Purple Hearts - Broken Bodies
Submitted by Troops and Vets on August 21, 2006 - 4:32pm.
Troops & Vets | Veterans & Military
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Purple Hearts - Broken Bodies
Troops and Vets
“The PURPLE HEART is awarded to members of the armed forces of the U.S. who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action. It is specifically a combat decoration."
www.purpleheart.org
Several thousand soldiers have been wounded in action in Iraq. Thousands of others have been injured in war related events. They have lost arms, legs, eyes, ears, pieces of their brains. Some will spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs.
These soldiers -- all volunteer warriors -- have returned home to heal their wounds and consider life, forever scarred and changed. (1)
“You don't hear of the terrible injuries,” one soldier says. “Headlines may say 'two dead and others injured', but they don't say what the injuries are. These are very serious injuries. When you are hit by a bomb it is not like you just get a scratch. People get their arms and legs blown off, but that doesn't get reported." (2)
“We look at patients oftentimes and feel like it's a miracle that they're alive,” said Lt. Col. Paul Pasquina, chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Walter Reed, where most of the seriously injured troops are treated. “Someone who loses one limb is a challenge to get back to a meaningful, functional lifestyle,” Pasquina said. “But somebody who loses three limbs, on top of other types of soft tissue wounds, fractures, head injury, spinal-cord injury, paralysis...?” (3)
The term used by clinicians to describe the types of multiple injuries sustained by troops in the Iraq war is "polytrauma." These are catastrophic injuries caused by blasts from the various types of explosive devices used by the insurgency.
Here's a description of the way one soldier was wounded:(4)
When that roadside bomb exploded under Jones' Humvee doctors say he went through four phases of injury:
- The blast with compression of up to 1,000 mph caused a concussion in his brain.
- Bomb fragments penetrated his head and body.
- As the Humvee rolled over he was physically thrown.
- Flames, debris and dust came raining down on him, causing even more injury and infection.
And it all happened within seconds.
Another soldier, "in command of an Abrams M1A1Tank when a bomb went off underneath... came home with a laundry list of injuries that are the essence of polytrauma:" (5)
- He lost his right leg.
- His right arm was later amputated.
- His left arm and leg are paralyzed.
- He has lost part of an ear.
- He suffered brain trauma, burns and severe pain from shrapnel.
Doctors say he has memory, emotional and behavioral abnormalities.
He has had to learn to swallow.
Speech is taking a little longer.
In addition to the massive physical injuries, these vets frequently suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can be overlooked by the medical staff because of the focus on physical trauma.
This begins our "Purple Hearts" Series about troops who've come home from Iraq with significant injuries. Our purpose in this series is not so much to make a political statement, but just to point to the stories of real people ¯ men and women, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, daughters and sons ¯ and let them speak for themselves. And while we might expect people who've suffered such serious and life-changing wounds to be bitter and angry, that's not what most of the stories convey. Many of the injured say that they'd like to go back and help their friends who are still in Iraq. One even says this was "the best experience in my life." and another says,"I was real fortunate to live my life's dream."
While these responses may be difficult to comprehend, one writer points out that many recently-injured troops "are still in shock, and some are still heavily sedated on painkillers. It is also unrealistic to expect men and women whose lives have been dramatically changed by traumatic injury to suddenly believe that the cause for which they thought they were fighting was flawed."(6)
In an interview for NOW on PBS, Nina Berman, who photographed and interviewed soldiers injured in Iraq, talks about the project which led to her book, Purple Hearts - Back from Iraq:
I wasn't prepared for their physical injuries. I wasn't prepared for how fragile they looked...But then, I felt such a personal sense of responsibility. I'm a citizen of the United States. I'm a photographer. I'm a journalist. If I didn't do something to cover this war in a way beyond what I was seeing on the television, then I myself would feel complicit in the horrors that were going on.
Through photographs, captions by Verlyn Klinkenborg and Tim Origer, and quotes from the vets themselves, her book tells the stories of 20 young people injured in Iraq. We see the results of the horrific injuries they sustained and hear the thoughts they share about their experiences and where they are now in life. In some cases, they share their motivations for joining the Armed Services.
Here are 4 of them:
(Each picture is a link to a larger picture and narrative.)
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Video:
Hear them
Enough said.
Captain Clark was awarded the Purple Heart for the serious wounds he sustained while in Viet Nam as a 24 year-old Captain patrolling the jungles of Viet Nam.
The bravery he showed during that attack also won him the Silver Star.
Lt. Gen. James Hollingsworth, one of our Army's most distinguished war heroes, says:
"Clark took a burst of AK fire, but didn't stop fighting. He stayed on the field 'til his mission was accomplished and his boys were safe. He was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.
And he earned 'em."
I am a mom of 3 active Army men who have been deployed. I have read all these stories of our heroic men and women injured.
My comment is that veterans from an Afghanistan tour are never mentioned. It is always Iraq. My one son served in Afghanistan and was awarded a Purple Heart. He also just returned from Iraq.
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is never mentioned about the Afghanistan tour either.
Just something I have always recognized. God bless you all and God Bless America.
Wes is doing his level best to try and put the focus back on Afghanistan, and deservedly so.
I cannot begin to imagine how it must feel to have a loved one deployed, far less three.
Thoughts are with you and your family.
This is not a time for a candidate who will offend no one; it is time for a candidate who takes clear stands and kicks ass.....Molly Ivins
It's an important point that you bring up, and thank you for discussing it here. Our current wars include Afghanistan and Iraq, with injuries and deaths from both.
Please know that the series on Troops and Veterans is inclusive and attempts to bring light to the myriad problems facing members of our military and their families, whether still in the service or veterans. Going forward, we will be sure to include Afghanistan in our articles.
I can't imagine what it must be like to have three family members in harm's way. I appreciate the service and sacrifice you and your family members are making on behalf of our country.
Proud to be an American.
for covering this important and sad, sad topic so well.
We all appreciate your diligent contributions. This series and the upcoming segments of it are central to the issues affecting our troops today. Another outstanding job team.
Kudos.
Over and over I've seen footage of soldiers saying they went to Iraq, because of 9/11. Now Bush comes out and says it had nothing to do with 9/11, but is part of the war on terror. It wasn't a training ground for terrorists when we invaded, except in the Kurdish area where Zarqawi was and out of Saddam's reach. We had more control over that area than Saddam did.
OT, there's apparently a new report from the DOD on predatory lending and the military. Seems to be a bad situation and they want interest rates capped. The practice of letting credit card and other lenders charge 30% interest after someone defaults on a payment once is usary, plain and simnple. It's true for everyone and should be banned.
The soldiers featured all rightly are proud of their service. I don't expect them to be anti-war, but I'm struck with a lack on a broader critique of the lack of professional planning and leadership that got them into this war. It's hard for me to get on that level.
One thing is clear: this war will haunt our country for many years to come.
Thank you for this excellent addition to the series blogs.
You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.--J. V. Marley
I've pondered this too... and I think perhaps psychologically it may be too much to bear - to have lost so much (limbs, lives, sanity) and then to have to look in the face at the fact that it was for..... naught? For .... what?
The threshold of pain - the coping cap -- may be severely broken in the cases of these and others like them.
It would be too much to tolerate.
You see it in the parents of the fallen many times too.
It would be an interesting Reickoff question in any case.
I can convince myself intellectually of why this is so, but emotionally, I want them to join me in mounting state of "pissed off."
You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.--J. V. Marley
buying into the bushian fantasy story (spreading democracy and freedom and hunting down the terraists who brought down the buildings in New York) provides a neccessary cushion, a buffer zone, to help weather some of that enormous pain. Take away the fairy tale and what have you got? I lost my legs for a corporatists oil deal? I can no longer read, or listen, or sleep because of a sordid scheme to conquer world resources? I lost my son because of a pipeline?
I think unfortunately that same phenomena extends beyond the troops and their families-- to some ordinary citizens who still suffer a kind of zeitgeist collective PTSD from the nine 11 attacks. The threshold concept.
Some trees being stronger than others...
Although each person has their own reasoning, maybe the mind set remains in the pre-wounded state because dealing with new physical challenges are all that can be dealt with for now. A kinda holding on to how life appeared when one was whole. Just pondering the not ponderable.
You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.--J. V. Marley
you're exactly right about "pondering the unponderable"...
There is all of that compensatory work the body/ mind do at times of intense trauma that need not be even remotely related to reality. With survival being the primary goal, not realism. Anyone who's been in an accident can tell you that one. When I had a motorcycle accident-- the fall went in slow-motion cinematic effect and when I was asked 'are you allright' OhyeahsureI'mfinethanks came out until I saw the blood... and all the other innards, stuff one is not supposed to see... on my knee. The numbing effect worked perfectly as "designed". Inner novacaine.
So yeah, I think it's a combination of all these things.
Ask Paul!
I haven't finished Chasing Ghosts yet, but what's remarkable is Paul's ability for critical analysis, linking the bigger picture of the administration's failures with events on the ground that he encountered.
But I imagine that most soldiers, like civilians, function a lot of the time at a micro-level of day-by-day survival. At the same time, many do have a yearning to be part of something bigger than themselves. So regardless of the wrong policies, once committed, soldiers have the necessity to function as part of the group and to find some meaning in an otherwise untenable situation. This is probably not something that can be "turned off" even after severe injury.
But the factors are so very complex. No easy answers.
carol4clark
General Wes Clark * * * * 4 Stars Over Texas
These guys and gals deserve our attention. We owe that that much -- the very least we can give them. Thank you for this excellent installment in the series.
I've included a link in a quick diary that I posted at Daily Kos; it included an article from Paul Sullivan of Veterans for America that I was asked to distribute; but, I hope that some will follow the link over to this illuminating piece, too.
Great job.
Blogging on PTSD Combat
way they do, is the same reason they joined the military, they felt it was the right thing to do. It's patriotism, it's duty, it's honor, all these people still have that, and to try and make them look at it from a political perspective would be telling them that your belief system is wrong, who wants to do that?
How do I know this, I am disabled as most of you know, I am in a power chair at age 50, why because of the chemical weapons and drug tests Cheney and Rummy used me in in 1974, yes I have anger at THEM, but not the military, there is nothing wrong with the Army I joined, it just accepted some bad orders and the people at the top did not question the wisdom of their orders, so the "system" failed me and the other 7119 men of Edgewood, and 2300 men of Fort Detricks biological weapons test.
But don't ever question why a solder isn't mad at the people who sent him to war, they already have enough problems to deal with. Why add another to an already changed life? SSG M G Bailey disabled vet Army 73-82 and Gulf War 1
...and a big hug, testvet.
Blogging on PTSD Combat
I must say that, the more I listen to soldiers, especially those who have been in Iraq, the more I realize how hard it is for us who have never been in the military, have never been in combat, to truly understand what it is these guys are experiencing and thinking and feeling.
"The mark of leadership is not to standup when everybody is standing, but rather to actually stand up when no one else is standing" - Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, introducing Gen Clark
Very well said!
And thanks to the Vets blog team for an outstanding installment.
"Our public servants work for us - we don't work for them. We have an obligation, as citizens of this country, to always remember that - and to never let them forget it." - DeadMessengers
I emailed this blog to my friends…
After watching the video, I was numb and can’t believe it : (.
so well done.
Everybody--please set aside SIX minutes to watch this amazing testimony of a few of our wounded troops. These guys don't get any significant media coverage for all they do, for all they sacrifice.... We owe it to them to indulge them for six lousy minutes and watch this, send it to your list and let Americans have at least a glimpse of what's being done with our money in our name.
We citizens are denied access to this war and every by product of it. The war we are asked to blindly fund and support, without any information on it. With only disinformation.
We are the media now so we have to network these kinds of pieces and help them travel.
Sorry for rant.... I think I just crossed the numb threshold and walked right back into open wound pain again.
These brave kids deserve RECOGNITION. A Purple Heart is nice, but wouldn't the public's (press's) acknowledgement that they matter more to us than Natalie Holloway or whateverhisnameis Karr be better?? Is that too much to ask? Haven't they merited that?
Please watch the video.
I know how you feel. I get upset, I rent, I get fed up and then I become numb, and it just simply reminds me the kind of world we live in. But that is why I believe in prayer so that it gets me out of that numbness and to give me strength to make a better place, even just by making people aware of what is going on… I do believe we need to constantly be reminded of these kinds of truth, not to get depressed but to soulfully and in action make a healthy change.
I do hope the video does pass on to more people. It’s a great piece of work.
vicious cycle--
pain, rant, numb, pray, pain, rant, numb, pray...
And that's a good observation of yours "--to soulfully and in action make a healthy change".
... that's the ingredient often missing in the equation.... the action part! Thanks for helping get this often unspoken word out there.
This is so sad. These guys are all so young and their lives are so changed....The one guy is living in a car now?! That's just pathetic.
We've got to take better care of the folks who sacrifice to serve our country...
At the reading at the Strand on Tuesday, Paul talked about the number of homeless vets there are from the Iraq War...Well, not the exact number because, after they are home and discharged, they are not kept track of, so we'll never know how many there really are but there are way too many. That's...well, there's no words for it. These guys come home, injured, messed up, unable to work...and our government can't find a way to take care of them.
My Uncle Bushy (who was not by any means a Bush Bushie!) used to work in a VA hospital in Michigan. I got a wonderful chance to visit with him for a day a couple of summers ago, just months before he died, and he talked about the young men injured in this war and how catastrophic the injuries were and how they still maintained high spirits...Amazing really.
BTW, pat of the proceeds from Paul's book go to a program to help homeless vets...Another incentive for buying it.
"The mark of leadership is not to standup when everybody is standing, but rather to actually stand up when no one else is standing" - Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, introducing Gen Clark
Geez, do these people have any hearts??
"The mark of leadership is not to standup when everybody is standing, but rather to actually stand up when no one else is standing" - Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, introducing Gen Clark
they really don't see these guys as real people, just pawns to be moved around in some kind of game...It certainly makes it easier for them to think that way when the news is full of crap about JonBenet Ramsey and such and Iraq is just a sideline and we can't see the military coffins coming home...and, of course, when there is no draft and so few people really have to be affected by the war.
"The mark of leadership is not to standup when everybody is standing, but rather to actually stand up when no one else is standing" - Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, introducing Gen Clark
Troops and Vets team, for another stellar blog.
"The mark of leadership is not to standup when everybody is standing, but rather to actually stand up when no one else is standing" - Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, introducing Gen Clark
I want to email a suggestion letter to the producers of The Oprah Winfrey Show, and I wanted to ask Troops and Vets team and Clarkies if it’s o.k. I included a brief suggestion letter that I am planning to email, and maybe you guys want to send more emails as well, that is if it’s a good idea. I was saddened when I read Purple Hearts - Broken Bodies on http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/8003#comment-126528, and there are many more stories like these. Is there anyway that these stories can be part of Oprah’s show, and maybe interview vets and those who stand up for this? I also hope it’s o.k. to share the link because I think it needs to be credited, and of course credits to www.purpleheart.org, and thanks to General Clark and the WESPAC team for standing up and fighting what is right.
So if this has triggered any ideas, I hope it will educate more citizens and give enormous thanks to those who served and continue to serve our country. Thank you, MA3 P.S. Oprah is the best!
Thanks to the Troops & Vets writers for another moving article on the effects of war on our soldiers. And the fact that General Clark himself received a Purple Heart due to his injuries in Viet Nam gives added meaning to the stories of those who are coping with life-changing injuries suffered in current wars.