TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Some of the nation’s highest concentrations of seriously disabled Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are in the Tacoma-Bremerton area, according to Department of Veterans Affairs records analyzed by McClatchy newspapers and The News Tribune.
Many are veterans who finish their careers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and the base’s Warrior Transition Battalion.
The VA Puget Sound cared for nearly 81,000 patients last year, compared with 63,000 in 2008.
The News Tribune reports (http://is.gd/kJXOpt) more than 15,000 of last year’s patients were younger than 44.
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Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com