Iraq injuries differ from past wars: More amputations, brain traumas

Iraq injuries differ from past wars: More amputations, brain traumas
By William M. Welch, USA TODAY

The war in Iraq is producing a group of young combat veterans who face a lifelong struggle to cope with physical wounds so severe, they might not have lived through previous conflicts.
The nation's system of veterans' health care is already seeing the first of those men and women, saved by modern battlefield medicine but in need of long-term rehabilitation. While their numbers are not nearly as large as the injured from Vietnam or World War II, the severity of their wounds is often greater than from previous wars.