A growing number of parents are, by necessity, stepping back into the role of caregiver for their veteran son or daughter who has returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with debilitating and long term injuries.
An estimated 10,000 young veterans of these wars now depend on their parents for their care. Many parents have become warriors themselves fighting to make sure this new wave of injured veterans get the medical care and rehabilitation they need.
These recent veterans are coming home in unprecedented numbers with injuries that would have been fatal during earlier wars. This has become a war of disabilities, treatment of battlefield injuries has become amazing.
An injured soldier has a 96 percent change of survival. As a result, there is a much smaller percent of deaths as compare to deaths in Vietnam and World War II. The downside is that many of the injuries are so severe that they require extended and complicated care.
The Troops face a constant threat of the improvised explosive devices (IED's) which throw off pressure waves so intense that cause brain tissue swells that demand part of the skull to be removed to let the brain expand.
It is estimated that approximately 320,000 have suffered brain injuries of the one and a half million who have served so far.
In addition to the physical injuries, there are thousands of cases of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A a result, parents of these young veterans assist with physical and emotional therapy constantly.
Now, instead of many parents retiring, they have full time jobs as caregivers.