Survey: Troops' mental health at risk

WASHINGTON, April 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Army officials are increasingly alarmed about potential mental health problems in soldiers deployed repeatedly to war zones, a survey found.

Citing an official Army survey of soldiers' mental health, The New York Times reported Saturday that more than 25 percent of combat troops sent to Iraq for a third or fourth time show signs of anxiety, depression or acute stress.

Military officers are expressing concern about the stress of long and multiple deployments to Iraq as the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, prepares to testify on Capitol Hill next week on the status of combat operations.

Petraeus reportedly will tell Congress he is not prepared to recommend reductions on troop levels beyond those already scheduled to occur between now and July. That would leave about 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

Citing Defense Department and military officials, the Times said the Joints Chiefs of Staff advised President George Bush last month they were concerned about stress on the troops.

More than 500,000 active-duty U.S. soldiers have been deployed to Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. Of those, almost 200,000 have deployed more than once and 53,000 have deployed three times or more, the Times said.