Don't forget wounded Iraq veterans

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Mention the sacrifices made by military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the mind immediately flashes to the men and women who have lost their lives.

Often the sacrifices of the wounded receive comparatively little attention. As Cindy Spors, mother of one of those wounded soldiers, put it, “We don’t hear about the people that are wounded.”

Last week featured stories by the Journal Star to fill that void. Reporter Art Hovey offered vivid accounts, full of flesh-and-blood details of Nebraskans coping with damage inflicted on the battlefield. Photographer William Lauer provided evocative images, such as the front-page photo of pajama-clad Caiden Marksmeier, 2, standing knee-high to his dad’s artificial leg.

The stories also were a reminder that many of these soldiers and Marines have returned home to civilian lives where their battlefield experiences may not be widely known. Did the photo of Rachelle Spors teaching a Spanish class at Bryan High School in Omaha fit the stereotype of a returned war veteran?

Advances in emergency medical care on the battlefield mean that military personnel are surviving injuries that might have been fatal in the Vietnam or Korean wars. In fact, the ratio of wounded to deaths in Iraq is 9 to 1, compared with 3.2 to 1 in Vietnam and 3.1 to 1 in Korea.

The stories also were a reminder that America should be generous in providing the medical and psychological care that veterans need.

Ben Marksmeier, for example, has required follow-up surgery to remove shrapnel from his body. One such surgery forced him to put aside his artificial leg for weeks until swelling subsided. Then shrapnel started working out below his beltline and he couldn’t sit.

Mike Stineman has undergone more than a dozen surgeries to repair damage caused by the roadside bomb that killed two members of his Nebraska National Guard unit.

The injuries are not always visible. An estimated 18 percent of men and women who served in Iraq are at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, according to a study by the Rand Corporation.

Nineteen percent may have sustained traumatic brain injuries caused by explosions, according to the organization Disabled American Veterans.

The U.S. government in some respects has improved care for veterans. Funding for medical care has been boosted in recent years. The contract held by the Madonna Rehabilitation Center to treat veterans with mild head injuries is evidence.

There’s more that can be done, however. Congress has a chronic habit of approving the Department of Veterans Affairs budget so late in the budget year that administrators have to ration care. Veterans organizations have suggested the VA budget be advance funded so administrators can plan more effectively.

The biggest challenge may be to maintain that commitment in future years. As the Iraq war winds down, memories may fade. But the injured war veterans still will be coping with their wounds.