My number was low. The current number is 50,000 wounded in Iraq.
courant.com
"The Veterans Benefits Administration has a backlog of 400,000 pending claims - and rising. Veterans must wait from six months to two years to begin receiving the money that is due to them while the agency plods through paperwork. The staff eventually helps veterans secure 88 percent of the benefits they ask for - but in the interim, thousands of veterans with disabilities are left to fend for themselves.
The situation is about to go from bad to worse. Of the 1.4 million service members involved in the war effort from the beginning, 900,000 are still deployed on active duty. Once they are discharged, the demands for medical care and counseling will skyrocket, as will the number of benefit claims. The Veterans for America organization projects that VA medical centers may need to treat up to 750,000 more returning Iraq and Afghan war veterans and that half a million veterans may visit the Vet Centers.
And then there is the cost. After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, half of all veterans sought VA medical care, and 44 percent filed disability claims. Assuming that this pattern is repeated, the lifetime cost of providing disability payments and health care to Iraq and Afghan war veterans will likely cost U.S. taxpayers between $300 billion and $600 billion, depending on how long the war lasts."
Our "bring 'em ON", action hero wannabe President doesn't think about these costs. He knows HE'LL be long gone while we're still paying them. |
