The Unmentionable: Land Mines in Afghanistan Sexually Mutilate US Troops

ensho

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Wed Nov-23-11 10:37 AM
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The Unmentionable: Land Mines in Afghanistan Sexually Mutilate US Troops

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13168

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America's real life veterans are facing struggles that are unlikely to ever be depicted in any video game.

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For veterans whose physical lives were immensely altered by combat, they have all of the above and an additional set of challenges involving the loss of limbs, and severe brain disorders. And, within this group are a subset of veterans forced to deal with the loss of the most apparent symbol of manhood; ones penis..

"The signature physical wound of the war in Afghanistan begins when you step on a homemade bomb," Men's Health contributing editor Bob Drury writes in the November 2011 edition of the magazine. "Most of these are built with the fertilizer ammonium nitrate, an ingredient widely available throughout Afghanistan. The detonation, triggered either by a buried pressure plate or, less often, a command wire operated by a nearby enemy, instantly pulverizes the flesh, bone, tissue, and muscle of one or both of your lower limbs. In all likelihood the force of the explosion will sever the nerves in your leg or legs, and yet you will experience little pain. Surprisingly, as shock sets in and you lie in your pooling blood, you may not feel anything but a vague sense of pressure, as if a strong man were wrapping both hands around one of your calves and squeezing as hard as he could.

"In many cases, the force of the explosion also travels straight up into your genital and pelvic area, blasting tiny shards of rock and dirt into your torso between your front and rear Kevlar body-armor flaps," Drury continued. "If all or part of your 'package' is not blown off by the detonation itself, the flying debris from the blast often penetrates soft tissue, leaving you vulnerable to penile, scrotal, testicular, and rectal infections. If the damage is bad enough, it could even lead to a full or partial amputation of your genitals."

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"The number of severe genital wounds has tripled," Drury reports, "causing Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs official to scramble to review insurance packages that assess, for instance, the value of a severed thumb at $50,000 but assign no dollar value on damage to a penis or testicles," although the affected person "may receive disability payments for a genital injury, if the VA deems it serious enough."
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and then there is this:

A lot of these kids with damaged or lost testicles are looking at a lifetime of hormone treatments. Yet each patient has different dosage needs. How much should you give them? Well, we're still trying to figure that out."

And because these medical issues are relatively new, "Nobody knows how to do this yet," Glaser added. "But I'll tell you one thing. We're going to have to learn pretty quickly. That's one thing wars do - turn medical techniques honed on the battlefield into standard civilian medical practice."

the pentagon should be turned into an apartment building

wars are for the Barons - their pockets need filled with war money