_60 Minutes_ had a very interesting show this last Sunday on the issue of the sick and wounded who are not included in the official figure of 9,000:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/19/60minutes/main656756.shtml
The picture they paint is simple, shocking and deceitful, although it's not clear whether or or not this hasn't always been SOP.
To make a long story short: people have accidents and psychological problems in massively largely numbers in a warzone simply because everything they are doing is dangerous. The equipment they use and the decisions they make simply when driving down the street would be considered wildly dangerous on normal streets, but are normal there because there is so much more danger if you don't do them.
60 Minutes profiles three guys. One guy was on patrol in a 60 ton Bradley. The ground gave way beneath it, as sometimes happens, simply because the Bradley is so big. The truck flipped and went into the Tigris. Two dead, him paralyzed. All counted as non-combat accidents.
A second profile is a marine who was involved in a lot of combat. He killed guys with a gun, with grenades, with a knife. (Three with a knife). He did his job as assigned, came home, and fell apart, seeing the people he killed over and over, feeling like murderer, and unable to talk to his friends or his loved ones. Counted as a non-combat mental health problem.
60 minutes gives the impression that these cases are representative of the majority of the uncounted medical evacuations. They say that according to Pentagon figures they received in correspondence, the full number of those evacuated for medical reasons who aren't included in the official total of 9,000 wounded is 15,000, of which 80% are deemed too injured to return.
Anyway, I found it an interesting addition to the debate.
Michael