Friday 8 February 2013

Death and injury in war - the bare facts

A total of 2,165 US servicemembers have been killed so far in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), in Afghanistan, and 18,230 have been wounded in action. In addition, since 2000 (and therefore including US activities in Iraq) a total of more than 131,000 servicemembers have been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and more than 250,000 have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. 
Of this latter diagnosis, about 195,000 have been mild, 42,000 were moderate and around 6,500 have been severe or penetrating. All figures come from a new report from the Congressional Research Service.
Nearly 700 servicemembers in Afghanistan have lost major limbs due to battle-injury amputations, with another 28 losing part of a foot or hand.
The Department of Defense says 97 servicemembers died of self-inflicted wounds while serving in OEF. Ninety-eight per cent of those killed in Afghanistan were men, with a total of 42 women having been killed.
A breakdown by race shows that 85.4% of those killed were classified as white, 7.9% as black or African American, 2.7% were Asian and 1.3% American Indian/Alaska Native.
A total of 23,742 servicemembers were air-evacuated for medical reasons from Afghanistan, of which about a third were due to battle injuries.

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