War wounded stay strong Injured U.S. soldiers maintain hope for better day

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/27/WOUNDED.TMP

Staff Sgt. Maurice Craft was on evening patrol, riding shotgun in the humvee along Baghdad's Highway 5. A cold November rain had slicked the pavement and limited his visibility, making it harder to conduct his nightly sweep for roadside bombs.

As the vehicle approached a shuttered cigarette stand, none of the soldiers on patrol saw the package hidden next to it. Tripped by a remote detonator, it exploded, hurling shrapnel and concrete through the passenger door and deep into Craft's legs.

"It was like getting sucked out of the vehicle," the 26-year-old soldier recalled recently from his hospital bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "I felt from my waist down that my legs were crushing and bending and turning. I called up to my lieutenant and was like, 'Sir, I'm hit.' "

Craft's driver dragged him out of the humvee and stripped off his body armor. The blast had shattered his pelvis and the femur in his right leg. His lower left leg had been spun around several times and was dangling by a narrow band of muscle and skin.

A month and six surgeries later, pain is still visible in Craft's face. He feels phantom sensations in his lower left leg, which was amputated above the knee. Doctors have inserted a titanium steel rod the length of his right femur, which holds his hip and knee in place.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. thanks, their injuries are horrific

also how well those kids adapt long term depends on how well they are
treated once they leave the armed forces

[izzie]

2. Sad and think of the every day people.

No good hospitals and no count as this Xmas Bush has sent the US army on a real 'kill anything that moves' thing. Would not want these people counted or go to a good hospital, which I have read all must be fixed up by Am companies and items or else. Nice . We kill you or hurt you but our stuff can only fix you up. The killing fields of Iraq are here. Will we ever be able to live this down? We will be like Germany with Hitler. My country has made me feel so bad. My daughter said she is working with a kid who lost his leg over in Iraq. Sad.