by James Glaser
October 31, 2005

It seems like just a few days ago we passed the 2,000 number in American troop deaths in Iraq. On Sunday that number was already up to 2,014. Truth be told, we passed that number months ago, if you add all the American Mercenaries in our Government's employ who have died, and earlier still if you add the American civilian contractors who have died making that "big" money in Iraq working for Uncle Sam.

We as a country still are fixed on counting the number of troops killed as some sort of a bench mark for how many have suffered in Bush's war, but there is another number that means even more, and that is the number of our troops who have been wounded.

We have awarded over 17,000 Purple Hearts. 2,014 for those who have died, and over 15,000 for those wounded.

You would never know it from what the American media reports, but we are giving out about 18 Purple Hearts every day for wounds suffered in Iraq. Again, more Americans are getting wounded every day in Iraq, but the medals are saved for those who serve in our Armed Forces. Those civilian mercenaries and contractors end up with a big check if they are wounded. Veteran's disability pay is very limited. You give almost your all and get a 100% rating, and we are talking about $2,000.00 a month. Enough to exist on, but you will never live well on that.

Yes, some of those Purple Hearts are given out for flesh wounds that only need a stitch or two, but remember, on the other end of that line are those who have died or given two or three limbs. In-between those extremes, we have those who have lost only one limb, their sight, their hearing, a few fingers or toes, the strength in their back, or how about their good looks. After every war there are many veterans with horrible facial scars. Yes, some guys lose their nose or chin, some end up with a misshapened head.

We haven't even talked about those who lose parts of their brain to shrapnel or lose their penis or breast. Yes the wounds suffered by our troops are horrible, and we as a nation don't want hear about them, but we should, because we are asking our troops to suffer their depilating wounds by sending them into combat. We should all know what we are asking of them.

There is another class of soldier that we don't even count; those who suffer mental breakdowns from their time in combat or those who come home in one piece, only to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress. Even though these thousands of troops will suffer for life, they don't get a Purple Heart awarded to them, nor are they even counted as wounded.

We won't know for maybe decades to come how many Soldiers and Marines, Navy Corpsman, or Air Force pilots will need life long help for what happens in every war, especially in a war like Iraq, with its urban combat.

The President keeps asking our troops to give him more, so that he can some day claim a victory in Iraq. Right now many troops are on their third tour, and soon many will be asked to go on their forth. Every tour brings a man closer to the edge, and the chance of getting wounded increases with every escalation of the amount of stress you are put under.

We ask so much from our troops, but we hide from ourselves, what we are asking of them. We can't seem to allow Americans to see photographs or video of our troop's dead or wounded bodies on the battle field, and we know it is illegal to show their flag draped coffins as they return home. We only see our wounded after they are all cleaned up and have started rehab. Those who will never get better, are hidden from our view forever.

There is a horrible price to pay for starting a war, and America doesn't have any idea of what that price is.