CADCA used the occasion of Veterans Day week to launch the VetCorps program, under which it will attempt by next year to have 100 individuals placed as AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA members in anti-drug coalitions in 28 states. These individuals will help coalition leaders in creating and implementing strategies to address critical service gaps for veterans.
CADCA this week highlighted data that it believes makes the case for why those who have recently served overseas need to be a significant target of substance use prevention and intervention efforts. For example, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Millennium Cohort Study found that in 2008, the alcohol abuse rate for National Guard Bureau members who had deployed was 22%.
“For National Guard and Reserve members, deployment stresses have an even greater impact due to disparities in available services,” CADCA wrote. These individuals do not have access to the full variety of medical services that the regular military can access.
CADCA’s partners in this effort are the National Guard Bureau’s Prevention, Treatment and Outreach Program and the Corporation for National and Community Service. For more information about becoming involved in VetCorps, contact Tanya A. Hills at (703) 706-0560, ext. 238, or thills@cadca.org.
