Data: Only 19 percent of medical evacuations in Mideast battle-related

[unhappycamper]

U.S. soldiers carry a comrade to a UH-60 Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopter after he was injured by an improvised explosive device in Fair al Jair, Iraq, on Dec. 16, 2007. A recently-completed study by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center found for battle-related injures were responsible for 19 percent of all medical evacuations in Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001.



Data: Only 19 percent of medical evacuations in Mideast battle-related
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, March 17, 2010

TOKYO — Only one out of five medical evacuations of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan in the past eight years were diagnosed as battle-related injuries, according to a new analysis by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center.

During the same time, evacuations for mental disorders rose drastically, from 61 instances in 2002 to 1,014 in 2008, the last full year analyzed.

The majority of the medical evacuations from Iraq and Afghanistan occurred because of injuries classified as happening outside the battlefield, including back and knee problems, mental disorders, and other physical problems such as digestive, respiratory or urinary symptoms, according to the report.

The analysis was the first of its kind to look comprehensively at all 52,283 medical evacuations from October 2001 to September 2009, according to Army Col. Robert DeFraites, a preventive medicine doctor who directs the center.

The findings — including the low ratio of battle-related injuries and the sharp increase in mental disorder-related evacuations — were not surprising, DeFraites said during a phone interview Monday.


Rest of article at:http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68719

[hack89]

1. Auto accidents have always been a big killer in war

especially when you consider the ratio of support troops to combat troops. Imagine a bunch of 20 year olds driving like madmen.

Another big factor is that the full integration of the Reserves and National Guard means that there are old troops in the combat zone - it is a lot tougher on them physically.

[Major Hogwash]

2. Too many tours, too long in a combat zone, not enough help

Bush's legacy.

A whole generation used like lab rats by the neocons.