The article, “A Growing Number of Veterans Struggle to Quit Painkillers”, written by Quil Lawrence focuses on Bryan McDonel, a man who has served in the military. He is among many of the troop members and veterans who struggle with drug addiction. Drug addiction in the military occurs because doctors often prescribe opiates as a reliever of pain, thanks to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is said that troop members are prescribed with these medications three times more than regular civilians, which also leads to a higher addiction rate. Often, when members of the army have any sort of physical problems, the doctor’s main solution is prescription medication. According to the Veterans Affair, drug addiction is also the leading cause of veterans becoming homeless.

Bryan McDonel is an example of someone who has experienced being homeless due to drug addiction; however, it didn’t start off as an addiction. During his second visit to Iraq, McDonel suffered a back injury. Before he even healed, he went back to working, being classified as “fit to deploy.” “I was hard-headed. I ended up probably reinjuring it before it had time to heal,” he explains. McDonel took many pills a day for the pain and stayed on them even after going home, eventually making him dependent on them. His dependency caused him to fail a routine drug test, which led him to resign his military position, and eventually got kicked out of his home due to stealing money for drugs. From then on, he officially became an addict. Brian McDonel is the epitome of what some troop members goes through, and the Veterans Affair is trying to change their approach to pain because of it. It might be too late for McDonel, but the Veterans Affair is using alternative methods, which can hopefully decrease the use of opiates within the military scene.