media wrote:Same could be said for most armies now days. Seriously when was the last time you saw a news headline where Australia was involved in a battle and actually had a KIA?
.
11 in Afghanistan
http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/Nationality.aspx2 in Iraq
http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/Nationality.aspxand as the filter isn't working you'll have to tot up the number of contractors killed yourself:
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/Contractors.aspxPlus there seems to be some debate about the number of wounded as this article appears in several different guises
Australian military hiding Afghanistan casualties
North Korea Times
Saturday 26th September, 2009
Checked in by the military under false names, medical personnel are under orders not to reveal the true identities.
Australian soldiers wounded in Afghanistan have been hidden in hospitals around the country.
Checked in by the military under false names, medical personnel are under orders not to reveal the true identities, the nature of injuries, or anything to do with the wounded troops.
The revelation has come in a story published Saturday by The Weekend Australian.
Journalist Paul Toohey writes one soldier in his early 20s, is in a private hospital in NSW recovering from the loss of both his legs. The doctors and nurses treating him, he says, are sworn to secrecy. "Were someone to ring the hospital's reception, asking for him by his real name, he would not exist," writes Toohey.
"As far as the public knows, his terrible injuries never happened. There was no media release from the Defence Department giving even cursory details of this man's suffering."
The Australian Defence Department, which elaborately honours soldiers killed in Afghanistan (there have been 11 so far), with public ceremonies and full military funerals attended by top officials, usually including Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, has a different policy when it comes to the wounded.
"In order to protect the privacy of wounded personnel and to aid convalescence, Defence does not publicly release details of the repatriation of wounded personnel," a statement provided to The Weekend Australian said. "Tragically, some of these have been seriously wounded. However, the figures also include those with minor wounds who recover quickly and continue to serve in theatre."
Australia knows almost nothing about its wounded soldiers, writes Toohey. Defence revealed, in response to questions from The Weekend Australian, that 83 soldiers had suffered various forms of wounds in Afghanistan since late 2005, when Australians re-engaged in the war. It says the soldiers have a range of damage, from severe bruising, concussion and fractures, to gunshot and shrapnel wounds and significant blast trauma. Any further breakdown of those figures is not available.
The Weekend Australian says the Defence department has issued 22 media releases relating to only fifty two of the 83 wounded Australian military personnel.