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grantcart

(53,061 posts)

13. Your point about the draft and the media is good but I was astonished at the number.

Sun Mar 18, 2012, 10:19 AM

Mar 2012

I found that others were using the same number but it is an incredibly huge number and isn't consistent with the vast number of people I have talked to who went to Iraq/Afghanistan without injury of any kind. It seemed incredible to me that there were 200,000 brain injuries.

I think I have found how this number evolved.

There was a Rand study that interviewed 200,000 and they found that

The RAND study, based on interviews with just under 200,000 service members, found that of those troops reporting a probable traumatic brain injury, 57 percent had not been evaluated by a physician for the condition. The troops cited fear that treatment would not be kept confidential and would hurt military-career advancement, according to the report.

We don't know the number of people who reported a TBI.

Also a traumatic brain injury includes all injuries to the brain, including a mild concussion, the kind that you can get from a hard hit at a football game.

Obviously the number of head injuries and suicides is great but it seems that the number of 200,000 is not based on actual combat figures but on a misinterpretation of the Rand study.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/03/14/afghanistan-usa-brain-idINDEE82D00M20120314

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Just A Thought After Watching Meet The Press This Morning: [View all] EV_Ares Mar 2012 OP

How old are you? Do you remember Viet Nam? Do you up front shraby Mar 2012 #1

Yes, the draft 'gives them more warm bodies'.... daleanime Mar 2012 #6

I am certainly old enough to know about Vietnam. Do you know anything about WWI or II? I as others EV_Ares Mar 2012 #7

I remember to some degree WWII. My father went and shraby Mar 2012 #9

If you had a draft and, if it stipulated arthritisR_US Mar 2012 #14

+111 newfie11 Mar 2012 #16

Shraby, that is true also. However, in the other wars, the entire country sacrificied and with EV_Ares Mar 2012 #20

In the 21st century, wars should be events of the past. shraby Mar 2012 #27

You say: EV_Ares Mar 2012 #29

Does "shared sacrifice" make war Right? Nothing makes war shraby Mar 2012 #28

No, shared sacrifice does not make any war right. Absolutely not. However, what shared EV_Ares Mar 2012 #30

+1000..... arthritisR_US Mar 2012 #11

As I remember it Johnson threw in the towel in spring 1968 before there were 58K dead and missing. HereSince1628 Mar 2012 #17

Well said.(eom) Owlet Mar 2012 #26

but not everyone got drafted. ellenfl Mar 2012 #22

You are right. I don't know how many of our senators or congressmen, congresswomen served in the EV_Ares Mar 2012 #23

I agree it was the draft that made the war personal bahrbearian Mar 2012 #2

You're Fighting The Last War... KharmaTrain Mar 2012 #3

Now,the media ie,republicons are rewriting history butterfly77 Mar 2012 #4

I think there are too few people bearing the brunt of our latest foreign policy forays gratuitous Mar 2012 #5

Absolutely, the logic alone makes what you say true. EV_Ares Mar 2012 #8

I beg to differ on the number of protest marches over both wars lunatica Mar 2012 #10

Economic Draft TheMastersNemesis Mar 2012 #12

Your point about the draft and the media is good but I was astonished at the number. grantcart Mar 2012 #13

Never Advocate a Draft LeFleur1 Mar 2012 #15

I support a Draft excuse not to write Mar 2012 #18

War is a sucker's game. earthside Mar 2012 #19

There were many, many protests involving hundreds of thousands of people across the country Arugula Latte Mar 2012 #21

An all-volunteer force worked fine under Clinton and works under Obama gulliver Mar 2012 #24

Don't let anyone tell you that nixon ended the VietNam war madokie Mar 2012 #25