As of Oct. 15, according to the Pentagon, 15,220 members of the US military had been wounded in action since the Iraqi operation began in March 2003 -- 542 during the war that ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and 14,678 since US troops began battling the insurgency. Nearly half of those wounded were injured severely enough that they could not return to duty within 72 hours.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102705G.shtml