God Bless our troops!
Dozens of Wounded GIs Sent to Germany
Associated Press
FRANKFURT, Germany - A steady stream of wounded from Iraq, mostly from fighting in Fallujah, has begun arriving at the U.S. military's main hospital in Europe, an official said Thursday.
Two planeloads with around 90 wounded who could not be treated in Iraq were expected later Thursday at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, said spokeswoman Marie Shaw.
"We are very busy," Shaw said. "We have seen an increase of patient arrival since the outbreak of the Fallujah conflict."
She said 38 injured soldiers arrived on Monday, 23 more on Tuesday, and 64 on Wednesday.
Shaw said the hospital was expanding capacity to cope with the additional numbers of patients. "We have expanded our intensive care unit here with about 10 more beds, and we have expanded our medical surgical wards with about 40 more beds," she said.
Including the expansion, the hospital, the largest military medical facility outside the United States, now has 27 intensive care beds.
Landstuhl has long been a destination for wounded from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's normally equipped with some 162 beds, the hospital's Web site says, with an expansion capability of up to 310 beds. The center also provides specialized care for the more than 250,000 additional American military personnel and their families based in Europe.
All the wounded who have come so far from Fallujah are U.S. soldiers, although U.S. forces are fighting alongside Iraqi forces in Fallujah.