Eva Briseno comforts her son, Joseph Briseno Jr., in a VA hospital in Tampa. He was shot in the head at point-blank range, and is brain-damaged, blind and paralyzed from the neck down. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) Read more: "Heartbreaking life of war's 'worst wounded'"

(6/23/07), [M. Marchione, Associated Press ]
More than 800 of them have lost an arm, a leg, fingers or toes. More than 100 are blind. Dozens need tubes and machines to keep them alive. Hundreds are disfigured by burns, and thousands have brain injuries and mangled minds.

These are America's war wounded, a toll that has received less attention than the 3,500 troops killed in Iraq. Depending on how you count them, they number between 35,000 and 53,000.

More of them are coming home, with injuries of a scope and magnitude the government did not predict and is now struggling to treat.

"If we left Iraq tomorrow, we would have the legacy of all these people for many years to come," said Dr. Jeffrey Drazen, editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and an adviser to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "The military simply wasn't prepared for its own success" at keeping severely wounded soldiers alive, he said....No one knows what the ultimate cost will be.

Harvard University economist Linda Bilmes estimates the lifetime health-care tab for these troops will be $250 billion to $650 billion , a wide range but a huge sum no matter how you slice it....Counting the wounded can be contentious.

Earlier this year, the Department of Defense changed how it tallies war-related injuries and illness, dropping those not needing air transport to a military hospital from the bottom-line total....[Harvard University economist Linda Bilmes] thinks this is disingenuous.

"An accident that happens while they're there is a cost of war, particularly when you factor in the length of deployment" and injury-inducing conditions like very hot weather, carrying heavy packs, and more vehicle accidents because it is not safe to walk anywhere, she said.

As of June 2, 25,830 troops had been wounded in action. Of these, 7,675 needed airlifts to military hospitals and the rest were treated and remained in Iraq.

There were another 27,103 non-battle-related air transports. Of those, 7,188 had injuries. Most occurred from vehicle accidents, training or work-related accidents. Ten percent were sports injuries, said Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, who tracks this information for the Defense Department.Nearly 20,000 of these "non-hostile" airlifts were for illnesses or medical issues: general symptoms like fever or pain needing tests or evaluation; back problems; psychological problems adjusting to being in a war zone; "affective psychoses" (not able to function or care for themselves); neuroses; respiratory or chest symptoms; depression; head and neck problems (including traumatic brain injury); epilepsy; infections, and muscle pulls and strains....

For stress-related problems, the military tries "three hots and a cot" , warm meals and a chance to sleep. Most of the time it works and troops return to their unit, Kilpatrick said....

Of the half-million troops who have left active duty and are eligible for VA health care, about one-third have sought it. The most complicated cases end up at one of the four polytrauma centers, in Tampa, Fla.; Richmond, Va.; Palo Alto, Calif.; and Minneapolis.

These were formed after doctors realized they were missing problems , amputees who were confused and unable to put on their prosthetics because of undiagnosed brain injuries, and guys who could remember their therapy dog's name but not their doctor's, or who could carry on a conversation but not recall what they had for breakfast.

Troops at these hospitals have an average of six major impairments and 10 specialists treating them.... (the whole story...)

June 1, 2007
Brian Fountaine loses legs, but moves ahead with his life...
Big celebration: "I'm calling it my 'alive day.'"

HANSON, MA (6/9/07), [D. Conkey, The Patriot-Ledger]
Brian Fountaine has suffered, struggled, healed and triumphed for a year now. ‘‘I’m just happy where I am right now,’’ said Fountaine, an Army sergeant and Hanson native who nearly died when two bombs ripped through his Humvee just outside Baghdad last June 8. He lost both his lower legs to the explosions.