The long term cost

I may be misunderstanding this Stars and Stripes article or it's classifications, but the numbers seem to be staggering.

144,000 Iraq and Afghanistan Vets seeking counselling through the VA out of 589,000(24%,) 38,000 for PTSD counselling (6.4%,) of whom 29,000 have had (psychiatric) hospitalization (4.9%)?

The number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans getting treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder nearly doubled from fall 2005 to this summer,.....

According to internal department data, the number of young veterans receiving PTSD treatment from VA hospitals and counseling centers rose from 20,394 patients in September 2005 to 38,144 patients in June 2006, an increase of 87 percent.

Hospital cases alone totaled 29,041 in June, up 82 percent from nine months earlier. The number of veterans who visited counseling centers more than doubled, from 4,467 to 9,103, over that same period....

The number of troops who have separated from the service since September 2002 grew to 588,923 this summer, up more than 150,000 from the previous year....

Overall, the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans visiting VA centers for any type of counseling rose from 43,682 in September 2005 to 144,227 in June.

If I'm reading this right, 38,144 PTSD patients through the VA of whom 29,041 were hospitalized? Either they're over-hospitalizing or these big numbers represent only the very worst cases.

Support all Veterans programs. They held up their end of the bargain, it's imperative that we hold up ours.