Wounded in Iraq

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » January 8, 2004, 1:44 pm

Just learned this last night... anyone know how many have been evacuated from Iraq due to serious problems?

*edit* meaning injuries that would cause them to be removed from the area and sent home.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » January 8, 2004, 3:05 pm

Ohhh come on, someone guess

And the only number I have is army only, no marines or navy seals (heck even a few air force prolly got shipped out but their number would be small)

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » January 8, 2004, 3:09 pm

my guess is 1,452

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » January 8, 2004, 3:31 pm

I guess ten.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » January 8, 2004, 3:59 pm

Out of a 480,000 person army and a approx 200,000 reserve... 8848 have been evacuated... that is over 1.3% of our entire army including our total reserves... that is a FUCKLOAD more then I thought

masteen · Post by **masteen** » January 8, 2004, 4:08 pm

COWBOY
Tough break for Hand Job. He was all set to get shipped out on a medical.

JOKER
What was the matter with him?

COWBOY
He was jerkin' off ten times a day.

EIGHTBALL
It's no shit. At least ten times a day.

COWBOY
Last week he was sent down to Da Nang to see the Navy head shrinker, and the crazy fucker starts jerking off in the waiting room. Instant Section Eight. He was just waiting for his papers to clear division.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » January 8, 2004, 4:46 pm

Pherr the Dorf wrote:8848 have been evacuated..

Keep in mind that you can get evacuated for a lot of things, most of that 8848 I'd guess are not due to combat related injuries.

My last trip to the gulf we sent 20-30 people out of a crew of ~1500 back to the states for various stuff over the course of our 4 month stay. None of it was combat related.

They don't have the facilities to deal with someone who has a broken leg (or whatever) while they recuperate. They aren't setup for it, just fix the immediate problem(s) and ship them home.

They can do some amazing stuff in the field, I watched our ships doctor re-attach a finger once. I was in medical getting a big hole in my arm stitched up, and was on the side of the drape where the ladies hand was. Cool stuff.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » January 8, 2004, 4:51 pm

Aabidano wrote:
Pherr the Dorf wrote:8848 have been evacuated..
Keep in mind that you can get evacuated for a lot of things, most of that 8848 I'd guess are not due to combat related injuries.

My last trip to the gulf we sent 20-30 people out of a crew of ~1500 back to the states for various stuff over the course of our 4 month stay. None of it was combat related.

They don't have the facilities to deal with someone who has a broken leg (or whatever) while they recuperate. They aren't setup for it, just fix the immediate problem(s) and ship them home.

They can do some amazing stuff in the field, I watched our ships doctor re-attach a finger once. I was in medical getting a big hole in my arm stitched up, and was on the side of the drape where the ladies hand was. Cool stuff.

One of the issues was that noone would answer just what these people were evac'd for. And yes I would agree that most were probably not directly combat related (one guy they interviewed had a bloodclot that made it so he couldn't stand from driving a truck 18/day for example), but still 1.3% of our total fighting force (worldwide) is still staggering

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » January 9, 2004, 11:22 am

Being a soldier in a combat zone usually does not mean you are kicking back and living large, people get hurt and sick in peace and back home, add in combat related injuries and the numbers grow.

What you should all be asking yourselves is "How many soldiers are injured or die daily OUTSIDE of Iraq?"

During Gulf War 1 the injury and death rate for the US Army actually DROPPED by 21%.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » January 10, 2004, 4:06 pm

Hell, I have one friend who has a Fractured Skull. She keeps telling the VA that's she's fine and ready to go back....there is no way in hell she's healed, and they told her that it would be at least 6 months.

As for other reasons for people to be sent back could be promotions. Another person I know came back because he made Sgt. which required more training than he could get in the field. He'll just be sent back as soon as he finishes, given that we're still there of course.

Krimson Klaw · Post by **Krimson Klaw** » January 10, 2004, 5:48 pm

He needed training to become a Sgt? Must be some army bullcrap, because most jarheads already know how to deal with a god complex.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » January 10, 2004, 8:06 pm

Yeah, he's Army.

Got a brother over there in the Army, and another in the Marines. Neither of them want to leave. The other person was just a friend, but I think part of what he was doing was PsyOps.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » January 10, 2004, 8:42 pm

I lost more folks due to complications from cheap beer in Thailand than anything else. 25 cents for a liter of Singha, about double the alchohol content of the piss that passes for beer in the states

Softball probably causes most lost man hours than anything else in the military.

Fizzlewhip · Post by **Fizzlewhip** » January 10, 2004, 9:27 pm

Boogahz wrote:Hell, I have one friend who has a Fractured Skull. She keeps telling the VA that's she's fine and ready to go back....there is no way in hell she's healed, and they told her that it would be at least 6 months.

As for other reasons for people to be sent back could be promotions. Another person I know came back because he made Sgt. which required more training than he could get in the field. He'll just be sent back as soon as he finishes, given that we're still there of course.

If he made the "points", then he needs to attend the BNCOC (basic non-commissioned officer course). It is a basic course that teaches the fundamentals of communication, counseling, and other "leadership" qualities, as well as advanced techniques in their chosen field. Army enlisted careers are "tier" based, ie: e1-e4 junior enlisted, e5-e6, junior nco, e7-e9 senior nco. Each has its own responsibilities and jobs. For the most part, e5 are team leaders, e6 are squad leaders, e7 platoon, e8 company, and e9 battallion, brigade and above. This is the NCO support chain...so yes, basically the army teaches it nco's to be better leaders. (or tries to) as well as better at their chosen fields.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » January 10, 2004, 9:59 pm

That would explain why he's temporarilly being sent home, well not "home" exactly but ya know what I mean.