Posted on 12/27/2009 9:06:00 PM PST by Saije
In adapted buses from the 1960s, injured soldiers - sometimes as many as 30 or 40 - are after "wheels down" at a nearby US airbase.
They were airlifted out of Afghanistan overnight - in some cases, just hours after they were injured.
The first person to meet them is always one of the hospital Chaplains.
After initial stabilisation on the ground in Afghanistan, Landstuhl will provide the next critical stage of their treatment.
"In the case of battle injured we'll get some very, very recent casualties who've been stabilised enough to move the five or six-hour flight down range to here," explains Captain Chip Griffin.
"Our goal is not to keep them here longer than 14 days so within 14 days we'll either get them back to duty down range, or back to the States for continuing care."
In the hospital we meet US Marine, Sergeant Michael Goodman.
He arrived here four days ago after he was caught in a roadside bomb explosion whilst on foot patrol in northern Helmand.
He has no external injuries, but the blast shook his brain so violently that he can no longer walk unaided.
"I can remember being part of the mission, I can remember completing my first task, but when I got hit by the IED I don't remember anything from the blast," he tells me.
The tour of duty had been Michael's fourth in only five years.
Although young, he's married with two young children and yet, astonishingly, all he wants to do now, is get back to Afghanistan. It's an attitude typical of almost every soldier you speak to here.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
Thanks for posting this.
President Obama understands. After all, he feels exactly the same way about Hawaii.
Cheers!
My own son was medevac’d to Landstuhl after being shot in Afghanistan in September. He received excellent care there for a very serious wound to his leg. He was operated on there several times before returning to the USA. On Christmas, he told us he is trying to get back to Afghanistan to his unit. He’s a medic, and knows they need him. Not fully recovered, but planning on going back...
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