WAR'S GRIM TOLL: More Than 1,500 Vets Lost Limbs In Iraq, Afghan - Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

WAR'S GRIM TOLL: More Than 1,500 Vets Lost Limbs In Iraq, Afghanistan

Posted: Updated:

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM - According to new data released Wednesday, more than 1,500 Americans have lost a leg or arm in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, and hundreds have suffered the amputation of multiple limbs.

The Huffington Post reported Oct. 25 that the number of American battle wounded has passed 50,000, a grim milestone of more than a decade of war and a reminder of the war's enduring human cost. On Wednesday, the wounded toll stood at 50,159, according to Defense Department data.

Since 2001, when the war in Afghanistan was launched in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 5,225 American military personnel have been killed in action in Afghanistan or Iraq.

The casualty statistics only begin to suggest the suffering of the injured and of the families of those killed or injured. Because so many of the wounded are in their early 20s, they and their families face a lifetime during which the medical care required may be costly, intense and constant. Amputees, for example, must be fitted for new prosthetics every few years. click here to read more

  • Most Popular StoriesMost Popular Stories

  • Friday, May 24 2013 4:52 PM EDT2013-05-24 20:52:07 GMT
    KHQ.COM - A driver said he thought he was about to die when an Interstate 5 bridge span collapsed in Washington state, plunging his pickup and another car into the Skagit River below.
    KHQ.COM - A driver said he thought he was about to die when an Interstate 5 bridge span collapsed in Washington state, plunging his pickup and another car into the Skagit River below. Dan Sligh, his wife and another motorist found themselves waist-deep in water when the freeway crumbled moments after the bridge was clipped by an oversized truck.

  • Friday, May 24 2013 12:20 PM EDT2013-05-24 16:20:24 GMT
    MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) - The wife of a Canadian trucker whose rig caused the collapse of a Washington bridge says a special vehicle called a pole car had traveled the route to make sure the load would fit.
    MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) - The wife of a Canadian trucker whose rig caused the collapse of a Washington bridge says a special vehicle called a pole car had traveled the route to make sure the load would fit.

  • Thursday, May 23 2013 5:12 PM EDT2013-05-23 21:12:15 GMT
    AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. - On Thursday dozens of people lined the streets in Airway Heights to pay their respects to two fallen Fairchild Airmen.
    AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. - On Thursday dozens of people lined the streets in Airway Heights to pay their respects to Capt. Victoria Pinckney and Tech. Sgt. Herman "Tre" Mackey III as their bodies were transported to Spokane ahead of Tuesday's public memorial.