A reader directed me to an article that shows the wounded count I keep at Antiwar.com may be “way off base.” From the Army Public Affairs:
As of Sept. 16, Landstuhl[U.S. base in Germany] has treated approximately 6,000 service members from Operation Iraqi Freedom and 1,800 patients from Operation Enduring Freedom.
Note that this is a gov’t website. Now, add this account of casualties that arrive in the US:
“Since the war has started, I [ Lieutenant-Colonel Allen DeLane, who is in charge of the airlift of the wounded into Andrews air base] can’t give you an exact number because that’s classified information, but I can say to you over 4,000 have stayed here at Andrews, and that number doubles when you count the people that come here to Andrews and then we send them to other places like Walter Reed and Bethesda, which are in this area also.”
If these two numbers are valid (and disjoint sets), then the “real” total number of wounded is upwards of 10,000. I gather that some, or perhaps even a lot of these casualties are those who fall ill, trip on a stick or suffer from other “non-combat” injuries. Nonetheless, the total will still be higher than any official release.
The current count of wounded (see top right corner of the blog page) is 1507. This number is based on my own running tally of injuries coupled with the official CentCom and DOD releases. Perhaps I should distinguish between “Maximum Wounded” and “Minimum Wounded.” Thoughts?