U.S. troops in Afghanistan suffer more catastrophic injuries

[unhappycamper]

Marine 1st Lt. James Byler, 25, of Long Island, New York, was leading a patrol in Afghanistan late last year when an explosion severed his legs and snapped off the ends of several fingers. He is undergoing physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.


U.S. troops in Afghanistan suffer more catastrophic injuries
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times

April 6, 2011, 4:11 p.m.
Reporting from Landstuhl, Germany, and Helmand—
Grim combat statistics that one military doctor called "unbelievable" show U.S. troops in Afghanistan suffered an unprecedented number of catastrophic injuries last year, including a tripling of amputations of more than one limb.

A study by doctors at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where most wounded troops are sent before returning to the U.S., confirmed their fears: The battlefield has become increasingly brutal.

In 2009, 75 service members brought to Landstuhl had limbs amputated. Of those, 21 had lost more than one limb.

But in 2010, 171, 11% of all the casualties brought to Landstuhl, had undergone amputations, a much higher proportion than in past wars. Of the 171, 65 had lost more than one limb.

Injuries to the genital area were also on the increase. In 2009, 52 casualties were brought to Landstuhl with battlefield injuries to their genitals or urinary tract. In 2010, that number was 142.



unhappycamper comment: Keep in mind we are talking about Americans who have had their lives changed forever in the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan. And not in a good way.

[Solly Mack]

1. k/r

[barbtries]

2. and still it goes on

it just doesn't make sense to me :cry: