All the Wounded Soldiers

The official count of US soldiers wounded in Iraq now stands at 13,074. Approximately eight soldiers are wounded for every one killed, twice the rate for Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. The amputation rate for wounded soldiers is also twice that of any past conflict. One in four have serious head wounds caused by IEDs and car bombs.

These figures are from Ronald J. Glasser's briefing in July's Harper's Magazine titled "A War of Disabilties".

Glasser goes on to say that "Body armor protects a soldier's 'center mass', but the explosions shatter and shred arms and legs.....There has been an unprecedented incidence of facial and head injuries among survivors as well...IEDs...fire chunks of shrapnel and dirt up under military helmets.....soldiers walking away from blasts have later discovered that they suffer from memory loss, short attention spans, muddled reasoning, headaches, confusion, anxiety, depression, and irritability...most will experience some form of brain damage and significant disability from these TBIs (traumatic brain injury)....these injuries were said to be notorious for their delayed onset....the hidden economic costs of the war in Iraq will...be found in.....the long term care of thousands of severely and irrevocably damaged veterans....with what are...lifelong disabilities."

Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland is quoted as saying, "...the VA is simply underfunded. The budgetary constraints put into place by this administration's tax cuts have proved a disaster for the whole system. The VA can't handle what they have to do now; how are they going to handle the flood of physical and emotional casualties, many of whom will be the responsibility of the VA for the rest of their lives?"

Glasser closes with, "Ultimately, if the Bush Administration continues its refusal to accept the realities of this conflict, the most enduring images of the war in Iraq will be the sight of legless and addled beggars on our street corners holding cardboard signs that read: IRAQ VET. HUNGRY AND HOMELESS. PLEASE HELP."

We cannot allow this to be the final outcome for our brave soldiers wounded in this questionably motivated conflict!

Casualties in Iraq

Kevlar, chest armor, and quick times from injury to care have drastically cut the fatal injuries in this war compared to previous wars. If we were fighting this in the Vietnam era we'd have about 7,500 dead so far.

Chief weapon of the insurgency is IEDs. These blast effects are not unlike the effects on the brain of a pro boxer who's taken one too many hits.

Originally posted by Jeremiah_John
Kevlar, chest armor, and quick times from injury to care have drastically cut the fatal injuries in this war compared to previous wars. If we were fighting this in the Vietnam era we'd have about 7,500 dead so far.

Chief weapon of the insurgency is IEDs. These blast effects are not unlike the effects on the brain of a pro boxer who's taken one too many hits.

While this all may look good on paper, shouldn't we be looking at ways to minimize casualties instead of justifying them? Sure more people are surviving now, but without arms, legs and with severe head trauma. I would not want to be the boxer who took one too many hits to the head, it becomes a disability any way you cut it.

These men and women go to Iraq to fight for their country and come back missing limbs and being shuttled off the under-funded and (sometimes) sub-par care facilities from the VA. Is this really what they deserve?


Edit - It is also unfair to compare this to Vietnam because in Vietnam there were WAY more combatants and LESS of a distinguishing line between safe and hostile zones. Coupled with long distances between battles and ineffective and inefficient mobilization of the wounded deaths would of course be higher. If we fought the Vietnam war now, with the technology we do now, I assume we would still have just as many casualties...what all do you think has changed since then? Medical magic? Light speed helicopters?

[edit on 29-6-2005 by CaptainJailew]

Originally posted by Jeremiah_John
Kevlar, chest armor, and quick times from injury to care have drastically cut the fatal injuries in this war compared to previous wars. If we were fighting this in the Vietnam era we'd have about 7,500 dead so far.

Would you feel that way if you had to inform the relatives of those who were who killed? Would you feel that way if you had to discharge those under you who would be crippled and mentally disabled for the rest of their lives? How about if that 12 yr-old 28 yr-old in your living room drooling was your kid; or worse your spouse?

Still worth it to you?

Chief weapon of the insurgency is IEDs. These blast effects are not unlike the effects on the brain of a pro boxer who's taken one too many hits.

It is, if you've lost half the flesh on your face. At least Muhammed Ali is still supafly in the face.

I wonder what one of our disabled vets would say to this?

Let's get real.

US Military Amputeed, Wounded, Injured, Mentally Ill, all now out of Iraq, is over 42,000.

And your proof MA, for that, is what?

-wD

Official statistics covered very widely by the media.

Please do yourself the service of finding them and expanding your horizons, if you are at all interested. On another thread you said you don't care, so it's fair enough to apply that to you, no?

Somebody out there in power is listening, and cares about all those wounded soldiers.

Today on CSPAN2 @ 530 pm EDT the Senate was voting on the Santorum 2nd degree amendment to the Byrd/Murray amendment to the Interior Bill. The two amendments add a total of $1.5 billion to Veterans Healthcare Benefits. All I heard were ayes.

I know its less than 1% of the expenditure to date on the War in Iraq, and is no where near what is truly going to be needed, but it is a start in the right direction. It had better be just the beginning of the support our wounded vets receive.

Masked Avatar - I hesitated to quote the figures from the anti-war website I linked to in my original post to avoid negative backlash. Is 42,000 wounded really a hard figure? O M G, it makes a grown man want to cry.

Joe Biden for Prez in '08

[edit on 29-6-2005 by Icarus Rising]

Originally posted by Icarus Rising
Is 42,000 wounded really a hard figure? O M G, it makes a grown man want to cry.

I can't break out the "mentally ill" from this figure, but I imagine that it will be a substantial component. In any event mental illness as a result of military service is nothing to be glossed over.

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
I can't break out the "mentally ill" from this figure, but I imagine that it will be a substantial component. In any event mental illness as a result of military service is nothing to be glossed over.

I'd be willing to say that for every 1 death, 3 people are probably traumatised. For life.

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
Let's get real.

US Military Amputeed, Wounded, Injured, Mentally Ill, all now out of Iraq, is over 42,000.

Yes lets,
antiwar.com...
icasualties.org...

Until that estimate is moved into the official bracket, stop posting things as if they are fact.

[edit on 29-6-2005 by C0le]

Originally posted by C0le
Until that estimate is moved into the official bracket, stop posting things as if they are fact.

And who gets to say what is fact?

What source would satisfy you?

Originally posted by EastCoastKid

Originally posted by C0le
Until that estimate is moved into the official bracket, stop posting things as if they are fact.

And who gets to say what is fact?

Obviously, whats his face doesnt know as he didnt give any sources to his claims.

Hmmm.

The military's health budget was cut - and soldiers have trouble getting follow up medical care, never mind disability support.




Like the man said, the signs are predictable, "IRAQ VET. HOMELESS. PLEASE HELP."


.

There is this investigative reporter program on belgian national television called "Koppen" (Headlines) here. It was about the effects of all the DU used in Iraq so far and the effects its already having on both Coalition soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

Seeing the effects of all this DU and other waste spilled all over Iraq on such a short term, I'm thinking that by the time the current war is just a distant memory for the US people, the true scale of the medical problems for both soldiers and iraqi civilians will become clearer and absolutely massive.

Think about this for a sec:
Iraq's inhabitants
0-14 years: 40% (male 5,293,709/female 5,130,826)
15-64 years: 57% (male 7,530,619/female 7,338,109)
65 years and over: 3% (male 367,832/female 413,811)

The reports on civilian FATAL casualties in a nation of 23 million is staggering, the equivalent in percentage terms of 460,000 civilian deaths if such havoc were wrought in the US.

And thats only fatal casualties, lord knows what the full count is on civilian casualties including everything from bruns to mental disorders caused by the war. And definatly don't forget the long term effects the DU will have on the population, causing early deaths, death at child birth, deformations of all kinds and so on.

Originally posted by C0le
Obviously, whats his face doesnt know as he didnt give any sources to his claims.

If you're speaking of Masked Avatar or Icarus Rising, you'd do well to remember their names.

I refused to return to Saudi Arabia after I got out of the Army. I could have. I could have made out like a bandit and lived like a pimp for a nice long time. That is, until the cancer or neurelogical disorders set in. It sounded sweet. But I valued my long-term quality of life more than that fast buck. I don't regret it, either.

Originally posted by CaptainJailew

Originally posted by Jeremiah_John
Kevlar, chest armor, and quick times from injury to care have drastically cut the fatal injuries in this war compared to previous wars. If we were fighting this in the Vietnam era we'd have about 7,500 dead so far.

Chief weapon of the insurgency is IEDs. These blast effects are not unlike the effects on the brain of a pro boxer who's taken one too many hits.

While this all may look good on paper, shouldn't we be looking at ways to minimize casualties instead of justifying them? Sure more people are surviving now, but without arms, legs and with severe head trauma. I would not want to be the boxer who took one too many hits to the head, it becomes a disability any way you cut it.

I'm explaining the situation, not defending it. Take a chill.

This is the kind of project that is really going to make a difference, not just in the lives of all our brave wounded heroes, but in the lives of all veterans in need.

TOM STUCKEY

Associated Press


ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Missing two legs he lost in the Iraq war, Heath Calhoun is nearing the end of a 4,200-mile cross-county journey by hand-propelled bicycle. His goal: to remind Americans the war is not over and that wounded soldiers are returning home with their lives changed forever.

"More than anything, we just want people to know that their troops are coming back and they need your support, whether you support the war or not," Calhoun said as he and a band of fellow Iraq veterans arrived in Annapolis Monday.

The former soldiers are raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a private organization that provides services to help those who were seriously wounded in the war.

Calhoun, 24, is one of three people - along with Ryan Kelly and Chris Carney - who have made the entire Soldier Ride National Tour, which began May 21 in Marina Del Rey, Calif., and is scheduled to end July 19 in Montauk, N.Y. Other veterans have joined for one or more stages along the way.

I get choked up thinking of what these brave heroes have endured, and the fact that it has only strengthened their resolve to press on and reach out. People like this are what the U.S.A. is all about!

Wounded troops raise money for veterans

Wounded Warrior Project

Sorry folks,

The first link in my last post now redirects to a registration page, no bueno para mi.

I dug a little deeper and found another -

Wounded Warriors

This one should be ok.