Posted on 02/16/2013 5:36:07 AM PST by the scotsman
'It is extraordinary that doctors were able to do anything for Todd Nelson.
The former US Army master sergeant's injuries were so bad the medics thought he would not survive.
"I was on my 300th-plus convoy across Kabul, Afghanistan," he recalls. "We were headed home for the night when we passed next to a typical yellow and white sedan. When they saw us getting ready to pass, they flipped the switch.
"The blast came in my side of the truck; I was on the passenger side. "It flipped the truck through a brick wall and put shrapnel through my right eye, into my sinus cavity. "Both my upper and lower jawbones were crushed, as was my right orbital rim, and it crushed my forehead.
"It burned my right arm over the top of my head, [and] took my right ear off."
Nelson went through more than 40 operations to reconstruct his face. The scars are evident but what is not so apparent to someone just talking to him is the pain he still feels over large portions of his body.
The veteran is now working with Colonel Robert Hale from the US Army Institute for Surgical Research, sitting on his advisory panel.
The pair came to speak to reporters here in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Col Hale is trying to develop new techniques that will give wounded soldiers better outcomes.'
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Maybe somebody knows, but do our troops who convoy a lot wear flash/flame retardant long undies? Seems that some of these injuries could be minimized with the right gear.
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