Study of Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Health

Week of June 29, 2009

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initiated a large, long-term study to look carefully at a broad array of health issues that may affect Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans and their counterparts who served during the same time period. VA's "National Health Study for a New Generation of U.S. Veterans" will begin with 30,000 Veterans deployed to OEF/OIF and 30,000 comparison veterans who were not deployed. The study will include veterans who served in each branch of service. A combination of mail surveys, online surveys, telephone interviews, and in-person physical evaluations will be used to collect data from the veterans.