Real Clear Numbers: 101,000 U.S. Casualties a Year

www.worldagenda.net · #1 (**permalink**) 05-17-2008, 05:18 AM

Very interesting article. On the same issue I would suggest people see the documentary The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends about US soldiers who come home with severe injuries from Iraq and attempt to deal with them. I personally think these figures are inflated but they do give some food for thought.

Quote:

A friend of mine who’s a librarian was recently reviewing job applicants. Asked his qualifications in library skills, one man put “machine-gunner.” He was a vet who’d served in Falluja. The library is in a state school here in the US that, last fall, had 650 such vets enrolled. The young man got the job but soon became irked by what he saw as the trivial preoccupations of his colleagues. He applied for a job at a nearby police department. All over the country police departments are advertising for Iraq vets. Three-quarters of the way through the hiring process, the PD signaled to him that things looked good. Then, in rapid succession, three Iraq vets in the area were involved in lethal episodes: two murders and one suicide. The PD immediately called the young man in for a second psychological evaluation, then nixed him for the job. He’s 24. He can’t find anything satisfying to do and is thinking of re-enlisting. He’s against the war.

Those violent episodes are just part of bringing the war home. It’ll be active on the home front for years to come. Just under one in three—31 percent—of those who’ve been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from a brain injury or stress disorder or a mix of both these conditions.

On April 17 the RAND Corporation released a study of service members and veterans back home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The 500-page study was titled Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery. It was sponsored by a grant from the California Community Foundation and done by twenty-five researchers from RAND Health and the RAND National Security Research Division. From last August to January, the team conducted a phone survey with 1,965 service members, reservists and veterans in twenty-four areas across the country with high concentrations of those people. Some had done more than one tour.

The Associated Press and major newspapers outlined the RAND report’s astounding numbers and then the story slid from view, which is a very bad thing, since the report disclosed in compelling numbers that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are steadily filling every American community with psychologically and physically mutilated victims of war. Many of them will endure lives saturated with physical pain and mental turmoil or confusion. A proportion will be prone to alcoholism, drug use and violence, sometimes deadly. Their partners and their children will suffer all measure of scarring.

Pentagon data show that more than 1.6 million military personnel have deployed to the conflicts since the war in Afghanistan began in late 2001. The RAND study put the percentage of those suffering from PTSD and depression at 18.5 percent, thus calculating that approximately 300,000 current and former service members were suffering from those problems at the time of its survey.

Some 320,000 service members, about 19 percent, according to RAND, may have experienced a possible traumatic brain injury while in a war zone. These injuries have ranged from concussions to severe head wounds. Julian Barnes, in the Los Angeles Times, pointed out in his April 18 story that “a chief difference is that in Iraq and Afghanistan all service members, not just combat infantry, are exposed to roadside bombs and civilian deaths. That distinction subjects a much wider swath of military personnel to the stresses of war.”

“We call it ‘360-365’ combat,” Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, told Barnes. “What that means is veterans are completely surrounded by combat for one year. Nearly all of our soldiers are under fire, or being subjected to mortar rounds or roadside bombs, or witnessing the deaths of civilians or fellow soldiers.”

The RAND report says that about 7 percent suffered from both a probable brain injury and current PTSD or major depression. Only 43 percent reported ever being evaluated by a physician for their head injuries. Only 53 percent of service members with PTSD or depression sought help over the past year. Various reasons were offered to RAND researchers for not getting help, including worries about the side effects of medication, reliance on family and friends to help them with the problem and fear that seeking care might damage career prospects.

The news stories tended to lay stress on the fact that almost half of those with brain injuries or suffering from depression and stress disorder were seeking help. As Terri Tanielian, the project’s co-leader and a researcher at RAND, told the Associated Press, “There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Missing amid the brief stir aroused by this devastating report was any adequate editorial commentary, or inquiry to political candidates, about the obvious fact that every month that US troops remain deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan adds inexorably to this terrible total. But discretion is the order of the day, exemplified by Dr. Ira Katz, top mental health official at the Department of Veterans Affairs, who, as CBS News reported on February 13, e-mailed an aide, “Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities.”

Here’s how the figures add up, just for Americans. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have thus far produced 300,000 psychological casualties, 320,000 brain injury casualties, plus 35,000 (probably understated) officially reported “normal” casualties. This adds up to 655,000 US casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, an average of just under 101,000 Americans killed or wounded every year since the wars began. If the idea of 101,000 casualties for every extra year in Iraq and Afghanistan gets out and infects the voting public, imagine the effect on the currently torpid national debate over leaving in five years versus fifteen years!

Im not allowed to post URLs as I havent made 15 posts but this article was taken from counterpunch.

Inelpaso · #2 (**permalink**) 05-18-2008, 09:21 AM

The aftermath is far greater. Think of the ripple effect. I'm the psychotherapist (LCSW) for the inpatient psychiatric ward at a major army medical center. The census averages have tripled since 9/11 and the majority of patients are OIF/OEF (Operation Iraq/Enduring Freedom) active duty soldiers with PTSD diagnoses. Add to your totals the number of collateral casualties such as the death of a local civilian killed by recent returnees, intoxicated, adrenaline addicted, and PTSD dx, and racing down the interstate hwy. Another returnee, intoxicated, PTSD, rams the back of a broken down car being pushed off the road. Two legs required amputation. The wives often lose their only support system to long deployed husbands, become depressed and suicidal. Home life of returnees suffers. Anger problems result in divorces, child abuse, homicide, suicide and many turn to illegal and legal drugs to self medicate in an effort to cleanse their mind of the memories of what they witnessed and the atrocities of their actions. Some become homicidal and end up in prison. Some remain in their position without treatment and affect the workplace environment. Some of these untreated sick are commanders, law enforcement personnel, and regular soldiers, all with guns. Think of the effect they have on others, spouses, children, moms and dads, brothers and sisters. Add that to your total.
One soldier with PTSD reported that while in Iraq his Platoon Sergeant forced him to clean the wheel well on his humvee of the remains of a child that he earlier ran over while in a patrol convoy. Patrols are not allowed to stop for any reason for fear of an ambush. That is 1 of the 100,000 plus figure but the ripple effect is far greater. The number whose lives have been scared by this war (so for) is probably closer to a million. That’s just USA. How many in Iraq with PTSD? Darfur?, UK?

Tileman · #3 (**permalink**) 05-18-2008, 10:07 AM

This raises another question. If freedom prevails in Iraq how many millions will be better off in the longterm as opposed to those living under oppression and tyranny of a cruel dictator?

areyoushittin'me? · #4 (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tileman

This raises another question. If freedom prevails in Iraq how many millions will be better off in the longterm as opposed to those living under oppression and tyranny of a cruel dictator?

A question that would only be raised by someone not willing to actually address the reality of the thread topic.

areyoushittin'me? · #5 (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inelpaso

The aftermath is far greater.

I'm reminded of an episode some time back when I got a call from my sister in the middle of the night...her husband who is a Nam Marine vet with PTSD had stuck a knife to her throat calling her some name common to a Nam woman and then shoved her out of the house saying, "You shall proceed in the dark like we did."

Even after that, it took a couple of years and lots of effort to finally get him some treatment and benefits...the guy can't hold down any sort of real job...he's often preoccupied with the "thousand yard stare".

I've started a number of these sorts of threads on a number of different forums...they tend to not get much attention yet so many claim to "support our troops"...what a bunch of fucking bullshit!!!

wow · #6 (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inelpaso

The aftermath is far greater. Think of the ripple effect. I'm the psychotherapist (LCSW) for the inpatient psychiatric ward at a major army medical center. The census averages have tripled since 9/11 and the majority of patients are OIF/OEF (Operation Iraq/Enduring Freedom) active duty soldiers with PTSD diagnoses. Add to your totals the number of collateral casualties such as the death of a local civilian killed by recent returnees, intoxicated, adrenaline addicted, and PTSD dx, and racing down the interstate hwy. Another returnee, intoxicated, PTSD, rams the back of a broken down car being pushed off the road. Two legs required amputation. The wives often lose their only support system to long deployed husbands, become depressed and suicidal. Home life of returnees suffers. Anger problems result in divorces, child abuse, homicide, suicide and many turn to illegal and legal drugs to self medicate in an effort to cleanse their mind of the memories of what they witnessed and the atrocities of their actions. Some become homicidal and end up in prison. Some remain in their position without treatment and affect the workplace environment. Some of these untreated sick are commanders, law enforcement personnel, and regular soldiers, all with guns. Think of the effect they have on others, spouses, children, moms and dads, brothers and sisters. Add that to your total.
One soldier with PTSD reported that while in Iraq his Platoon Sergeant forced him to clean the wheel well on his humvee of the remains of a child that he earlier ran over while in a patrol convoy. Patrols are not allowed to stop for any reason for fear of an ambush. That is 1 of the 100,000 plus figure but the ripple effect is far greater. The number whose lives have been scared by this war (so for) is probably closer to a million. That’s just USA. How many in Iraq with PTSD? Darfur?, UK?

This is just horrible.
We need to no longer defend US interests and this will put you out of a job.

pjwky · #7 (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 12:32 PM

Thanks "worldagenda" for the post, and also to "inelpaso" for the insightfull comment. I did not hear anyone here suggest that we should just give up & give in to terror: but I do think that every one of us needs to give some very serious thought as the manner in which we are wagging this "so called war" on terror.

I wonder if we are not now paying the price for mixing up the meaning of our words: "war" is a last result violent attack on another nation state." Or at least that is always what that word has precisely meant. What we are facing at this time is not the violence of other nation states: and I wonder if it does not over simplify things to suggest that we can "wage a war against terror."

In effect what this simplefication of terms has done, is to allow the president to "wage an undeclared war" on whomever & where ever he sees fit: that is not the way that the USA is supposed to function. The Constitution grants the power of war solely to the Congress: yet here we are hearing about the president waging a war on Iran. The war on Afghanistan was valid: the war on Iraq was not.

Post such as this one, help to show the extensive price & devistation of wars: perhaps this is why the Founders demanded that war could be decalred only by Congress: I know some will argue that the Congress gave the president permission to invade Iraq: but the Congress did not debate the issues & did not declare war on Iraq, and until that happens our troops have no place in that mess.

I have also worked with veterans who returned from war: I am a veteran who returned from war: and the scarrs for many last on & on: the devistation can be complex & compounding as these post have stated: the cost to the country & the people of this nation & of Iraq are astronomical. Thank you guys for the post. ....pjwky

Inelpaso · #8 (**permalink**) 05-23-2008, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by areyoushittin'me?

I've started a number of these sorts of threads on a number of different forums...they tend to not get much attention yet so many claim to "support our troops"...what a bunch of fucking bullshit!!!

Please support the troops. They lose either way. To the servicemember, war means great sacrifice and some reward; peace means less sacrifice and less reward. Supporting the troops is not the same as supporting the war. We need to reach out to them now and prepare for their return with jobs, education, housing, health care, and love and compassion from all of us.