good god. so i was on my way to bed after my horrendous overnight shift when i decided to scan a few blogs. gotta get the eyes nice and tired before i try falling asleep in daylight you know.
anyway... i read a post over at lefterer.com regarding medical evacuations from iraq that was truly shocking.
I wanted to just share a little website I stumbled upon the other day, thanks to a poster at Metafilter: The Army Medicine Page. I could just link to it, but lets have a look at the facts right here: 16,723. Keep that number foremost in your mind, because this is only a breakdown:
Medical Evacuations in Operation Iraqi Freedom
March 19, 2003, through January 31, 2005
All numbers represent only Army soldiers evacuated to Army medical treatment facilities.
These numbers are updated monthly.
Total number of evacuations to Army facilities: 16,723
Wounded in action (WIA): 2,201
Non-battle injuries (NBI): 4,998
Disease: 9,524
Top 3 reasons for Wounded in Action evacuation:
Injury Type* Total No. to Date % of Total WIA Evacs to Date % of Total Evacs to Date
Explosion** 1,521 69.1% 9.0%
Gunshot 351 15.9% 2.0%
Burns 36 1.6% .02%
Top 3 reasons for Non-Battle Injury evacuations:
Injury Type* Total No. to Date % of Total NBI Evacs to Date % of Total Evacs to Date
Orthopedic 3,096 61.9% 18.5%
Surgical 1,890 37.8% 11.3%
Dental 12 0.02% <.01%
Top 3 reasons for Disease evacuations:
Injury Type* Total No. to Date % of Total Disease Evacs to Date % of Total Evacs to Date
Medical 4,246 44.6% 25.4%
Surgical 4,230 44.4% 25.3%
Psychiatric 1,009 10.6% 6.0%
.
**Includes both Shrapnel and Blast
Numbers of amputees
These numbers represent persons treated in Army hospitals. They represent numbers of persons sustaining the loss of hands, feet, arms and/or legs; they do not include the loss of fingers and/or toes.
- 160 Army soldiers, 24 of whom are multiple amputees
- 45 Marines, 6 of whom are multiple amputees
- 4 Navy sailors, 0 of whom are multiple amputees
- 2 Air Force amputees, 1 of whom is a multiple amputee
Total of 211 service member amputees treated in Army hospitals
So. Let's review the facts: There's lots of interesting stuff here, like the 1009 psychiatric evacs and 12 guys with toothaches, but let's cut to the chase, shall we? 16,723.
SIXTEEN THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE. I think that's enough review for now.
good god.
16,723.