Iraq war creates new generation of wounded vets

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.freep.com/news/nw/iraq27_20031127.htm

LANDSTUHL, Germany -- Army Spc. Jason Gunn doesn't recall hearing the explosion.

"Everything was just smoky. I looked at myself -- I was still smoking. There was blood all over the place, and I just thought, you know . . . I thought I was going to die," Gunn, 24, recalled from his hospital bed in Germany last week, after being evacuated from Baghdad and joining the growing list of soldiers wounded in action.

According to the Pentagon, 2,094 U.S. soldiers have been wounded by hostile acts in Iraq, including more than 1,200 hurt after May 1, when major combat operations were declared over.

Although that number is small compared with the number wounded in, say, Vietnam, it's growing by about 10 a day, meaning that thousands more could be injured before the U.S. occupation of Iraq ends. The Pentagon regularly announces soldiers' deaths, but it rarely identifies the injured, who often arrive in the United States at night and out of sight of news cameras.

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[maddezmom]

1. sad statistics

Hopefully, they will be treated better than the Veterans of all wars and conflicts before them by the government and the people of the US.

[IndianaGreen]

6. No, they will get the same shabby treatment all veterans get

and when more of them come down sick with shit they exposed to, they will be lied to as we were.

This is when being antiwar becomes a crusade, when one sees the waste of fine young lives sacrificed by foolish politicians in pursuit of reckless policies.

We can grief for those that died, but the ones that were wounded in body and soul will be with us for many years to come.

I hate war!

Another War soon gets begun,
A dirtier, a more glorious one;
Then, boys, you’ll have to play, all in;
It’s the cruellest team will win.

So hold your nose against the stink
And never stop too long to think.

Wars don’t change except in name;
The next one must go just the same,
And new foul tricks unguessed before
Will win and justify this War.

--Robert Graves, "The Next War"
Fairies and Fusiliers (1918)

[ninkasi]

2. Their lives will never be the same.

The sad truth, is that so many of our wounded will come back to a country whose so-called leaders will ignore them, now that they have fulfilled their usefulness.

Veteran's benefits? Bush is cutting them. Job? Good luck trying, but the employment picture is bleak. Not only will the life they knew before disappear, but it will affect their families as well.

For many of the wounded, a return to the U.S. will be a return to a country whose leaders will now turn their backs on them, since they have no further use for them to fight for Halliburton's "right" to steal Iraqi oil.

[jmcgowanjm]

3. Although that number is small compared with the number wounded in 'Nam

This is a lie. We have already surpassed the 1st
3 year totals of Vietnam.

And the wounds are more horrific because of Kevlar
protection of body. Extremities are ravaged
as medical care keeps the soldiers alive.
How many are (searching for), will be on
life support from now on?

And do our wounded never die if they reach Landstuhl?

"The wounded are brought back after midnight,
making sure the press does not see the planes
coming in," U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said
recently on the Senate floor. "These are not a
broken wrist or scratched leg. These are terrible
wounds: lost limbs, lost eyesight, lifetime
disabilities."

[PaDUer]

4. Does * care?!

Hell no.. He hasn't attended ONE funeral of any of our military.
Brain injuries..guess his problem is congenital.

[Tinoire]

7. Too busy planning PR stunts

Bush is too much of a coward to look those kids in the eyes. What a chicken-shit.

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. I had the "unfortunate" opportunity to visit a Vet Hospital in San Diego

. . back in 79

I think EVERY parent and potential enlistee should visit a FEW of these hospitals BEFORE considering entering the Military.

War would soon not be a "way of life" for the American Administration anymore.

My sympathies for the tens of thousands of Americans that will suffer, and the 100's of thousands that ARE suffering: not because of Osama or Saddam, but because of Bush and previous Presidents who have proliferated the "American War Machine"