Interesting numbers to think about from Speaker Pelosi’s webapge.

* Number of service members wounded in action in Iraq since March 2003: 23,677 [DoD, 2/26/07]
* Number of wounded service members not returned to duty: 10,509 [DoD, 2/26/07]
* Even though the number of service members approved for permanent or temporary retirement since 2001 has remained stable in the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, in the Army the number of service members approved for permanent disability retirement has “plunged” by more than two-thirds. [Army Times, 2/26/07]
* Percentage of Army service members receiving medical retirement/permanent disability benefits in 2001: 10%
* Percentage of Army service members receiving medical retirement/permanent disability benefits in 2005: 3%
* Percentage of Army Reservists receiving medical retirement/permanent disability benefits in 2001: 16%
* Percentage of Army Reservists receiving medical retirement/permanent disability benefits in 2005: 5% [Army Times, 2/20/07]
* Case backlog at the Veterans Administration on new benefit claims in FY 2006: 400,000 case backup [Army Times, 2/20/07]
* Average length of time veterans wait before receiving monthly benefits: six months to 2 years [Los Angeles Times, 1/5/07]
* The number of soldiers at Walter Reed navigating the medical and physical evaluation process since 2001 has doubled. [Army Times, 2/20/07]
* Average length of time it takes for Army soldiers to convalesce and go through the military medical and physical evaluations: 9-15 ½ months [Army Times, 2/20/07]
* Increase in the Army’s physical disability caseload since 2001: 80 percent [Washington Post, 2/25/07]
* Number of veterans from the global war on terror expected to enter the military and veterans health care systems in the coming years: 700,000
* Projected cost of health care for global war on terror veterans over the course of their lifetimes: as much as $600 billion [Newsweek, 3/5/07]
* Percent of Iraq veterans seeking psychological counseling within 1 year of returning home: 35 percent [Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/19/07]
* Number of local VA clinics that provide virtually no mental health care in 2005: nearly 100 [McClatchy Newspapers, 2/11/07]
* Number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans treated by the VA since 2002 diagnosed with a potential mental disorder: 73,157
* Number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans treated by the VA since 2002 tentatively diagnosed with PTSD: 39,331 [Fox News, 2/13/07]
* Average number of general psychiatry visits for veterans in the mental health system in 1995: 11.7 per year
* Average number of general psychiatry visits for veterans in the mental health system in 2006: 8.1 per year [McClatchy Newspapers, 2/11/07]
* Amount the VA spent for mental health care per veteran in 1995: $3,560
* Amount the VA spent for mental health care per veteran in 2004: $2,581 [McClatchy Newspapers, 2/11/07]
* The Department of Veterans Affairs did not spend all of the extra $300 million it budgeted to increase mental health services and failed to keep track of how some of the money was used. [GAO, 11/06]