Bearing burns of war

[unhappycamper]

Associated Press photos ABOVE: Marine Cpl. Roy VanWey visits friends during physical therapy in May at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. VanWey, 22, was badly burned when a bomb destroyed his Humvee in Iraq, killing three other Marines.


Bearing burns of war
Associated Press
Sunday, July 22, 2007


SAN ANTONIO -- The five badly burned soldiers arrived about 11 p.m., sedated and swathed in bandages from head to foot -- the screech of the plane's wheels on the tarmac and waiting ambulances marking the end of a 7,500-mile journey.

Dr. Kevin Chung waited inside Brooke Army Medical Center as the ambulance convoy zipped through its gates. He knew the soldiers were coming in from Germany, after being evacuated from Iraq.

A three-continent marathon, and this was the finish line.

Now Chung and some 30 doctors, nurses and others took over.

They cut open the men's bandages and, using diagrams of the human body, mapped the soldiers' burns -- shading in red for third-degree, blue for second-degree -- to plan for surgery.


Rest of article at: http://www.caller.com/news/2007/jul/22/coming-home-wounded/