NYT: Data Suggests Vast Costs Loom in (Iraq War) Disability Claims

[FreeStateDemocrat]

By SCOTT SHANE
Published: October 11, 2006
Nearly one in five soldiers leaving the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan has been at least partly disabled as a result of service, according to documents of the Department of Veterans Affairs obtained by a Washington research group.

The number of veterans granted disability compensation, more than 100,000 to date, suggests that taxpayers have only begun to pay the long-term financial cost of the two conflicts. About 567,000 of the 1.5 million American troops who have served so far have been discharged.

“The trend is ominous,” said Paul Sullivan, director of programs for Veterans for America, an advocacy group, and a former V.A. analyst.

Mr. Sullivan said that if the current proportions held up over time, 400,000 returning service members could eventually apply for disability benefits when they retired.

About 2.6 million veterans were receiving disability compensation as of 2005, according to testimony to Congress by the V.A. The largest group of recipients is from the Vietnam era. Of the 1.1 million who served in the Middle East during the Persian Gulf war in 1991, 291,740 have been granted disability compensation.

Cont'

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/washington/11veterans.html?ref=health

[whistle]

1. You can bet that republicans will be unwilling to pay the disability

...compensation for the current Iraq War veterans.

Regarding veterans from the 1991 Persian Gulf War, I read somewhere that over 185,000 of those who served have died so far. If that figure is accurate, then that means that almost 17% of those U.S. soldiers who served <1.1 million from above> many of whom were young men and women in their early to mid-twenties have died prematurely.

How much of that was of natural causes and how much can be attributed to war related causes I wonder? I would think it has been disproportionately higher compared to to the larger U.S. population as a whole. It also suggests that we as a society owe these and future veterans the best possible health care and disability benefits that we can offer.