The shocking cost of war: Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are 'the most damaged generation ever' with almost HALF seeking disability benefits

On the day America stops to remember the sacrifices made by its troops, new figures reveal the terrible toll of war is now leaving nearly half of all veterans filing for disability benefits.

The nation's newest veterans are the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops in history, with a staggering 45 per cent of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related.

That is more than double the estimate of 21 per cent who filed such claims after the Gulf War in the early 1990s, top government officials told The Associated Press.



Injured: Kevin Trimble, 19, pictured lost both legs above the knee and an arm from a bomb in Afghanistan

These new veterans are also claiming eight to nine ailments on average, and the most recent ones over the last year are claiming 11 to 14.

By comparison, Vietnam veterans are currently receiving compensation for fewer than four, on average, and those from World War II and Korea, just two.

It's unclear how much worse off these new veterans are than their predecessors.

Many factors are driving the dramatic increase in claims — the weak economy, more troops surviving wounds, and more awareness of problems such as concussions and PTSD. Almost one-third have been granted disability so far.

Government officials and veterans' advocates say returned servicemen who were working but lost their jobs or can't find employment are increasingly seeking benefits.

Payments range from $127 a month for a 10 per cent disability to $2,769 for a full one.

But there is no special fund set aside to pay the unprecedented level of claims.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is mired in backlogged claims but Allison Hickey, the VA's undersecretary for benefits said its mission was 'to take care of whatever the population is'.

'We want them to have what their entitlement is.'

The AP spent three months reviewing records and talking with doctors, government officials and former troops to take stock of the new veterans.

They are different in many ways from those who fought before them.

More are from the Reserves and National Guard — 28 per cent of those filing disability claims — rather than career military.

Reserves and National Guard made up a greater percentage of troops in these wars than they did in previous ones.

About 31 per cent of Guard/Reserve new veterans have filed claims compared to 56 per cent of career military ones.

More of the new veterans are women, accounting for 12 per cent of those who have sought care.

Some female veterans are claiming PTSD due to military sexual trauma, a problem that rarely came up in other wars.

The new veterans have different types of injuries than previous veterans did as well. This is partly because improvised bombs have been the main weapon and because body armor and improved battlefield care allowed many of them to survive wounds that in past wars proved fatal.


Sacrifice: Triple amputee Larry Bailey II, pictured, is one of the many new veterans who will receive benefits

They're being kept alive at unprecedented rates,' said Dr David Cifu, the VA's medical rehabilitation chief. More than 95 per cent of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have survived.

Larry Bailey II is an example. After tripping a rooftop bomb in Afghanistan last June, the 26-year-old Marine remembers flying into the air, then fellow troops attending to him.

'I pretty much knew that my legs were gone. My left hand, from what I remember I still had three fingers on it,' although they didn't seem right, Bailey said.

'I looked a few times but then they told me to stop looking.' Bailey, who is from Zion, Illinois, ended up a triple amputee and expects to get a hand transplant this summer.

He is still transitioning from active duty and is not yet a veteran. Just over half of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans eligible for VA care have used it so far.

'The numbers are pretty staggering,' said Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who has done four face transplants on non-military patients and expects to start doing them soon on veterans.


Amputee: U.S. Marine Andrew Kinard, pictured, sits in his wheelchair as he prepares to use his prosthetic legs

Others have invisible wounds. More than 400,000 of these new veterans have been treated by the VA for a mental health problem, most commonly, PTSD.

Tens of thousands of veterans suffered traumatic brain injury, or TBI — mostly mild concussions from bomb blasts — and doctors don't know what's in store for them long-term.

Cifu, of the VA, said that roughly 20 per cent of active duty troops suffered concussions, but only one-third of them have symptoms lasting beyond a few months.

That's still a big number, and 'it's very rare that someone has just a single concussion,' said David Hovda, director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center.

Suffering multiple concussions, or one soon after another, raises the risk of long-term problems. A brain injury also makes the brain more susceptible to PTSD, he said.

On a more mundane level, many new veterans have back, shoulder and knee problems, aggravated by carrying heavy packs and wearing the body armor that helped keep them alive.

One recent study found that 19 per cent required orthopedic surgery consultations and 4 per cent needed surgery after returning from combat.

All of this adds up to more disability claims, which for years have been coming in faster than the government can handle them.

The average wait to get a new one processed grows longer each month and is now about eight months — time that a frustrated, injured veteran might spend with no income.

More than 560,000 veterans from all wars currently have claims that are backlogged — older than 125 days.

The VA's benefits chief, Hickey, said disability claims from all veterans soared from 888,000 in 2008 to 1.3 million in 2011.

Last year's included more than 230,000 new claims from Vietnam veterans and their survivors because of a change in what conditions can be considered related to Agent Orange exposure. Those complex, 50-year-old cases took more than a third of available staff, she said.

The high number of ailments per claim is also contributing to the backlog. When a veteran claims 11 to 14 problems, each one requires 'due diligence' — a medical evaluation and proof that it is service-related, Hickey said.

Barry Jesinoski, executive director of Disabled American Veterans, called Hickey's efforts 'commendable', but said the VA had a long way to go to meet veterans' needs.

Even before the surge in Agent Orange cases, VA officials 'were already at a place that was unacceptable' on backlogged claims, he said...


Damaged: Shane Baldwin, pictured, is one of the growing number of veterans claiming compensation for injuries

...For taxpayers, the ordeal is just beginning. With any war, the cost of caring for veterans rises for several decades and peaks 30 to 40 years later, when diseases of aging are more common, said Harvard economist Linda Bilmes. She estimates the health care and disability costs of the recent wars at $600 billion to $900 billion.

'This is a huge number and there's no money set aside,' she said. 'Unless we take steps now into some kind of fund that will grow over time, it's very plausible many people will feel we can't afford these benefits we overpromised.'

How would that play to these veterans, who all volunteered and now expect the government to keep its end of the bargain?

'The deal was, if you get wounded, we're going to supply this level of support,' Bilmes said. Right now, 'there's a lot of sympathy and a lot of people want to help. But memories are short and times change.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2150933/The-shocking-cost-war-Afghanista...

That's the real long term effect of the useless war, real people maimed for life, not to mention the mental torture that thousands will live with.

I hope pictures like these are doing the rounds of the high schools so that our youth are well aware that they might come back with limbs missing and a screwed mind. Some think it's a big show of toughness and bravery, when it's actually the height of stupidity to put yourself in such a position.

Make the right choice boys, jobless or limbless.

For what?

What has that war achieved apart from bloodshed and misery?

It's one industry America and her allies can do without.

Chard wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 8:53am:


How about you blow up israel?

SOB

How about the US just cut off the $3billion per year military aid instead?

Israel is the only country that gets aid from the US with no strings attached.

uh huh

falah wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 10:52am:


Sure, just as soon as we cut off the same aid to Egypt as mandated under the Camp David Accords. 

Oh, you didn't know about that and just thought we simply gave Israel money for no reason?  How very... Typical.  But by all means, regale me with more of your misplaced and historically ignorant rage.  It entertains me...

Chard wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 12:17pm:


it would make my day if the US cut off the $1billion

Chard wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 12:17pm:


Of course I know about the US bribe to the Egyptian military dicatators everbody knows it, which is why I mentioned "no strings attached". Israel gets their $3billion with no strings attached. The $1 billion given to the Egyptian military dictators is a bribe to convince them not to help the Palestinians.

Chard wrote on May 29^th, 2012 at 12:57pm:



Looks like you delivered an Alabama Slamma there Chard