U.S. Casualties Approach 10,000; GIs, Vets & Families Organize

Toll on U.S. troops in Iraq grows as wounded rolls approach 10,000
By Roger Roy
Knight Ridder - Orlando TimesLeader - Nov. 29, 2003
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/nation/7368173.htm

ORLANDO, Fla. - Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops have been killed, wounded,
injured or become ill enough to require evacuation from Iraq since the
war began, the equivalent of almost one Army division, according to
the Pentagon.

Unlike the more than 2,800 American fighting men and women logged by
the Defense Department as killed and wounded by weapons in Iraq, the
numbers of injured and sick are harder to track, leading some to
suggest the military is under-reporting casualty numbers.

The latest figures show that 9,675 U.S. troops have been killed,
wounded, injured such as in accidents, or become sick enough to
require airlifting out of Iraq.

"I don’t think even that is the whole story," said Nancy Lessin of
Boston, the mother of an Iraq war veteran and co-founder of Military
Families Speak Out, a group opposed to the war in Iraq.

The number of sick and injured is almost certainly higher because the
figures provided by the military last week include totals only through
Oct. 30. The Pentagon is not expected to release updated figures on
noncombat wounded, sick and injured until next month.

Virginia Stephanakis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army surgeon general,
said there has been no effort to minimize casualty statistics. "I can
reassure you that these are the best figures we have," Stephanakis
said.

As of Friday, 2,401 U.S. troops were listed as wounded in Iraq since
the war began in March. At least 424 have died in combat or in
accidents.

An additional 2,464 suffered non battle injuries, ranging from
accidental gunshots to broken bones and vehicle accidents, Stephanakis
said.

And another 4,397 troops have been evacuated from Iraq to U.S.
military hospitals — usually in Germany — for treatment of medical
problems not related to wounds or injuries.

They include 290 treated for urological problems such as kidney
stones, thought by many soldiers to be caused by drinking high-mineral
bottled water. Another 299 were treated for heart problems and 249 for
gastrointestinal illnesses.

Another 504 troops were evacuated for treatment of psychiatric
problems.

Stephanakis could not say how many psychiatric cases have been
diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder, a debilitating mental
condition that can strike troops who have been in combat or a war
zone.

"I have no breakdown," she said. "Most are related to what people call
combat stress, depression, anxiety."

Stephanakis acknowledged the figures don’t include every troop injury
and illness. But because the military medical system was designed to
give only enough treatment in Iraq to stabilize patients, then
transfer them to facilities in Europe or the United States, virtually
every serious injury or illness is included, she said.