72,000: Number of disabled vets from all wars deemed “unemployable” by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in 1996

220,000: Number of disabled vets from all wars deemed “unemployable” in 2005, a 300-percent increase

$2,393: Monthly amount an unemployable vet receives in assistance

$3.1 billion: Annual total cost of the program (up from $857 million in 1996)

Source: Newsweek

*Numbers don’t include the bulk of recent vets from Iraq and Afghanistan, who would enter the system over the next few decades.

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