Caring for the seriously wounded wears on Air Evacuation Squadron crew

[lebkuchen]

“The first thing you notice is how young they are,” Senior Airman Angel de la Cruz said before the trip.

Most patients are 19 or 20 years old and look only months removed from their high school graduation. In fact, most of the crewmembers simply refer to them as “kids.”

The long missions, the dozens of injured patients and the numerous gut-wrenching war stories can wear on the most battle-hardened nurses and medics. Some try to distance themselves from getting too emotionally attached to the patients and their misery, but that can be impossible sometimes.


http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?article=28096

[Karenina]

1. HALLO!!!!

:hi: :hi: :hi:

The Americans will LOUDLY mourn the inevitable expiration of a 41 year-old white female corpse whose condition was of her own making, while those 19 year-olds whose brain injuries occured cuz of their belief in "*patriotism" and who COULD BE HELPED are left to languish having had the funds for their betterment CUT TO -0- by the *dauphin...

Dis is some SERIOUSLY SICK SHIT. :puke:

[UpInArms]

2. and we treat them well after they can no longer fight, also

http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/09/17/3f6848562819e

Hospitalized Troops Are Charged For Meals

Some things come across as so goofy or outrageous that, when you first read them, you figure that you probably misread something.

That certainly was the case for some of us who read a news release from U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson this week.

It said Nelson had “joined an effort to end the military practice of charging injured soldiers for meals during hospital stays.”

Any sane person would figure this was a mistake, right?

Wrong!

Nelson said the practice was in place and that he was co-sponsoring legislation to do away with it. Well, thank goodness for that.

“It’s time to put a stop to shaking down injured and sick troops for lunch money,” said Nelson. The Nebraska Democrat has always tended toward the occasional understatement.

<snip>

“Under a 1981 law, injured soldiers are expected to reimburse the government for this stipend during the length of their hospital stays. Lengthy hospital stays can leave soldiers with bills totally many thousands of dollars,” said the Nelson news release

...more...

I don't know if Nelson's bill passed or if the wounded are still being billed for their meals.

[Gyre]

3. You mean American troops are still getting shot?

I don't believe it. I didn't even think we still had any troops over there.

Gyre

[unhappycamper]

4. this whole thing is so wrong

on so many levels I don't know where to start.

We keep them in past their enlistment contract, do not exclude them from the onerous slavery legislation just passed, send them into harm's way with missing or inadequate equipment and insufficient training, charge them for meals while they are in the hospital recovering from wounds received in combat, up their co-pay for VA care and stop medical research into the most common injuries in this war.

Wonder if they know just how screwed they really are?

[riverwalker]

5. Hey Paula, Sean, Anderson

What? No in-depth biographies of these kids? No high school photos? No interviews with grieving families, doctors, nurses, hospital personnel?