Combat Related TBI Numbers Questioned

Report Obscures Extent of Combat-Related Traumatic Brain Injuries
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Aug 12, 2015

A Congressional Research Service report on casualties of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars notes how many died, were wounded, suffered major amputations or were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

But the document is unable to say how many of the roughly 305,000 people who incurred a traumatic brain injury over the last 14 years suffered the damage in the combat theater.

"Unlike PTSD numbers, which are segmented by those deployed and those not previously deployed, TBI numbers represent medical diagnoses of TBI that occurred anywhere U.S. forces are located, including the continental United States," it states.

The report is more specific in other casualty areas, stating that 6,855 Americans -- military and civilian -- died and 52,351 were wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars through July 28.

What's more, 1,645 personnel suffered at least one major limb amputation from the start of the wars through June 1, 2015, including 833 in Afghanistan and 812 in Iraq.

From the start of the wars until the first part of 2015, some 138,000 deployed personnel were diagnosed with PTSD, a figure three times the roughly 39,000 non-deployed troops diagnosed with it in the same period.

The report doesn't explain why the TBI numbers are lumped together. Military.com was unable to reach a spokesman for the Maryland-based Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, which tracks the data, for comment.
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