Casualty Statistics Stunning

[Hissyspit]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/30327

Casualty Statistics Stunning

Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2008-01-22 16:38. Evidence
This week Veterans for Common Sense releases updated versions of our popular VA and DoD Fact Sheets. The statistics are very disturbing: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org

The Pentagon officially reported 72,043 battlefield casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan through Jan. 5, 2008 - PDF.

VA hospitals and clinics have already treated 263,909 unplanned patients from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - PDF. On top of that, VA reported 245,034 unanticipated disability claims from veterans of the two wars.

VCS issued warnings about this growing problem. On Veterans Day in 2007, VCS posted an editorial about how we believe VA and DoD mask the true costs of the two wars.

To assist you with making sense of the new Fact Sheets, a VCS analysis shows that between June 2007 and November 2007:

* The number of PTSD claims approved rose 80 percent (from 19,015 to 34,138), while the veteran population rose only 16 percent. The incidence of PTSD is dramatically rising, or VA is finally starting to take this problem more seriously, or both.

* 100 PTSD claims were approved every day. VA can expect tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands more PTSD claims from our new war veterans as more service members deploy to the war zone and then begin to return home.

* Veterans who served in the National Guard or Reserves were nearly three times as likely to have their VA disability compensation claim rejected (14% compared to 5%). VCS remains concerned about the apparent unequal treatment faced by our veterans who were ordered to active duty in the war zone from the National Guard and Reserves.

MORE

[spanone]

1. K&R

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. ??? Pent=72k__ VA=263k?

Casualty=All

:shrug:

[Win]

3. I don't understand why

us vets have to go to a VA hospital.

Why can't we just have a program and a card that lets us get treatment from our own Dr in our own town ... or wherever we want.

There are 2 great hospitals in my town and the VA hosp is 30 miles away in the next city.

And I don't like the VA hospital either.

As a Nam vet I especially don't like going to the VA when the Iraq vets need the services more than I.

[bvar22]

4. Why not MediCare for ALL Americans?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

8. Why not!

:shrug:

[Hydra]

5. "USA! USA!"

:sarcasm:

I wonder how many of those idiots know what we are doing to our own troops. Sickening.

[bvar22]

6. K&R for wider distribution.

Pentagon #s vs VA #s WTF?

VA says 1/4 MILLION casualties from Iraq/Afghanistan?

[Win]

7. Somewhere I heard

that if you add in deaths of troops evacuated to hospitals in Germany and elsewhere our troops have suffered over 15000 killed. Anyone know if that is true?

I will say this though. The VA is a lot busier and the waits are a lot longer than they were before the invasion.

[Hydra]

9. The VA is treating the live but damaged.

I'm surprised the number isn't higher, considering how little the DoD cares if they come home in one piece.

[fed-up]

10. please send this out to your local papers-we ARE the Media! nt

from the article

"Please share the critical information in your VCS Update with your friends, reporters, and elected officials so that they know the facts about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."

[malaise]

11. Remember they chose to join the military

Why do you hate America? Just get those yellow ribbons, place that 'support the troops bumper sticker on your vehicle' and head for the mall. :sarcasm:

[PDJane]

12. The number is almost impossible to determine,

In part because the statistics from the first Gulf War are still growing......and people are still dying, and children and women are still getting cancer from the exposures that their partners brought home.

Add to the exposures to chemicals, vaccines, DU and traumatic brain injuries from explosions the PTSD, and the number of folks who will suffer from this war goes up exponentially. This is an vicious war,even more insane than most, and you are killing and maiming your own people...along with the genocide of those who live in the area.

There is something wrong with this picture....and there has to be a more humane way of reducing the population of the planet to a sustainable level without making most of it uninhabitable.