insist that the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder is itself disordered and that soldiers are suffering as a result...

New research shows nearly a quarter of vets suffer from the ringing in the ears.

A study of more than 250,000 service members begun in 2001 released some preliminary findings on Friday, to celebrate the effort’s 20th anniversary.