'Doonesbury' Flies Home with Wounded

[unhappycamper]

'Doonesbury' Flies Home with Wounded
Military.com | By Bryant Jordan | February 15, 2008

The wounded Soldier flying toward home aboard a C-17 Globemaster can’t talk -- he utters a few sounds that make no sense to anyone. The surgeon aboard the flight tells a reporter along for the ride that the Soldier -- who suffered a traumatic brain injury -- also suffers from hearing loss, but thinks it may have been a pre-existing condition.

The Soldier, unable to speak but fully aware, "thinks out" the cause of the hearing problem: "Yup. Nine Inch Nails. Worth it!"

Welcome aboard an Air Force aero medical evacuation mission from Iraq to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., as presented in the popular "Doonesbury" strip recently by Garry Trudeau, who incorporated the mission into a story line about a wounded Soldier returning from the war with a traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

By many accounts, TBI has emerged as a signature wound of the Iraq war -- not so much from gunshots or even shrapnel from improvised explosive devices, but often from the powerful force of a shock wave created by the IED that can literally rattle the brain.

"I met a number of TBI cases out at the Palo Alto VA hospital a couple of years ago and have wanted ever since to write about ," Trudeau told Military.com in an email interview. "Toggle," the nickname of the wounded Soldier in Doonesbury, was created specifically to help tell that story, Trudeau said.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,161971,00.html

[Buzz Clik]

1. Great article. Thank you!

And a tip of the hat to Gary Trudeau. He has demonstrated quite clearly how one can be completely opposed to the Bush administration and opposed to the war in Iraq yet 100% in support of the troops.

[PDJane]

2. I've been following that series.........

It's poignant. It's also interesting that BD is the only one who seems to be able to understand him....BD the PTSD suffering jock has become a really compassionate guy. They have had a side tale about a woman suffering trauma from a rape...BD gives her a candy purple heart. It's great.

[CTyankee]

3. I read Doonesbury faithfully every day. This story line is wonderful.

Trudeau is so unsparingly honest! I love him and his strip...

[islandmkl]

4. see more of trudeau's war at:

http://www.military.com/doonesbury-archive