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| Iraq |
| Army Reserve doctor brings the war home through e-mail |
| 2008-02-10 |
| Wearing surgical scrubs stained by the blood of amputees and others wounded by Iraqi and American bombs and bullets, Army Reserve Col. Herbert W. Percival sat in the desert and wrote home about war. "The bullet sneaked through a very small gap in the axillary (armpit) area of his body armor. A tiny hole," he pecked out on a Dell laptop from an Army hospital in Mosul, Iraq. "He arrived unconscious with no vital signs. Everyone tried but his blood was somewhere else A sniper shot. An unlucky shot. A cheap shot. Shot through the heart and under the flag." The orthopedic surgeon hit send, and the tragedy was transmitted to family members and friends scattered across the United States. He wrote of boots removed from soldiers who no longer have feet. He wrote of an operating room filled with the wounded: American and Iraqi soldiers, civilians and suspected insurgents blindfolded during surgery so they couldn't identify doctors or nurses. The words formed a portal to a war that in March will be five years old. Article continues at link. The story of another patriotic soldier doing - in his precious spare time - the job professional journalists simulate. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #5 Apparently nothing to say. I'd ask that hte moderators hold this over for a day to give you a chance to read and respond. Respectfully, Helmuth |
| Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Spusoling6019 2008-02-10 23:48 |
| #4 I'm waiting...I think maybe a retraction is the right thing to do, OP. |
| Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Spusoling6019 2008-02-10 22:37 |
| #3 OP, I usually just sit and listen, there's a lot to learn here. A fair amount has been from you, and often you are spot-on. But as a former military physician, I can tell you that the docs overseas bust their butts. Often doing the same work done by what you call "orderlies"--proud and highly trained enlisted surgical technicians and medics. People who are trained and willing to go out and put their lives on the line to save the wounded--my wife is one, she's somewhere real dry right now. The "ordelies", nurses, and those physicians you are casting aspersion on work their tails off, save a hell of a lot of lives, and have driven down the mortality rate of the injured to levels no one would have believed possible even ten years ago. The work they do and the knowledge gained will be used to save lives in the coming decades by advancing civilian trauma care light years beyond the current state. Most of those docs have functioned in roles other than what you wrongly assume is an ivory tower physician job--especially Army docs. They've humped packs, jumped out of Airplanes into Panama under fire, lead pathfinder teams, and one I know even cut up a busted up Blackhawk in a little town called Mog a few years back to bring out the body of his dead comrade so it wouldn't be drug through the streets. Airborne, Rangers, SF medics, former fighter pilots and AFSOC guys were the rule where I worked. My physician colleagues held Silver Stars, DFC's, and yes Purple Hearts. So in their defense, OP, you really don't understand who you're talking about. If some orthopedist who's doing his best to save mangled limbs and lives rubs you wrong, it's certainly your right to state your opinion. But you're absolutely dead wrong, and I'll dispute that one any time. |
| Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Spusoling6019 2008-02-10 21:44 |
| #2 You know, Old Patriot, I was so happy to see someone give some relatively positive coverage of an aspect of the war, that I completely skimmed over the way the opening paragraph is phrased. What is being said by blaming "Iraqi and American" weapons? By Iraqis, is he referring to our allies fighting for Iraq's government, or is he insinuating that our mutual enemy in the war are the real Iraqis? Either way the spin is unfair, but what else is new? |
| Posted by: ryuge 2008-02-10 15:09 |
| #1 Did everyone notice the abject disregard for truth this author has in his opening paragraph? Wearing surgical scrubs stained by the blood of amputees and others wounded by Iraqi and American bombs and bullets, Army Reserve Col. Herbert W. Percival sat in the desert and wrote home about war. Apparently only Iraqi and American bombs cause deaths, never TERRORIST bombs. All the Iraqis are good guys, and all the maiming and dismemberment is caused by locals, never by A-Q "foreigners". I admire the colonel and his devotion to duty, but the "journalist" should be forced to be an orderly in one of those field hospitals for a couple of years to learn some FACTS. Yeah, this is a "local man a hero" story, but it's still filled with too much personal perspective. And yes, I did read the whole thing. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-02-10 14:07 |