As we pause to honor our veterans this Nov. 11, it is imperative
that all Americans be reminded of the terrible human price that
has been paid -- and will continue to be paid in the future --
by U.S. troops who fought in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. -
U.S. battle casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, including dead
(6,416) and wounded (48,800), have reached 55,216 since we went
to war 11 years ago. - Since January this year, there have been
more than 53 "blue on green" killings of U.S. troops by Afghan
soldiers they were training. - Some 17,000 wounded soldiers from
both wars suffered multiple severe wounds; through July this
year, the Defense Department recorded 1,655 amputations due to
combat injuries. - Some 229,106 traumatic brain injury (TBI)
cases (involving Iraq and Afghan vets) have been diagnosed from
2000 to the third quarter of 2011, the majority of those caused
by IEDs (improvised explosive devices). - The Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans of America group estimates that nearly one-
third of the 2.5 mi