Eye injuries devastate troops in Iraq, but can be prevented

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=21846

Last year, hospital surgeons worked to repair 100 lacerated eyes, and removed 40 eyes. Since January, they’ve tried to repair about 20 eyes hit by shrapnel, bits of metal, rocks or debris, most frequently from roadside bombs. They’ve removed some 20 others.

“We’ve lost a lot of eyes here,” said Lt. Col. Clifton Slade, another of the hospital’s three ophthalmologists.

But such terrible losses could frequently be avoided, said Slade, who is on a mission to get troops to wear protective glasses.

<snip>

Slade wants commanders to provide the glasses, and sergeants to enforce their being worn.

“It’s trying to change group behavior,” he said. “If it’s not enforced, nothing is going to happen.”

[Eye and Monkey]

1. the troops will get eyewear when BushCo finds a "brother-in-law" -

- a "brother-in-law" in the eyewear bidnez.

[BrotherBuzz]

2. Heck, get Norm Abrams as a spokesman

to push the eye protection for the troops. They'll listen to him!

[Mari333]

3. Im sending Michael some safety glasses

Now I know what to send him with his boxes of snacks and stuff

[DS1]

7. Gargoyles are supposedly bulletproof, they're the glasses you

see the spec ops guys guarding Bremer wearing. Pricey, of course. And to say they'll deflect a military calibre bullet isn't accurate, but they could help against small bits of shrapnel, or even protect his eyes against something like a shotgun from a distance.

Everything helps, and he'll be stylin too.

http://www.gargoylesinc.com/techform.asp?PLID=3

Polycarbonate Protection
Our polycarbonate lens offers such exceptional impact resistance that it can withstand the impact of a .22 caliber bullet fired from just ten feet away.

Our lenses are 50 times stronger than safety glass and 20 times stronger than structural aluminum. They exceed the ANSI Z87.1 and OSHA requirements.

[NuttyFluffers]

4. Someone find a good pair of protective glasses

i'm gonna do my own bit of research too. Let's compare and find the best.

And then let's start a drive to send these glasses to our troops.

[RamboLiberal]

5. I know the troops like Wiley's and Gargoyles are good

WILEY X® PT-1 INTERCHANGEABLE LENS SUNGLASSES
Ideal for trap, skeet, hunting, sport and tactical work. Can be worn and used with NVG- Night Vision Goggles. The PT-1 offers a virtually unbreakable circular Triloid nylon frame that allows the user to easily change lens tints for various light conditions. Knob technology make the changing of lenses hassle free. Ballistic 8 base, 2.3 mm selenite polycarbonate lenses exceed Military Specification fragmentation standards. Scratch-resistant, shatterproof, and anti-fog coated providing all weather, all terrain protection. Accessory lense available in each color. 47.99 at this site. Extra Lenses are 17.99

GARGOYLES® ANSI CLASSIC BALLISTIC SUNGLASSES - BLACK ICE
Ballistic polycarbonate eye protective wear worn by the Military. These lens have withstood a .22 caliber bullet fired from 10 feet away, a 12-gauge shotgun blast at 20 yards and survived repeated impacts of a .177 pellet traveling at 290 mph! Gargoyles are perfect for biking, skiing, hunting, shooting, sailing, driving, backpacking and horseback riding. Stylish, comfortable protection against branches and low hanging vegetation. Gargoyles integrates advanced space age technology into a revolutionary Toric lens that’s 100% optically correct and distortion free. Gargolyes' lenses are 50 times stronger than safety glass and 20 times stronger than structural aluminum. They exceed the ANSI Z87.1 and OSHA requirements. 54.99 at this site

http://www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/tame.exe/agcatalog/results.tam?rlk=3841923

[NuttyFluffers]

6. Found a good website

Protective Lenses EZ Facts:
http://www.labsafety.com/refinfo/ezfacts/ezf125.htm

This Company's Stock of Safety Lense Wear (to product shop):
http://www.labsafety.com/store/dept.asp?dept_id=628

i'm going to look into your recommendation about the product you mentioned.

a BIG priority is fogging prevention, so i'm looking for vented eyewear.

Soon we'll narrow it down to a good prodcut to get to our troops.

Also lets get our congressional representatives up to date about this and demand that that $406 billion budget gets adequately distributed to human protective gear. the greatest asset to any military is its people, they must therefore come first. let's get to work people! :)

[GregW]

8. I ALWAYS wear protective eyewear when shooting ...

Last week in competition a ricochet from one of my team mates came STRAIGHT BACK off the wall and flew through my flat-top. Missed my scalp by millimeters ... two inches lower would have been in the eye.

[VelmaD]

9. This is awful and too personal for me

My father lost an eye when I was very young in a freak accident. It has affected every day of his life since. In daddy's case it was one of those thing that happen that can't really be prevented. In this case there is a way to stop some of these injuries from happening and our government should be ponying up the money to provide adequate safety gear for the troops and enforce its use. Period.

[burrowowl]

10. Kick!

However, even with ventilation safety goggles or glasses fog. Know from experience doing rock hunting in the desert and factory floor. And, the fit would only prevent a certain percentage unless they were like a welder's mask and I don't see that happening. One middle age's knight died from a sliver of a lance that got through his helmet, I forget his name.
Brain damage not only occurs from penetrating wounds but also from brain shear and the brain being knocked about in the skull due to the physics of the blast or even someone in a car wreck.
The best way to protect them is to BRING THEM HOME, NOW!
Another thread about doctors disparing over the wounded from the WP is also heart wrenching. Some are 'saved' so that their family can hold their hand before they are taken off life support, others suffer permanent brain damage, along with blindness, doctors wonder if they are doing the right thing.
'Johnny Got His Gun' should be reshown in cinemas and on TV.

[enough]

11. A young man who was blinded and brain-damaged in Iraq --

was shown in a picture in a photo-feature in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday. The feature was on the general topic of people's attitude toward today's election in Pennsylvania.

This young man was pictured getting training in using the white stick for walking. According to the caption, he believes it is very important for George Bush to be "re-elected" to finish the job in Iraq.

[tabasco]

12. Does the Purple Heart still count ...

if you only lose an eye? The republicans have me confused.

[SoCalDem]

14. You have a point.. Maybe he "did it on purpose"

to come home early.. after all he has TWO eyes .

[LibLabUK]

13. There is a problem with wearing eye protection...

it depersonalises you and makes relating to other individuals, especially people who don't share a common language, very difficult.

One of the things the British troops do when speaking to civilians is remove sunglasses/goggles and their helmets. This was something that they learnt to do in Northern Ireland and it can have a calming effect on people as they see the soldier as another person. They also patrol more on foot, rather than remaining in vehicles.

[rocktivity]

15. The article doesn't make it clear what root of the problem is

(Lt. Col. Clifton) Slade wants commanders to provide the glasses, and sergeants to enforce their being worn...

The Army has been trying for decades to devise some sort of standard-issue, effective eye protection, Slade said. “That’s the overriding goal--(y)ou get a helmet, you get eye protection. But that hasn’t happened.”
Does that mean the eyewear is in short supply, like with the flak jackets and and armored vehicles? Or do the soliders have the eyewear but don't use it because they fog up or whatever?

In fact, the percentage of eye injuries may be going up, to about 10 percent of combat injuries — despite the fact that they make up a small percentage — 0.1 percent — of the total body surface.
That's certainly enough to make you wince.

:headbang:
rocknation

[RamboLiberal]

16. Probably a mix

I bet the troops buy their own sunglasses/protective glasses. Army probably supplied goggles.

This may be one of those things that are hard for the sergeants to enforce. But they do need to enforce it, especially where there's any chance of combat. Humans can get lax about protective gear to their own detriment.

[NuttyFluffers]

17. I like the lab versions available

the sunglass and goggle versions are pretty intimidating (though no doubt useful). but the ones i've seen for laboratories were very big, all polycarbonate, many UV 100% protection, nigh full range of vision, many have anti-fog coating with ventilation as well, usual full eye coverage (unlike some of the puny sunglasses), generally big bright and friendly, and most affordable.

as much as i like some of gargoyles or wiley x and other military versions (because they can stop a .22 cal or some shotgun pellets) i find them very expensive so hard to fund a drive. also many are sunglasses and generally as someone already pointed out, needlessly intimidating. and some are just so tiny. i don't know if it's worth 5x the cost to stop a direct, but distant, shotgun blast to the eyes when the big issue is flying debris, which comes from all directions. the lab glasses have greater selection of nigh full to full coverage (they do have to protect from dangerous liquids and powders). but aside from very little marksman experience and extensive experience with laboratories i cannot adequately give a definitive assessment of what's the best gear to get the troops.

i'm still wanting to find a way to fund a drive to get more of these to the troops, but i have no idea how to do so. all i know is i want to either find out whether the troops have adequate eye protectors (don't know who to contact to find that) and if not find a pair @$20 or under so that the most amount of soldiers can be protected. And i still need to talk to my friend in the army (not in iraq or afghanistan) to find out what he has and to send him one if he doesn't.

[burrowowl]

18. Kick

[Solly Mack]

19. I had to buy and send protective eyeware to Iraq for my husband

Over the course of a year, I bought 6 pairs in addition to the 2 pairs he took with him. That, along with roughly 20 pair of sunglasses...

[RamboLiberal]

20. Solly Mack - just curious why you had to buy so many

Were they getting damaged, stolen?

I can't afford Gargoyles or Wiley's but sure wouldn't mind sending over some decent plastic Remington or other shooting glasses.

[this_side_up]

21. what is the deal with what the Swat

teams use - those full-face shields?

They look like they have enough ventilation but
are they bullet/shrapnel-proof?

Damned govt needs better designers to come up
with an all-in-one cooled helmet with face shield

[Aussie_Hillbilly]

22. poor guy

Eyes are so vulnerable. My father lost his right eye (and nearly his life) when he was shot by a VC sniper in 'Nam.

I suppose the high level of eye injuries reflects the weapons used (grenades and IEDs, with lots of fragments flying around). Goggles will help a lot, but I can't help feeling the only thing that will really help is bringing them all home. :(

[burrowowl]

23. Amen!

Bring them home!