Contract workers, 'veterans in all but name,' suffer same injuries and come mainly from rural areas

Injuries from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are altering the lives of contract workers as well as soldiers, and the contract workers seem to come disproprtionately from rural areas, as soldiers do. "Contract workers from the U.S. have been mostly men, primarily middle-aged, many of them military veterans drawn by money, patriotism or both, according to interviews and public records," T. Christian Miller of ProPublica writes for The Los Angeles Times. "They are police officers, truck drivers, firefighters, mechanics and craftsmen, mostly from rural corners of America, especially the South."

But contract workers don't qualify for the same medical care as injured military personnel. Troops are guaranteed treatment at Veterans Administration facilities, but contract workers only qualify for worker's compensation insurance paid by the federal government under the Defense Base Act, Miller reports. "These guys are like the Vietnam vets of this generation," Lee Frederiksen, a psychologist who worked for Mission Critical Psychological Services, a Chicago-based firm that provides counseling for war zone workers, tells Miller. "The normal support that you would get if you were injured in the line of duty as a police officer or if you were injured in the military . . . just doesn't exist." That puts more pressure on health services in rural areas.

Nearly 1,600 civilian workers, whom Miller calls "military veterans in all but name," have died in Iraq and Afghanistan with thousands more injured. Reggie Lane, a contract worker from Central Point, Ore., was injured in Iraq when insurgents attacked his fuel truck with rocket-propelled grenades. His mental state has gradually deteriorated since he returned home, leaving him unable to speak, and American International Group Inc. estimates his care will cost as much as $8.9 million for the rest of his life, for which the federal government will reimburse his employer.

Herbert J. Lanese, former chief executive of DynCorp International, one of the largest employers of civilian workers in Iraq and Afghanistan, tells Miller: "These are people who have given their lives in the service of our country. They are the unappreciated patriots of our country at this point in time." (Read more)