Been thinking about the costs of war. The numbers are just one part of the story, but here they are: US dead, Iraq, 4,493; Afghanistan, 2,356. Wounded (by official Pentagon sources, generally considered a low number), Iraq, 32,000; Afghanistan, about 19,000. But there have already been 970,000 disability claims filed by veterans of these two conflicts. Some injuries show up later, such as PTSD and traumatic brain injuries and exposure to toxic chemicals. And, recently, among veterans of these conflicts, about 18 suicides per day, over three times the rate of civilian suicides. Some 1,550 of the Iraqi injuries involve the amputation of a limb. You might see slightly different numbers on various sites due to counting methodology (some injured died in hospitals in Germany, for example). This is, of course, not even considering the civilian casualties, or US contractors. By comparison the First Gulf War (Kuwait) involved less than 300 US deaths and less than 1,200 (official) injuries. Total deployment, all services, Iraq and Afghanistan, about 2.5 million, with about a third experiencing more than one deployment. Interestingly, the total deployment for Vietnam was 2.7 million, with, of course, significantly higher casualties, including 58,000 deaths and some 300,000 (official) injuries.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 16:51:06 +0000
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