How have the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq affected our military?
There are 1.4 million troops that have served or are currently serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/ Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). As of October 2007 there have been 27,004 soldiers listed as wounded. These men and women serving in the US military are suffering different types of injuries, including head injuries, compared to military forces in earlier wars. Blast injuries, sustained mainly from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and explosively formed projectiles (EFPs), are causing injuries that are dissimilar to those seen in previous wars. The US military has examined the physical distribution of injuries in current soldiers and found the head/neck is the most frequently damaged area (31%), followed by the arms (30%), legs (26%), and trunk (14%). Some believe this is a consequence of changes in body armor. As already mentioned, the primary mechanism of injury in the current war is from exposure to a blast. It is estimated that 1/3 of all c
