Posted on 10/10/2005 8:39:32 AM PDT by kellynla
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - They are the new bionic soldiers. Once given honorable discharges, amputees are regaining remarkable mobility with new prosthetics, and some are even choosing to return to the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq.
U.S. troops who have lost one leg - or two - can walk, run and even swim with high-tech, computerized limbs. Arms and hands are replaced by prosthetics controlled by sensors that react to electronic impulses from undamaged muscles.
The war in Iraq has claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 U.S. service members, but it has also drastically altered life for hundreds more who have lost limbs. In a conflict where the hand of the enemy is often a roadside bomb or an improvised explosive device, battlefield casualties frequently mean amputations.
But this war has produced something drastically different - a desire to restore soldiers to the level of mobility they enjoyed before their injuries.
Most amputees are sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which has become the leading military facility for advanced prosthetics and rehabilitation.
In the last 28 months of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq, Walter Reed has treated 336 soldiers who lost at least one limb, said Ralph Urgolites, director of the Orthotic Prosthetic Lab at the sprawling facility in northwest Washington.
Until 2003, most soldiers who lost limbs in action received compulsory discharges. Now, with the use of high-tech prosthetics, the Army strives to restore them to their pre-injury levels of fitness.
"We have a return-to-active-duty standard, to give them that option," Urgolites said.
Toward that goal, the lab is equipped to fashion, fit and program prosthetics. A physical-therapy team maximizes physical functioning and relieves pain, and an occupational-therapy service restores daily life skills.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
"We have a return-to-active-duty standard, to give them that option," Urgolites said.
That's probably the best thing for a lot of these guys. I can't imagine how bad it would suck to lose a limb and then lose the job (and military way of life) because of it.
CSPAN did a segment on the rehabilitating vets and their families at Walter Reed. It was really just an hour or so of them learning to use their prostheses and just telling their stories. I was in awe.
I would love to go to WR hostpital and fight Code Pinko, but I know I would lose it and try to beat the schnot of the sumbags.
With the recent advancements in carbon nanotube manufacture and the increasing knowledge of biology and computer science, it won't be long before artifical limbs as seen in popular science fiction will become science fact.
I guess they're getting off on the right foot?
I feel the same way, but I am going to give it a try. I plan to make the trip down from Boston to visit my Dad's grave in Arlington, and I want to participate in an anti-Code Pinko demonstration.
I am worried that my emotions might get the better of me, but I think (and I pray) I can be mature enough to keep it in check. I would feel that I owed it to my fellow demonstrators, to the troops and to myself.
While the rats are still walking around they ARE horribly maimed,Just mentally, not physically.
impressive
Google "Tammy Duckworth" and see how Major Duckworth is handling losing both legs and almost her right arm in a helicopter attack in Iraq. She wants to be the first amputee to return to flying blackhawks - she's an amazing soldier, an amazing woman and a hero to boot!
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