Wounded U.S. veterans get a raw deal at home

[kalian]

http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20040208gene0208fnp1.asp

There's no emotional sting like the one inflicted by that 500 number. It's larger now, the total of Americans dead from an Iraq war launched on false pretenses, but 500 is getting a lot of usage as the ultimate cost of this mess. It's a cost 500 can't begin to illuminate.

How about at least 9,000 servicemen and women wounded, sickened or injured? How about 6,891 troops medically evacuated for non-combat conditions between March 19 and Oct. 30, 2003?

"There are about 2,500 combat casualties," Dave Autry said on the phone from the Disabled American Veterans offices in Washington. "The rest are attempted suicides, vehicle accidents, other accidents, illness. Something that's becoming a big concern is lesions caused by exposure to sand fleas that carry a particularly virulent bacteria."

...more...

Just pisses me off! :mad:

[Gunit_Sangh]

1. Me to

I just sent a copy of this article to Dateline and asked them "Is this not worthy of an investigation?"

I am a Vietnam veteran myself, and words cannot describe the disgust I feel over how this adminstration is treating those wounded vets.

[enki23]

2. what was the standard practice in past wars?

did they keep separate statistics for bullets and shrapnel vs illness and accidents? when a bomber went down without being shot down, did the men not count as casualties? they were performing a combat duty, and died in the process. were they not, then, war casualties?

[teryang]

3. Patriotic pretense v. reality

To cut off these injured and wounded veteran's from the valuable counseling that veterans service organizations can provide is an outrage.