Free Republic

SAN ANTONIO — Sgt. Darron Mikeworth's first glimpse in the mirror was largely a blur. He'd just come out of a drug-induced coma three weeks after a bomber blew up his Humvee in Iraq. Mikeworth awoke in a bed at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. He was relieved he still had his arms, legs and ears. But his face was in bad shape, and his left eye was useless. His nose was mostly gone. His top right lip was curled into a snarl, his right jaw was torn and his bottom teeth were wired...

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), lifelong wounds, external and internal, are all real. Thousands of veterans have returned severely wounded and will need daily support for the rest of their lives. It is our country’s duty to care for them and provide them the very best. But, in addition to supplying them the best medical benefits possible, we owe it to these veterans to portray them as the heroes they are and ensure they are honored and accepted -- not feared or scorned -- when they return from the battlefield. These men and women -- wounded or not -- are the...

BAGHDAD – The U.S. military says a suicide bomber has wounded eight U.S. soldiers visiting the mayor of violence-wracked Baqouba city. Iraqi security officials say the bomber was wearing a police uniform and also injured at least nine civilians in Monday's attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

For years, the use of unscreened blood transfusions exposed severely wounded servicemembers and other trauma patients in Iraq and Afghanistan to the inherent risk of diseases such as HIV, hepatitis and malaria, according to medical experts who advise the secretary of defense. Battlefield attacks that resulted in mass casualties or severe injuries often overtaxed the military’s blood supply system until 2007, meaning medics collected fresh blood from those on site for emergency treatment of the wounded, the Defense Health Board wrote in a June 2008 report. The unscreened blood transfusions, however, did not meet federal safety standards required of all...

Everyone knows it's Windy! Boy, it was windy! Gusts up to 40 mph. It was our 4th Anniversary and we were going to unveil our new MOAB. Had we put up the MOAB Windy would have... Tripped down the streets of the cityand destroyed it,Smilin' at everybody she sees.But it wouldn't have been funny. Not at all. Windy even captured a moment ... and Cindy's sign ... and sent it sailing right into a little kid in a stroller. Nope, the new MOAB unveiling will have to wait - weather permitting. Honor Roll: Cindy-True-Supporter; [Mr/Mrs] Trooprally; Lurker Bill; RonGKirby;...

New procedures were rushed into theaters of war without rigorous review The U.S. Army has quietly altered or abandoned some of its more experimental medical treatments for troops injured in combat, as advances it once hailed as groundbreaking are foundlargely ineffective or perhaps even dangerous. Advanced battle dressings, a blood-clotting drug, alternative procedures for emergency blood transfusions - each was introduced early in the Iraq war, often with little evidence to support them beyond anecdotes or tests on animals. A few were adopted widely by civilian hospitals, based almost exclusively on accolades from the military. But an investigation by The...

Erik Roberts, an Army sergeant who was wounded in Iraq, underwent his 13th surgery recently to save his right leg from amputation. Imagine his shock when he got a bill for $3,000 for his treatment. Army Sgt. Erik Roberts was badly wounded in Iraq with two comrades in April 2006. 1 of 3 "I just thought it was bull---- that I'm getting billed for being wounded in Iraq doing my job. I always put the mission first, and now that I was wounded in Iraq, they're sending me bills," he said.

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs declined on Tuesday to provide any further explanation of a plan the administration is considering to have the Department of Veterans Affairs bill the private heath insurance of veterans for service-related injuries. Veterans’ groups and members of Congress, meanwhile, stepped up their criticism of the idea. The administration could face a fight in Congress over the issue, as members from both parties have slammed the plan. While administration officials say the idea is not yet a formal proposal, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag confirmed in congressional...

President Obama's plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs for the treatment of troops injured in service has infuriated veterans groups who say the government is morally obligated to pay for service-related medical care. Calling it a "desperate search for money at any cost," Craig Roberts, media relations manager for the American Legion, told FOXNews.com on Tuesday that the president will "wish away so much political capital on this issue" if he continues to insist on private coverage for service-related injuries. Cmdr. David K. Rehbein of the American Legion, the nation's largest veterans group,...

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance. But the proposal would be “dead on arrival” if it’s sent to Congress, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said.

The general in charge of the Army's more than 9,000 wounded soldiers said Wednesday he is ordering a review of how the ones at Fort Bragg are being punished for minor violations. Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek said he is asking the Army Surgeon General to look at all discipline that has been taken against soldiers in the base's Warrior Transition unit to make sure each case was fair.

23 January 2008, Elder Street and Georgia Avenue, Washington, DC Honor Roll: Chcknhawk, BufordP, Pasquale, rongkirby, Tom the Redhunter, Fraxinus, Trooprally, Lurker Bill, Cindy_true_supporter, victoryNY, GunsareOK and Mike Bufton Loyola College student and former roommate of Cindy_true_supporter’s son Gavin On special assignment: PleaDeal, she thought it would be cold so she was volunteering at the Blair Mansion Inn First things first, BufordP has wheels that are new to him: A Black Fiat Magnum with a 340 Hemi. He claims it goes like stink Chcknhawk (CJ) was in town and stopped by to make sure that we were still pulling Friday...

Fraxinus and [Mr] Trooprally RonGKirby and me VictoryNY Lurker Bill It's getting cold in DC. Tomorrow will be even colder. Possibly in the single digits when the DC Freepers man the streets and keep the perps away and down the block. Pray they're able to make it through the night. Sadly, I won't be there. I need to pick the wife up at the airport. MOAB Slogan Contest Current MOAB has been in use for some time and is starting to show a lot of wear and tear. Time for a new one. Here's our current Son of MOAB...

Karl Rove wrote Let's Be Worthy of Their Sacrifice in the Wall Street Journal on 2 Jan 2009. He closed with this thought , “May the New Year bring safety to all who wear our country's uniform, success in the missions they so passionately believe in, peace and comfort to their families, and reunion with all whom they love.” First AAR of the New Year and as you can tell from the accompanying pictures the Goracle was warming up some other part of the world. Larry McCan, a lifer of fifteen years, was waiting for his squeeze to pick him...

Israel entered the second week of its offensive against rockets from Hamas-ruled Gaza on Saturday evening by launching a much-expected ground operation into the coastal strip.

The next day, I got an email from the retired Navy Seal buddy who'd talked me into speaking at NSWF. He shared a picture of the sign the wounded Seal put on his Baghdad hospital door. On it, the Seal had scrawled that visitors shouldn't "feel sorry" for him. "The wounds I received," he wrote, "I got in a job I love, doing it for people I love, supporting the freedom of a country I deeply love. I am incredibly tough." And on his sign he promised "a full recovery" and wrote that his hospital room was a place of...

Tire tracks in the driveway, footprints in the snow -- some left by the small boots of children, others adult-sized. And 12 touching gifts left by people who came and went, silently, unseen, though their kindness will never be forgotten by a tough army major who lost both legs earlier this year while serving in Afghanistan. The first gift arrived Dec. 13, when Mark and Donna Campbell's nine-year-old daughter came home to find a kit for making gingerbread houses had been left in front of the family's St. Albert home. Attached was a letter signed by "The Spirit of Christmas."...

This coming week is Olney’s 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY. The Olney Patriots look forward to seeing a lot of our friends. We’ll be set up by 10AM and waiting for you all. We’ll retire afterwards for R&R at Dave’s Bistro. All the Olney FReepers, regulars and occasional FReepers, we wish everyone a safe and prosperous NEW YEAR!! This past week Cindy_True_Supporter was back. Her mom is doing better, allowing Cindy to make it back to Olney. But with [Mrs] T still recovering from her shoulder operation (she’ll be out this coming Saturday) and Lurker Bill having the flu, our stander bearers...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22, 2008 – President George W. Bush paid a call to Walter Reed Army Medical Center here today to visit with wounded warriors, extend holiday greetings to them and their families and check up personally on the care and support they are receiving. “Every time I come here, I get amazed at the quality of care, the professionalism and the courage of our troops,” Bush told reporters after the visit. “I can say with certainty that the health care that our troops get in military medical facilities is excellent,” the president said. “I am so pleased to...

SCHWEINFURT, Germany, Dec. 22, 2008 – Danger lurks on every stretch of road in Iraq with the prospect of roadside bombs, which have taken a terrible toll on those serving downrange. Army Spc. Jake Altman knows very well the destruction they can cause. Army Spc. Jake Altman, wounded during his first deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007, is preparing to re-join his unit in Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Emily Athens  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. After serving two years in the Army, Altman deployed in 2006 with 9th Engineer Battalion, 172nd Infantry Brigade, stationed just north...