You Might Not Know It, But We Got Us A War Going On
by James Glaser
April 26, 2011

I have to be honest starting out here, I don't know how many of our troops have been wounded so far this month, as the Pentagon will not release that number for many months. Also, I don't know how many have suffered traumatic brain injuries, for the same reason, and only time will tell how many of our current combat troops will suffer from PTSD. So far, with these Wars on Terrorists, we have had over 100,000 troops needing help with their Post Traumatic Stress.

One number I do know, and that is in the first 24 days of this month, 37 American troops have been killed. With that many battle deaths, it is safe to assume that hundreds have been wounded.

In the ten years since 9/11 we have lost 5,999 American troops and 43,484 have been wounded. Add to that the hundreds of thousands of vets returning with Traumatic Brain Injuries and over 100,000 with PTSD. Here is how LaVan and Neidenberg, two lawyers who help disabled vets explain the number with PTSD.

December 9, 2010—The amount of veterans who returned, and are still returning, from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental conditions is shocking. It is not a stretch to say these numbers took many people by surprise. These numbers do not even include those veterans who do not report to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that they have mental health issues. The number of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is only going to continue to rise.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) can compound the effects of PTSD in veterans, especially the inability to focus and concentrate. Screening veterans for PTSD is standard practice when they visit VA medical centers because many veterans may not realize they are suffering from the disorder. The numbers are reflective of what is going on with veterans. In 2008, the VA treated 134,000 veterans for PTSD, and that number jumped to 143,530 in 2009.

Here is the number USA Today put on brain injuries back in 2009:

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Pentagon officials estimated for the first time Wednesday that up to 360,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may have suffered brain injuries. Among them are 45,000 to 90,000 veterans whose symptoms persist and warrant specialized care.

Just to save you the time, all of those numbers add up to 553,013 American troops killed or wounded in the Bush/Obama Wars. Over a half million Americans. Of course, we will have to add to those numbers the men and women who hurt themselves in some other way or got some disease we haven't been told about. Remember Agent Orange from Vietnam or Gulf War Illness from the first Gulf War? We didn't learn about these two until years after those wars were over.

Yep, we have us a real war going on. There are battles and ambushes we never even hear about, and our troops are dying, being wounded, and suffering for the rest of their lives.

Back here at home we are worried about this fall's football season, a wedding in England, who will win Americas Got Talent, or who will be running against Barack Obama in the next election.

We don't even care enough about these troop losses and injuries to report them on a daily basis or even give out monthly or yearly totals. When it comes to those numbers and those lives, Washington has decided that out of sight—out of mind is the best thing they can do to keep the War Profits flowing to the people who give them the money with which they can endlessly campaign.

Post Script:

The numbers I have given you for PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries are from 2009 and are the latest I could find. Tens of thousands of more troops have suffered those injuries in the last two years.

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