Stonewalled at Fort Bragg

Nov. 29, 2007— -- Editor's Note from Brian Ross: In the third year of a joint project with the nonprofit Carnegie Corporation, six leading graduate school journalism students were again selected to spend the summer working with the ABC News investigative unit.

This year's project involved an examination of whether, as happened in the wake of the Vietnam War, Iraqi war veterans were turning to drugs as a result of the trauma and pain of war.

The U.S. military maintains the percentage of soldiers abusing drugs is extremely small and has not increased as a result of Iraq.

The students' assignment was to get the unofficial side of the story from soldiers, young men of their own generation.

Today's report is the fourth in a series of five reports.

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Growing numbers of Fort Bragg soldiers are buying illegal drugs, often from crime-ridden neighborhoods located minutes off post, according to soldiers and security guards familiar with the drug scene.

But it's not something Army or civilian officials want to talk about. Base commanders, Army substance abuse counselors and the local police chief all refused repeated interview requests by ABC News to discuss potential drug abuse issues among Fort Bragg soldiers.

Soldiers, however, were much more forthcoming in a series of interviews conducted for our special project.

"There are a lot of spots within a five-mile radius of Fort Bragg where people can get drugs," said an active duty soldier who has served at Fort Bragg for 11 years and spoke on the condition his name not be used for fear he would be punished. "You can get anything you want: opium, hash, crack and cocaine," he said.

Fort Bragg, N.C., is home to the 82nd Airborne Division and U.S. Army Special Operations Command. In all, 48,000 soldiers are stationed there, making it one of the largest military installations in the country.

The base is also a major civilian employer in nearby Fayetteville. Ten thousand Fayetteville residents work at Fort Bragg, and more than two-thirds of Fort Bragg soldiers live off base in the Fayetteville area.