Report: A Million Veterans Injured In Iraq, Afghanistan Wars
Monday November 4, 2013
The International Business Times reported Friday that the Department of Veterans Affairs had stopped releasing the number of non-fatal casualties of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, thus concealing what the paper called a “grim milestone” of 1 million injuries.
All that can be said with any certainty is that as of last December more than 900,000 service men and women had been treated at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics since returning from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the monthly rate of new patients to these facilities as of the end of 2012 was around 10,000. Beyond that, the picture gets murky. In March, VA abruptly stopped releasing statistics on non-fatal war casualties to the public. However, experts say that there is no reason to suspect the monthly rate of new patients has changed…
VA stopped preparing and releasing these reports on health care use and disability claims involving the 2.6 million U.S. service members who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan without warning, claiming unspecified “security” reasons.
After the story was published, the International Business Times reported that VA announced it would release updated figures in November.
Related Story: Author David Finkel On What Happens After War
Traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to my own reporting, account many non-fatal casualties treated by VA. Nearly 270,000 brain injuries have been diagnosed by the Defense Department since 2001, most of them were likely sustained in Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s estimated that 1 in 5 veterans of those conflicts have PTSD, a number that reached 300,000 several years ago and is probably much higher now.
The 1 million mark, though bleak, does not necessarily reflect a drastic increase in the number of catastrophic injuries. Earlier this year, I reported that of the more than 50,000 service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan who are considered polytrauma patients, 1,600 have moderate to severe brain injuries, 1,400 are amputees, and 900 were severely burned. Since then, about 200 service members have lost limbs in a combat zone.
Related Story: How The Military Helps Amputees Walk Again
As the International Business Times points out, releasing the number of wartime injuries is not only essential to government transparency, but also to determining funding levels and influencing decisions about treatment and research.
Read the full story here.
Report: A Million Veterans Injured In Iraq, Afghanistan Wars
Monday November 4, 2013
The International Business Times reported Friday that the Department of Veterans Affairs had stopped releasing the number of non-fatal casualties of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, thus concealing what the paper called a “grim milestone” of 1 million injuries.
All that can be said with any certainty is that as of last December more than 900,000 service men and women had been treated at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics since returning from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the monthly rate of new patients to these facilities as of the end of 2012 was around 10,000. Beyond that, the picture gets murky. In March, VA abruptly stopped releasing statistics on non-fatal war casualties to the public. However, experts say that there is no reason to suspect the monthly rate of new patients has changed…
VA stopped preparing and releasing these reports on health care use and disability claims involving the 2.6 million U.S. service members who have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan without warning, claiming unspecified “security” reasons.
After the story was published, the International Business Times reported that VA announced it would release updated figures in November.
Related Story: Author David Finkel On What Happens After War
Traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to my own reporting, account many non-fatal casualties treated by VA. Nearly 270,000 brain injuries have been diagnosed by the Defense Department since 2001, most of them were likely sustained in Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s estimated that 1 in 5 veterans of those conflicts have PTSD, a number that reached 300,000 several years ago and is probably much higher now.
The 1 million mark, though bleak, does not necessarily reflect a drastic increase in the number of catastrophic injuries. Earlier this year, I reported that of the more than 50,000 service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan who are considered polytrauma patients, 1,600 have moderate to severe brain injuries, 1,400 are amputees, and 900 were severely burned. Since then, about 200 service members have lost limbs in a combat zone.
Related Story: How The Military Helps Amputees Walk Again
As the International Business Times points out, releasing the number of wartime injuries is not only essential to government transparency, but also to determining funding levels and influencing decisions about treatment and research.
Read the full story here.
Report: A Million Veterans Injured In Iraq, Afghanistan Wars
