Free Republic

HUNDREDS of soldiers who have had arms and legs blown off by the Taliban may find that cash-strapped hospitals cannot afford to fix or replace sophisticated artificial limbs, campaigners warned last night. Since 2006, members of the Armed Forces injured in bomb blasts while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq have been provided with top-range prosthetics by the Ministry of Defence. When they leave the Army, however, their care is passed on to the NHS in what critics described as a postcode lottery for funds. One campaigner said: "The way things are going, ­soldiers risk walking into a hospital with a...

Later this week Army Cpl. J.R. Martinez will leave his Dalton home for his next appointment with pain. Martinez will return to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for his 28th surgery. On April 5, 2003, the Humvee he was driving near Karbala, Iraq, triggered a land mine. The explosion trapped him inside the wreckage and burned more than 40 percent of his body, with the worst damage to his face and head. The next operation will involve doctors stretching what little good skin remains on the right side of his head around the back to the left side....