Text 27680, 67 rader
Skriven 2007-03-08 16:22:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
     Kommentar till en text av Stan Hardegree
Ärende: Marines
===============
SH>This morning I was sitting at my computer when, out of the blue, my
SH>son, Mike, IMd me from Baghdad on a computer reserved for that
SH>purpose (emails and IMs to and from family).

SH>He told me that after a daylight mission late last week, his unit was
SH>returning to their operating base when their convoy was hit by an
SH>IED.  A friend of my son's - Josh - took the brunt of the blast -
SH>along with their platoon medic.  Mike said that he and several others
SH>converged on the wounded men and began lifesaving procedures they
SH>have trained on - stop the bleeding, treat for shock, etc...  The
SH>dazed medic came to a few minutes after the explosion and helped the
SH>rest work on the more badly wounded Josh - whose right hand was
SH>"hanging by a thread" as Mike put it (much screaming and blood
SH>spattering omitted as the men worked).

SH>Because Josh's hand was so badly damaged, the medic applied a
SH>tourniquet to the wrist, and they whisked the wounded soldier off to
SH>the unit aid station, which has doctors standing by.  The doctors
SH>amputated Josh's hand, cleaned it up, iced it, and sent it along with
SH>him to the rear, and eventually to North Carolina.  At last report,
SH>docs have re-attached the hand, and Josh is recuperating at Womack
SH>Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, home of their unit.  Josh's wife
SH>and children can be with him there, and, I'm sure, accelerate
SH>healing.

SH>I would imagine that Josh has many months of therapy ahead of him in
SH>an effort to regain use of his hand.  He is right handed, which
SH>troubles me greatly.  But the silver lining here is that Josh had
SH>well-trained friends around him when this happened, and that they did
SH>exactly the right thing in aiding him.

SH>But a cautionary note: Mike said the IED that hit his convoy was the
SH>conventional frag-type device.  He said that if it had been one of
SH>the new devices they are seeing - likely provided by Iran - Josh and
SH>several others would have died.  The new ones discharge some sort of
SH>copper material which cuts through people and HUMVEEs "like butter,"
SH>he said.

SH>Around lunch today, I stopped by to see Becky Lauritzen at her shop
SH>to update her on Mike's status.  Her son Micah has just returned from
SH>Iraq after a tour there with his Marine unit.  Like my son, Micah is
SH>Infantry - they both enlisted at the same time, with Mike choosing
SH>the Army.  Becky said that she asked Micah if he would tell her about
SH>his time in Iraq.  He answered, "I will tell some but not all.  Some
SH>of it stays with me,"  she said.

SH>When I left Becky's shop in my truck, I drove past Ada Large locking
SH>up her shop for lunch.  Her son Sam was killed about a year ago along
SH>with several other Marines in a helicopter crash off the coast of
SH>Africa.  Sam was the fourth young man to die from this area during
SH>the war.

SH>Mike is tentatively scheduled to deploy home in June, and Micah is
SH>scheduled to re-deploy to Iraq at the end of the year.

SH>Today is a beautiful day in small-town Georgia, sunny and about 75
SH>degrees, but I'll be damned if the day doesn't feel like something
SH>out of a David Lynch movie.

Thanks for sharing this.  It is nice to hear the truth about what is 
going on vs. the hate-filled rherotic.


Jeff

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