Combat wounds in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2005 to 2009

Abstract

The importance of characterizing the incidence and character of war injuries, as well their precipitating mechanisms, has been recognized since the 19th century, when such an endeavor was conducted at the end of the American Civil War. Since that time, catalogues of the types of combat wounds sustained by American military personnel in each major conflict have been published to varying degrees. At the present time, the US Armed Forces are engaged in the most prolonged military conflict in this nation’s history. Moreover, the two fronts of the eponymous Global War on Terror, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, have not only produced more combat-related casualties since the Vietnam era but also witnessed the wide-scale use of protective equipment for both military personnel and vehicles, as well as irregular enemy tactics, which have resulted in increased wound severity and concomitant disability.