This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website. The text of this piece is an excerpt, slightly adapted, from Ann Joness new book They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from Americas Wars—The Untold Story, just published by Dispatch Books/Haymarket Books The CCAT team has three other critical patients to think about. They are covered with white sheets and blankets, but its easy to see that the second patient is missing both legs. His right hand is swathed in thick bandages, almost as fat as a football. His face is ripped and torn so that his features appear to be not quite where they belong, but pushed up and to one side—his nose split and turned askew. Hes sedated and on a ventilator meant to assist his breathing, but his chest convulses as he struggles with the job. The respiratory therapist hovers, checking monitors, adjusting a breathing tube, and the man quiets. But not for long. The IED blast that took off both his legs above the knee bypassed his pelvis to slam into his chest. He must have been doubled over, crouching, when he walked onto the bomb. The impact damaged his lungs in ways not yet fully understood, so that now when he breathes on his own, every breath costs him more than he has to give. motherjones/politics/2013/11/veterans-wounded-battlefield-afghanistan-army
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 18:12:18 +0000
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