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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Oct 31.
Published in final edited form as: Mil Med. 2016 Apr;181(4):334–342. doi: 10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00110

TABLE 2.

Percent of US Army enlisted personnel with positive drug test, postdeployment follow-up window (6 mo to 3 yr), by demographic and deployment characteristics and component, Substance Use and Psychological Injury Combat Study

Characteristica Test Results for Common Panel of Drugsb, 6 mo to 3 yr postdeployment
Active Duty Enlisted
(N=306,345)		 National Guard and Reserve Enlisted
(N=136,433)
n Positivec % Positivec n Positivec % Positivec
All enlisted 8,399 2.74 4,831 3.54
Demographic
Gender
 Male 7,972 2.89 4,499 3.68
 Female 427 1.41 332 2.32
Age (yr)
 17–24 6,280 4.12 3,131 6.16
 25–29 1,430 1.95 870 3.10
 30–39 613 0.91 528 1.58
 40+ 76 0.55 302 1.25
Race
 White 5,010 2.73 3,596 3.31
 Black 1,853 3.02 1,042 5.45
 Asian/Pacific Islander 1,363 2.97 95 2.18
 Other 173 1.12 98 2.28
Hispanic Ethnicity
 Yes 836 2.24 346 2.63
 No 7,563 2.81 4,485 3.64
Marital Status
 Never Married 4,633 3.99 3,223 5.57
 Married 3,551 2.03 1,388 2.04
 Divorced 187 1.27 211 2.10
Any child dependent receiving TRICARE benefits
 Yes 2,522 1.82 1,439 2.25
 No 5,877 3.50 3,392 4.68
Rank, pay grade
 Junior Enlisted (E1–E4) 7,702 4.02 4,328 5.85
 Senior Enlisted (E5–E9) 697 0.61 503 0.81
Education
 Less than high school 2,846 5.89 1,451 7.12
 High school 5,154 2.32 3,074 3.54
 Some college 284 1.36 236 1.16
 College degree 62 0.57 38 0.46
Occupation Type
 Combat Specialist 3,136 3.48 1,627 4.70
 Healthcare 311 1.73 177 2.45
 Functional Support, Service, Supply 2,034 2.46 1,472 2.94
 Mechanical, Electrical, & Engineering 1,557 2.53 744 3.20
 Other 1,361 2.51 811 3.83
Region of residence
 North 2,188 2.59 2,088 3.83
 South 2,745 2.92 1,683 3.98
 West (including Alaska) 2,690 2.85 958 2.77
 Outside US 755 2.34 92 1.88
Deployment
Fiscal year of beginning of index deployment
 FY2007 or earlier 2,363 3.37 713 3.39
 FY2008 2,270 2.92 1,234 4.09
 FY2009 2,407 2.70 1,876 3.83
 FY2010 1,293 2.04 847 2.86
 FY2011 66 1.13 161 2.38
Length of index deployment (months),
 1–11 2,945 2.65 4,432 3.60
 12 2,296 2.58 231 3.32
 >12 3,158 2.97 168 2.66
Any deployment prior to index
 Yes 1,796 1.35 719 1.54
 No 6,603 3.81 4,112 4.59
Dwell timed under 12 months (among those with prior deployment)
 Yes 244 1.65 79 2.55
 No 1,552 1.31 640 1.46
Assigned to Warrior Transition Unit since start of index deployment
 Yes 442 4.77 206 3.22
 No 7,957 2.68 4,625 3.56
a

Characteristic measured at beginning of FY2008–2011 deployment (index), unless indicated.

b

Common panel: metabolites of cocaine, heroin, marijuana (THC), amphetamine class, with confirmation of d-Amphetamine, d-Methamphetamine, and 2 designer (non-prescribed) amphetamines, MDMA (ecstasy) and MDA.

c

Number and percent testing positive for any common panel drug among those with the characteristic shown. Cells do not always sum to total due to suppression of categories < 30 cases or item non-response. All bivariate associations between each characteristic and testing positive were statistically significant (p<0.001; Chi-Square test for independence) except for assigned to Warrior Transition Unit among National Guard and Reserve.

d

Dwell time is the time between the end of the deployment immediately prior to the index deployment and the start of the index deployment.