The Price for Those who have Carried us through the last 10 Years of War

The Real Cost of the last 10 Years of War

Each and every day we enjoy the rights and the peace our veterans made possible — often through harrowing sacrifices. 

The price has been terribly high for the men and women who have carried us through the last 10 years of war.

Nearly 10 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the cost of wars include at least 225,000 people killed and expenditures of trillions of dollars.

Some highlights on the past 10 years include:

• An initial blow to the economy of $40 billion of insured losses due to the attacks
• $1.2 trillion dollars has been spent – See the live counter here
• Over 6,000 Americans have died in the two wars. See the faces of the fallen updated daily.
• There have been over 100,000 Iraqis and Afghans documented civilian casualties.
• Over 3 million Iraqis and Afghans remain displaced today.

And these are just some of the costs accounted so far. There are also massive burdens upon veterans returning home. Of the 2.2 million who’ve been deployed:

 

• 1 in 3 suffers PTSD
• 1 in 5 faces a brain injury! That's 200,000 traumatic brain injuries
• 50,000 have suffered devastating eye injuries!
• The number of amputees continues to rise!
• 18 suicides per day

And then there’s the misleading of the public in engaging in the Iraq war in the first place, the the images of torture that were exposed, oh and the huge debt that is accumulating in the order of $4 trillion to $6 trillion dollars!

What could we have done with $4 trillion dollars? Fight global poverty? There’s an interesting app that allows you to put global issues into a shopping cart and try to spend a trillion dollars. Try it!

Unemployment, poverty and homelessness will steal the holiday joy from too many veterans, Thomas. Many American heroes and their families won’t even have enough to eat!

So, is saying "thank you for your service" enough? Why not show your thanks by sending a much-needed Thanksgiving gift to the DVA in honor of your hero? Now, before Thanksgiving Day comes and goes again. Before some veterans gets left out thankless, again.

Written By: Tom Retterbush

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