The news out of Afghanistan and Iraq about the military serving there is usually directed to the death of serving personnel. What is largely overlooked are the wounded and all the ramifications flowing from that. It is a dimension highlighted in a piece in The Washington Post reporting on how teleconferencing between medicos is helping wounded military people - whilst at the same time recording the extensive sort of the injuries suffered by serving men and women.
"Every Thursday afternoon doctors, nurses and medics gather in a conference room at the military hospital here, linked by telephone or videocam to colleagues at all the combat hospitals in Afghanistan, and at military hospitals in Europe and the United States. Over two hours, this virtual assembly of about 80 people reviews the care of every U.S. service member critically injured in Afghanistan in the previous week.
Among the 13 discussed at one recent meeting, nine will have permanent disabilities: Two lost one leg; two lost a leg and a foot; two lost both legs; two lost both legs and a hand; and one was paralyzed from the waist down. Three of the nine also lost their genitals."
In "The Way We Treat our Troops" op-ed writer Bob Herbert in The New York Times addressed how the US is remiss in looking after its serving military personnel:
"And you wouldn’t get mind-bending tragedies like the death of Sgt. First Class Lance Vogeler, a 29-year-old who was killed a few weeks ago while serving in the Army in his 12th combat tour. That’s right, his 12th — four in Iraq and eight in Afghanistan.
Twelve tours may be unusual, but multiple tours — three, four, five — are absolutely normal. We don’t have enough volunteers to fight these endless wars. Americans are big on bumper stickers, and they like to go to sports events and demonstrate their patriotism by chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!” But actually putting on a uniform and going into harm’s way? No thanks.
Sergeant Vogeler was married and the father of two children, and his wife was expecting their third.
It’s a quaint notion, but true: with wars come responsibilities. The meat grinder of war takes its toll in so many ways, and we should be paying close attention to all aspects of it. Instead, we send our service members off to war, and once they’re gone, it’s out of sight, out of mind.
If we were interested, we might notice that record numbers of soldiers are killing themselves. At least 125 committed suicide through August of this year, an awful pace that if continued would surpass last year’s all-time high of 162.
Stressed-out, depressed and despondent soldiers are seeking help for their mental difficulties at a rate that is overwhelming the capacity of available professionals. And you can bet that there are even higher numbers of troubled service members who are not seeking help.
In the war zones, we medicate the troubled troops and send them right back into action, loading them up with antidepressants, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety drugs and lord knows what other kinds of medication."
"Every Thursday afternoon doctors, nurses and medics gather in a conference room at the military hospital here, linked by telephone or videocam to colleagues at all the combat hospitals in Afghanistan, and at military hospitals in Europe and the United States. Over two hours, this virtual assembly of about 80 people reviews the care of every U.S. service member critically injured in Afghanistan in the previous week.
Among the 13 discussed at one recent meeting, nine will have permanent disabilities: Two lost one leg; two lost a leg and a foot; two lost both legs; two lost both legs and a hand; and one was paralyzed from the waist down. Three of the nine also lost their genitals."
In "The Way We Treat our Troops" op-ed writer Bob Herbert in The New York Times addressed how the US is remiss in looking after its serving military personnel:
"And you wouldn’t get mind-bending tragedies like the death of Sgt. First Class Lance Vogeler, a 29-year-old who was killed a few weeks ago while serving in the Army in his 12th combat tour. That’s right, his 12th — four in Iraq and eight in Afghanistan.
Twelve tours may be unusual, but multiple tours — three, four, five — are absolutely normal. We don’t have enough volunteers to fight these endless wars. Americans are big on bumper stickers, and they like to go to sports events and demonstrate their patriotism by chanting, “U-S-A! U-S-A!” But actually putting on a uniform and going into harm’s way? No thanks.
Sergeant Vogeler was married and the father of two children, and his wife was expecting their third.
It’s a quaint notion, but true: with wars come responsibilities. The meat grinder of war takes its toll in so many ways, and we should be paying close attention to all aspects of it. Instead, we send our service members off to war, and once they’re gone, it’s out of sight, out of mind.
If we were interested, we might notice that record numbers of soldiers are killing themselves. At least 125 committed suicide through August of this year, an awful pace that if continued would surpass last year’s all-time high of 162.
Stressed-out, depressed and despondent soldiers are seeking help for their mental difficulties at a rate that is overwhelming the capacity of available professionals. And you can bet that there are even higher numbers of troubled service members who are not seeking help.
In the war zones, we medicate the troubled troops and send them right back into action, loading them up with antidepressants, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety drugs and lord knows what other kinds of medication."
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