| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
13 Oct 2003 08:47:04 AM |
| Object: |
War's bloody fallout. The horribly wounded and traumatized. |
In a devastation that has gone almost unnoticed, nearly 2,000 G.I.s,
Marines, Navy and Air Force members have been wounded in the war.
Many have lost limbs, suffered severe head trauma and shrapnel wounds
in combat, vehicle accidents and other mishaps.
Additionally, more than 3,000 soldiers have left Iraq with illness or
psychiatric problems.
From The New York Daily News, 10/12/03:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/126008p-112902c.html
War's bloody fallout
By PATRICE O'SHAUGHNESSY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Late last June, almost two months after the end of "major combat" in
Iraq, Army Reserve Sgt. Rafael Vasquez, a city cop and nurse from
Washington Heights, arrived at base camp Anaconda southwest of
Baghdad.
Other Army medics welcomed his unit to the base, inviting them to a
movie in a tent converted to a minitheater, but Vasquez's unit was too
tired after the long convoy from Kuwait.
"Three mortar rounds found their way into the perimeter and into the
movie tent," Vasquez recounted last week by E-mail from Iraq.
"When I entered the trauma tent there they were, the same guys who
invited us to the movie. Lying in blood and uniforms shredded from
shrapnel. Nine out of the 20-men unit were seriously injured. We
treated the wounds as best as we could and medivaced out the rest of
the injured.
"That night I realized how quickly a life could end out here. A simple
decision could make the difference between life and death. This was
the type of environment we are in."
The number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq mounts incrementally each
day, rising to 315 and bringing sorrow to families halfway around the
world.
But in a devastation that has gone almost unnoticed, nearly 2,000
G.I.s, Marines, Navy and Air Force members have been wounded in the
war.
Many have lost limbs, suffered severe head trauma and shrapnel wounds
in combat, vehicle accidents and other mishaps.
Additionally, more than 3,000 soldiers have left Iraq with illness or
psychiatric problems.
Like a shotgun
Many soldiers wear ceramic body armor -- the vests are nicknamed
chicken plates -- that can stop a bullet from an AK-47 rifle.
But it only goes so far.
"The wounds we see here are much more severe than what I've seen at
home," said Army Sgt. Albert Gasbarra, working in Ibn Sina Hospital in
Baghdad with the 28th Combat Support Hospital out of Fort Bragg, N.C.
A former paramedic for an ambulance corps in New York City, he has
seen his share of gunshot wounds.
"Here, it's not unusual to see multiple gunshot wounds," Gasbarra said
via E-mail.
"They seem to be getting meaner and meaner. At first it was gunshot
wounds, then it was RPG's [rocket-propelled grenades] and now it's
IEDs [improvised explosive devices]. These things can range in size
from a Coke can to a medium size box and even a watermelon. To me, the
wounds from these things closely resemble a shotgun wound. Happily,
the majority of these guys recover, so I guess it's a debilitating
weapon rather than a killing one. Although that's happened too,
unfortunately."
The route the wounded take begins in the field with Forward Surgical
Teams, whose high-tech care in war zones have improved survival rates.
Vasquez is a critical care nurse in the 1st Forward Surgical Team out
of Fort Totten, Queens.
"We can set up in one hour anywhere the action is and take as many
patients as need be," he said.
"We have an emergency room, an operating room and an intensive-care
unit. All of this within two tents. We travel in six Humvees with
enough supplies to last three days."
As a cop, he experienced the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York.
Now he treats prisoner-of-war patients "who were happy the trade
center collapsed," he said.
Ibn Sina, a bullet-riddled, bland building, was an elite hospital
during Saddam Hussein's regime.
The dictator's son Uday was treated there after an assassination
attempt.
1st Lt. Christopher Vanfosson, also a member of the 28th Combat
Support Hospital, has been there for six months, through 130-degree
heat, caring for soldiers with shrapnel injuries to the eyes, arms,
face, chest and legs.
"Usually, the shrapnel is removed surgically, and the wound is cleaned
out prior to [the soldier] being evacuated," he said.
"If bones are broken, the unstable fractures are fixed and then
evacuated as soon as possible."
He said diseases have run the gamut from pneumonia to appendicitis and
viral illness.
Aside from hundreds of Americans, his unit has cared for nearly 1,000
Iraqis, both POWs and citizens.
The wounded soldiers are then medivaced to Kuwait, then to military
hospitals in Germany or Spain.
From there, Army and Air Force personnel go to the Walter Reed Medical
Center in Washington, and sailors and Marines go to the Bethesda, Md.,
Naval Medical Center.
Walter Reed has treated more than 1,400 patients.
Ward 57 at the hospital has become a popular stop for celebrities and
veterans' advocates.
Its most famous patient was Pvt. Jessica Lynch but scores of young
soldiers have had arms or legs amputated and replaced by prosthetic
limbs there.
Vanfosson said the soldiers' spirits seem high but many are
frustrated.
"They know that we have entered Iraq to bring freedom to this country
and its people," he said.
"It's hard for soldiers to understand why someone would want to shoot
at or bomb the very people who are setting them free. But they love
their buddies and they have a job to do, so those very soldiers
injured and bound for the states anxiously try to return to their
units to complete their mission."
________________________________________________________
And the Bush-created quagmire continues.
Harry
(Situation in Iraq) `better than you probably think,'
Georgie W. AWOL Bush
"My answer is: Bring them on."
Georgie W. AWOL Bush
"There will be no retreat."
Georgie W. AWOL Bush
"Americans are not the running kind."
Georgie W. AWOL Bush
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/One_year_gap_in_Bush_s_Guard_duty+.shtml
One-year gap in Bush's National Guard duty.
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| User: "DJ" |
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| Title: Re: War's bloody fallout. The horribly wounded and traumatized. |
13 Oct 2003 04:16:32 PM |
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Wow, so we are only hearing about 6% of all deaths, injures, and illnesses.
In a devastation that has gone almost unnoticed, nearly 2,000 G.I.s,
Marines, Navy and Air Force members have been wounded in the war.
Many have lost limbs, suffered severe head trauma and shrapnel wounds
in combat, vehicle accidents and other mishaps.
Additionally, more than 3,000 soldiers have left Iraq with illness or
psychiatric problems.
http://costofwar.com/
Dj
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| User: "Steve Hiner" |
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| Title: Re: War's bloody fallout. The horribly wounded and traumatized. |
13 Oct 2003 07:17:57 PM |
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Leave it to a right-wing loonie to trivialize death, injury and illness!
"DJ" <firststarfighter@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:46b4d4d2.0310131316.55e9be1a@posting.google.com...
Wow, so we are only hearing about 6% of all deaths, injures, and illnesses.
In a devastation that has gone almost unnoticed, nearly 2,000 G.I.s,
Marines, Navy and Air Force members have been wounded in the war.
Many have lost limbs, suffered severe head trauma and shrapnel wounds
in combat, vehicle accidents and other mishaps.
Additionally, more than 3,000 soldiers have left Iraq with illness or
psychiatric problems.
http://costofwar.com/
Dj
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