Americans Wounded in Iraq Find Rough Recovery at Home

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040629/us_nm/iraq_usa_wounded_dc&cid=1896&ncid=1473

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brought up on a farm in Montana, Spc. Patrick Wickens regrets ever having gone to Iraq (news - web sites). Now back in the United States, the Army amputee is among thousands of soldiers recovering from battlefield injuries.

An Army mechanic, Wickens, 21, lost his right leg and badly hurt his left in a mortar attack on May 14 in Iraq. He is being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington along with about 30 other war wounded currently there.

Much of the focus has been on the more than 630 U.S. soldiers killed in attacks in Iraq, but a less publicized figure is the more than 5,300 "wounded in action" and an unknown number hurt in other incidents such as traffic accidents.

Wickens, 21, joined the Army three years ago soon after he quit high school and could not decide what to do with his life. It's a decision he wishes he'd never made.

One of five children, Wickens said if his siblings asked him whether they should go to Iraq with the military, he would advise them against it. "I would say don't do it."

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[bluestateguy]

1. And just think

someday these young men can run for office as a Democrat and have some chickenhawk, who is probably getting drunk in his frat house tonight, call them unpatriotic.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. That would pretty much sum up the current predicament, wouldn't it?

[DeepModem Mom]

3. kick

[wickerwoman]

4. "more than 630 US soldiers killed?"

Isn't the number over 850 at least?

Where are they getting the 630 number? I wonder what the unadjusted number of wounded is?