War wounded: Father, son suffer brain injuries

[unhappycamper]

War wounded: Father, son suffer brain injuries
By JULIE WATSON
The Associated Press
Monday, January 31, 2011; 2:22 AM

MOORPARK, Calif. -- The crisply ironed uniforms of the father and son hang side by side in what they have dubbed the "Marine Corps closet," a dark space filled with vestiges of their tours of duty.

Two Purple Hearts. A backpack full of medical records.

The father is David R. Franco; the son is David W. Aside from the name, they share so much: proud service in Iraq, and a haunting, painful aftermath.

Both survived blasts by improvised explosive devices, and both have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. They fight pain daily. They are jittery in crowds at the mall. They have memory lapses. The father has struggled to spell "the" or "to," while his son searches for words in a conversation.

Their injuries came three years apart. The elder Franco was still struggling to come to grips with his own suffering when he learned that his son had been injured in the same way.

[PDJane]

1. There is nothing proud about this......

Not about the injuries, nor the way they were sustained, nor the way they are being treated.

Time to collapse the empire.