From today’s Stars and Stripes:

But the VA faces a massive task in trying to quickly funnel health benefits to troops recently wounded or disabled in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a letter to The Washington Post last month, Principi said his office receives more than 60,000 new benefits claims each month, and at any given time has more than 250,000 claims being processed.

The government?s second-largest agency also has come under fire for the amount of time it takes to process claims.

Working through the complicated separation and claims process can take months for separating troops, prompting the VA to expand its services in 2001 and begin its “seamless transition” initiative last year to streamline the VA processing procedure.

That initiative included efforts to improve communication between the VA and the Department of Defense, the addition of extra benefits counselors and internal VA moves to ensure that troops wounded in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom receive priority care.

“They’ve earned those benefits, and I want to ensure they get them,” Principi said.

The VA’s 2001 expansion of services has made a big difference to troops passing through the Landstuhl hospital, according to Jerl York, officer in charge for the seven-member VA staff at Landstuhl.

As of Tuesday, 20,802 troops have been treated at Landstuhl from injuries received in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Official total of wounded reported as of Feb. 19th, 2005 - 10,968. Actually, no, they’re now considered “injured.” As if by some benign accident! Here’s the official source. And here’s the one kept by anti-war activists.

Which one do you trust?