AP: Burned U.S. Troops Recover In Tiny Steps (GRAPHIC)

[Hissyspit]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070715/ap_on_re_us/coming_home_wounded_burn_unit



Marine Cpl. Roy VanWey visits friends at physical therapy in Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, on May 21, 2007. VanWey, 22, was badly burned when a bomb exploded him Humvee in Iraq, killing three other marines. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Burned U.S. troops recover in tiny steps
By SHARON COHEN, AP National Writer

SAN ANTONIO - The five badly burned soldiers arrived around 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 had just returned from dinner as the ambulance convoy zipped through the gates of Brooke Army Medical Center. He paced back and forth from his office to intensive care, waiting for the soldiers who were coming in from Germany, after being evacuated from Iraq.

- snip -

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. They called the soldiers' families. They needed permission to operate.

Quickly.

The men had been injured days earlier when a roadside bomb in Iraq turned their Bradley fighting vehicle into an inferno. One man who had escaped ran back to help a trapped comrade.

- snip -

If this soldier — the one who had escaped — had so much lung damage, what about the men who had been trapped?

He examined them and answered his own question.

Their lungs were worse.

- snip -

One soldier went into shock. His heart, lungs and kidneys failed. He never regained consciousness to see family members who had flown in to be at his bedside. It was not Chung's first loss, but, he says, every one leaves him shaken.

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[noamnety]

1. can you do an edit for a link? (nt)

[Maru Kitteh]

2. This is the war.

[Hissyspit]

3. Link added. n/t

[noamnety]

4. thanks! (nt)

[Scurrilous]

5. Just saw this in the Miami Herald.

:kick:

[Elspeth]

6. We need to see more of this.

:kick:

[roguevalley]

7. someone should give this to Lieberman. I could cry if I had any tears left.

[mopinko]

8. flown in late at night.

this war is the biggest waste ever. this fellows picture belongs on the recruiting posters.

[RamboLiberal]

10. Or this brave Marine

German, 21, burned over 97 percent of his body by a roadside...

From OP article:
One name instantly comes to mind: Sgt. Merlin German.

___

Burned over 97 percent of his body.

In intensive care 11 months.

Nearly 17 months in the hospital.

More than 40 surgeries, and counting.

Practically everyone who has met German describes him with one word: Miracle.

[Oilwellian]

9. I've been to that burn ward

My mother was dating a guy who was stationed at Brooks and his daughter was badly burned by coffee and in their burn ward. My mother & I went to visit her one day and there were several soldiers there as well who were badly burned from the fire on the SS Enterprise during the Viet Nam war. (I think it was the Enterprise.) One guy was so badly burned, he had no ears, nose, or lips. Our eyes met and tears welled up in mine and I said, I'm so sorry for what happened to you. He died the next day. I will never forget the fear in this guys eyes...I think he knew he only had a short time left.

[Swamp Rat]

11. .

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[RamboLiberal]

13. You're probably talking about the Forrestal

Weird thing is John McCain might've died that day in a burning plane on the deck. From Wikipedia:

McCain was again almost killed during July 29, 1967. While Forrestal cruised off the coast of Vietnam with its crew preparing to launch attacks, a Zuni rocket from an F-4 Phantom was accidentally fired across the carrier's deck. The rocket struck McCain's A-4E Skyhawk as the jet was preparing for launch. The impact ruptured the Skyhawk's fuel tank, which ignited the fuel and knocked two bombs loose. McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, working himself to the nose of the jet, and jumping off its refueling probe onto the burning deck of the aircraft carrier. Ninety seconds after the impact, one of the bombs exploded underneath his airplane. McCain was struck in the legs and chest by shrapnel. The ensuing fire killed 132 sailors, injured 62 others, destroyed at least 20 aircraft, and threatened to sink the ship. A video of the incident has been made available by McCain's Presidential Exploratory Committee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain

[Rosa Luxemburg]

12. Is this front page of USA Today?

I expect not?

[TheBaldyMan]

14. hope all those who think we should leave Bush in office 'til 2008 read the story

k&r