Number of badly wounded soldiers on rise in Iraq

[Barrett808]

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Military medical advances are keeping more soldiers alive in the Iraq War but also creating a growing pool of badly wounded veterans who will need expensive, long-term medical care, the U.S. secretary of Veteran Affairs said on Friday.

"We have cut fatalities a great deal and as a result of that we have people who are now seriously wounded who in previous wars would have been dead," Secretary Jim Nicholson in a visit with wounded soldiers at San Antonio's Brooke Army Medical Center.

"We need to provide and continue to provide these people with world class health care and we need to be there when they need it in the future."

More than 2,000 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq and nearly 9,000 have been wounded, according to the Pentagon.

Nicholson also said post-traumatic stress disorder is becoming increasingly common for returning Iraq veterans, but they are in good hands because the Department of Veterans Affairs "is the world's leading expert on PTSD."

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060107/us_nm/iraq_veterans_dc

[Bonobo]

1. 9,000 wounded is a fucking lie. Triple that at least.

[Posteritatis]

8. It might count multiply-injured soldiers as one WIA? (n/t)

[IndianaGreen]

2. 15, 955 wounded as of 3-Dec-05

Source:

http://icasualties.org/oif/

Here is the story of one of the wounded, badly burned when his Humvee struck an IED:

Bush presents the Purple Heart to a true American Hero on New Years Day

http://www.progressiveindependent.com/shalom/Jerry/Jerry.html

[0007]

3. I hope no wounded soldier ever has to come to the VA Hospital

in Big Springs Texas.

I have a lot to say, but I'm afraid Agent Mike is on the errrrrri.

[rodeodance]

4. I wonder what the Pent counts as wounded!

More than 2,000 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq and nearly 9,000 have been wounded, according to the Pentagon.

[IndianaGreen]

5. The wounded "count" does not include those wounded psychologically

which, according to some estimates, are about 20-30% of all that served in Iraq.

[William Bloode]

6. Because of this>

"Military medical advances are keeping more soldiers alive in the Iraq "

Is the only reason we don't have as many dead soldiers as the insurgents. We have a wonderful system with medics right there if you get shot. Not to mention body armour. Couple these together and thats why insurgent bullets seldom kill. It almost takes a head shot to kill a U.S. soldier.

They say that ied's are the primary killer, and thats true. As it is kinda hard to revive, or save some one who is in several pieces. But the administration and the propaganda machine basically use these little tidbits as proof that the insurgents are not very effective.

If not for our military medics and others innovations on the spot, our death toll would be more along the lines of 10-12,000 i would say.

[hadrons]

7. mind you, these aren't those clean wounds in John Wayne film ...

pretty horrible stuff getting wounded in a hot zone ... in addition, this is what the resistence fighters really want; they kill a guy and they just put them in a "transport tube" and that's that, wound someone and you tied up 5 soldiers to help him/her and the cost and resources of caring for them