Friday, January 05, 2007

Article: 3000 dead, but how many injured? I don't think I've ever written anything on here regarding the "war on terror", but I find this article to be a tad disturbing. It talks about the numbers of disabled veterans who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's funny how we pay so much attention to the death toll and no attention at all to those who have no limbs, certain vital organs, or the simple ability to sleep at night without seeing blood and monsters in their dreams. The article also mentions that the reason why the death toll was so much higher in vietnam was that the wounds were less survivable back then. Now, there are medical procedures and body armor. So, instead of 100 dead soldiers and marines, we simply have 100 legless ones who can't see and are unemployable.

One thing that I REALLY found disturbing was that people suffering from certain mental illnesses (including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) can now be sent back to the front line after they are clinically diagnosed.

Here are some excerpts....

"Advances in military technology are keeping the death rate much lower than during the Vietnam War and World War Two, Dr. Col. Vito Imbascini, an urologist and state surgeon with the California Army National Guard, told IPS, but soldiers who survive attacks are often severely disabled for life."

"Dr. Imbascini just returned from a four-month deployment to Germany, where he treated the worst of the U.S. war wounded. He said that an extremely high number of wounded soldiers are coming home with their arms or legs amputated. Imbascini said he amputated the genitals of one or two men every day."

"One is a Jul. 20, 2006, document titled "Compensation and Pension Benefit Activity Among Veterans of the Global War on Terrorism," which shows that 152,669 veterans filed disability claims after fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan. Of the more than 100,000 claims granted, Veterans Administration records show at least 1,502 veterans have been compensated as 100 percent disabled."

"New guidelines released by the Pentagon released last month allow commanders to redeploy soldiers suffering from traumatic stress disorders."
[null, {"document_url": "http://millersplace.blogspot.com/2007/01/article-3000-dead-but-how-many-injured.html", "unformatted_src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nDEgo0-Xluw/RZ7WfX1zdJI/AAAAAAAAALQ/AbHHJOu_O3w/s320/cat.jpg", "src": "http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nDEgo0-Xluw/RZ7WfX1zdJI/AAAAAAAAALQ/AbHHJOu_O3w/s320/cat.jpg", "formatted_filename": "cat"}, null]