Posted on 08/19/2003 10:43:53 PM PDT by PatrioticCowboy
Troops wounded in action not listed among casualties
By Dawn House The Salt Lake Tribune
Fox Company Marines planned to fly Jesus Vidana from his home in Los Angeles to Utah to participate in the South Salt Lake parade and a picnic on July 4. Delta Air Lines donated a ticket and Smith's provided the food.
Vidana, 25, received a head wound in Baghdad. He was one of 17 Marines in Fox Company awarded a Purple Heart for wounds and injuries received in combat. Driver is Cpl. Kenneth Toone%%
His buddies remember Jesus Vidana dropping like a rock when shrapnel crashed through his helmet and into his skull on April 8 during during a fierce street fight in Baghdad.
Under fire, Sgt. Derryl Spencer, Salt Lake City, and Cpl. Robert Reeves, Las Vegas, carried the unconscious Marine to safety. His head wound was so severe that their commander radioed he was dead.
Cpl. Vidana, 25, survived and has undergone three operations and months of rehabilitation to learn all over again how to feed himself, talk and walk. A fourth surgery is scheduled to remove more shrapnel from his brain.
He is among 17 Marine reservists from Fox Company, drawn mainly from Utah and Nevada, awarded Purple Hearts for wounds received in combat.
They are called WIAs for wounded in action, but their numbers are not listed under casualty postings from the U.S. Central Command or the Pentagon. Reporters must specifically ask for those tallies.
So far, 1,007 U.S. military personnel have been wounded since March 19 when U.S. troops crossed the border into Iraq, said Lt. Ryan Fitzgerald from Central Command. That number compares with 467 "nonmortal wounds" in the 1991 Gulf War, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"I know of no other war in which WIAs have not been listed among the casualties," said Robert Voyles, director of the Fort Douglas Museum. "I have no idea why this conflict would be any different."
Fitzgerald said WIA numbers are not publicized because the military has no way of determining the severity of the wounds.
"Someone could get a couple of stitches for a cut and return to duty that same afternoon," he said. "That's why we give these numbers on a response basis to reporters. This is to help the media. Otherwise, we would have to refer them to each of the four services for the determination."
Lt. Col. Cynthia Colin at the Pentagon said the Department of Defense posts only battle deaths because that is the number provided by Central Command.
'We can't put out numbers we don't have," she said. "It's my understanding that day-to-day incidents are more difficult to track."
The DOD lists the number of U.S. battle deaths in Iraq on its Web site, http://www.Defense link.mil: 174 in Operation Iraqi Freedom, compared to 148 in the first Gulf War.
Utah National Guard historian Richard Roberts, a retired colonel, said he fears that the number of WIAs isn't posted because of political efforts to downplay consequences of the war.
"There's always more wounded than those who are killed," he said. "The number of battle deaths is tragic, but it's only a part of what's happening in a war."
Fox Company Staff Sgt. James Cawley, killed in a Humvee accident on March 29, is listed among the 93 noncombat deaths in Iraq. During the first Gulf War, 235 uniformed Americans died in incidents not related to combat or in accidents.
Vidana first regained consciousness in a military hospital in Spain. He learned that the Navy's so-called Devil Docs had asked CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, to operate when Vidana was airlifted to a field hospital in Iraq.
"I probably owe my life to Dr. Gupta," Vidana said from his home in Los Angeles. "It's a miracle I'm still here."
He said he is also grateful that the Marine Corps flew his parents to Spain to be by his hospital bed.
"I don't remember much about that time," he said, "other than I was told that every few minutes I'd ask the same nurses what their names were."
Vidana continues to fight off infections and depression, caused by a chemical imbalance from the wound or the stress of rehabilitation.
"I've had physical therapy for walking and occupational therapy to help with activities of daily living," he said. "I couldn't dress myself, eat by myself or groom myself. I've made a lot of progress, but it's been slow."
Still, he doesn't regret his military service.
"It's a good thing we were in Iraq," he said. "It's also a good feeling to know that I'm still alive."
Vidana has been awarded two Purple Hearts: for his head wound in Baghdad and for a previous ankle injury doctors discovered when they cut off his boot. He said he slipped in the mud during a firefight in Al Garraf on March 25 when Fox Company relieved a Marine artillery unit pinned down by enemy fire.
Vidana said he didn't report his ankle injury because "I didn't think it was that bad." Spencer, who would help carry out Vidana from sniper fire 12 days later in Baghdad, also helped him in the firefight.
"It was difficult to move with that sprain," said Vidana. "Sgt. Spencer helped get me moving again. I was lucky that time too."
Vidana will get a medical discharge and continue his rehabilitation program. He said he can walk, but has limited vision and balance problems. He hopes that by the spring he can resume taking college classes that were cut short in February 2002 when his Marine Reserve unit was activated in the nation's war on terrorism.
"I had wanted to be an occupational therapist," he said. "I still do, now more than ever."
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