SALT LAKE CITY — On Veterans Day, some important facts from the past 90 years or so show how dramatically combat survival has improved — and how much that improvement has reshaped the needs of those who served.
In World War II, about one in five Americans wounded in combat died of those wounds. In Vietnam, about one in six died. In Iraq and Afghanistan, fewer than one in 10 did.
Defense Department researchers studied nearly 57,000 Americans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Survival improved as the wars went on, and the researchers linked nearly half of that improvement to three changes: tourniquets to stop bleeding, blood transfusions, and getting the wounded into surgery within an hour.
Many of those survivors came home with severe injuries, most often from explosions. Today, veterans who served since 1990 make up nearly two-thirds of the VA's disability rolls, about 4 million people.
Fewer lives lost on the battlefield is something worth celebrating. But those survivors need support, and more of them means a greater commitment from all of us.