War Without End ....."his legs felt as if they were on fire"

[RedEarth]

Michael's first memory after the blast was of seeing Carrie standing over him. He wondered why she was in Iraq. His legs felt as if they were on fire. There were tubes snaking from his arms and an oxygen mask over his mouth. Every part of his body hurt, and later he would learn that the explosion had broken every rib on his left side, ruptured his spleen, collapsed his lungs, burned his hands and torso and cracked open his skull.

Carrie told him he was at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C. He had been in a coma for 12 days. He tried to say "pain," but he couldn't speak. He fell back to sleep. When he woke again, he saw his father. He was in his red beret and Army jacket, the left sleeve loose over his atrophied arm. The elbow had been shattered in Vietnam. Michael thought he was dreaming. He couldn't feel his toes. He pulled the mask from his mouth.

"Are my legs OK?" he rasped.

"You're going to be fine."

When his father left and Carrie returned, he asked her the same question.

Carrie saw no reason to lie.

"Your legs are gone."






http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/26/MNSOLDIERS26.DTL

[peacebird]

1. OMG - OMG.....

:cry:

So sad - so terribly sad...

Poor guys - poor families....
:cry:

:grr:
FU GWB FU.

[Ben Ceremos]

3. When one volunteers for the Armed Forces,

it seems implicit that one volunteers for the kind of experience we have been shown in this article.
I don't value that this man lost his legs for Bush's lies. He was a tool for the violation of much of the post-WW2 order, he served under an illusion and he served an unjust cause. I do wish him (and all soldiers) a complete emotional and moral recovery from his experiences and I wish him the strength to teach his sons that war is wrong. One may be forced into a defensive mode, but to participate in aggression is always wrong.Plain and simple. Without this fundamental wisdom, this man will lead his sons to the next killing field. Peace be upon all humanity.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

2. I'd like to see these...

...and other pictures like them, along with the personal stories of the affected families, posted or distributed outside every military recruiting station in the country.