Impact of 10 Years of War

VCS Report Featured in Stars & Stipes Blog

October 5, 2011, Washington, DC (Stars & Stripes) – Tomorrow marks the 10th year since the start of the Afghanistan War.

The Iraq War began two and half years later. In that time more than 2.2 million troops have deployed to a war zone – 42 percent of whom have gone at least twice.

Here’s how some of the impact of a decade of war shakes out by the numbers as of September, according to VA and DoD data compiled by Veterans for Common Sense through a series of Freedom of Information Act requests.

* 6,211 dead

* 45,889  wounded in action

* 367,749 veterans with a mental health condition

* 1,442,987 million veterans eligible for VA healthcare, but only about half have been treated.

* 9,700 new patients at the VA each month, on average

* 624,266 veterans who have filed a disability claim

* 107,718 veterans with an approved PTSD claim, about 17 percent of total claims

* 2,293 active-duty suicides since January 2001,  including 298 war-zone suicides.

The veterans group estimates that by Dec. 31, 2013 – a year before all combat forces will be pulled out of Afghanistan —  there will be almost a million new veteran claims at the VA.

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