PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Paul Sullivan, Executive Director, Veterans for Common Sense, Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org
Iraq and Afghanistan War Casualties Escalate
DoD Confirms 75,000 Battlefield Casualties; VA Confirms 300,000 New Patients
April 15, 2005, Washington, DC – Veterans for Common Sense thanks CBS News for reporting two important – yet relatively unknown – facts about the impact of Iraq and Afghanistan wars on our military and on our veterans:
The Department of Defense confirms there are 75,000 U.S. service members battlefield casualties.
The Department of Veterans Affairs confirms there are 300,000 new unexpected veteran patients at VA hospitals and clinics.
Read the CBS article here:
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/9826
VCS believes Americans should know the full extent of the impact caused by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars – the 75,000 service member battlefield casualties, plus the 300,000 veteran patients here at home. VCS wants our service members to receive the best physical and mental healthcare available while in the military. And we want our VA hospitals to quickly increase staffing and cut red tape so VA is ready, willing, and able to take care of all of their current patients, plus the tidal wave of new war veteran patients flooding into the system.
Never again should a suicidal veteran be turned away from VA. Read about the suicide of Iraq War veteran Jonathan Schulze here:
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/7320
Veterans for Common Sense provided prior versions of the same documents to Columbia University Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University Professor Linda Bilmes as an essential component for their new book, “The Three Trillion Dollar War,” where they estimated the consequences of the two wars may cause as many as 700,000 disabled veterans requiring VA healthcare and disability benefits costing U.S. taxpayers up to $700 billion over 40 years. VCS obtained the casualty reports from Department of Defense and the healthcare use reports from Department of Veterans Affairs using the Freedom of Information Act.
Paul Sullivan
Executive Director
Veterans for Common Sense
Post Office Box 15514
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 558-4553
Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org
www.VeteransForCommonSense.org
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