we should have talked about it back in 2001 before we sent these young men to risk their lives and health in a misbegotten crusade. The rise in costs for veterans care was predictable: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/02/terror-war-co...
There's plenty of things to say about the waste and pointlessness of the GWOT.
But there were never enough deployments to justify these levels of disability claims. And not every person deployed goes into combat. And not every person that goes into combat becomes disabled. A rise was predictable. 30% simply implies a lot of a dishonesty.
It's a big issue. Over 30% of vets today have disability compared to 15% in 2008. 3% of federal revenue goes to paying veteran disability alone and it's climbing. No politician can talk about it because campaigning on taking money from disabled veterans is the best way to nuke yourself in the polls.