another wounded soldier's story

that is NOT pretty. he fought and he won (well not really WON) BUT HE NEVER SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT (in iraq OR for veterans benefits and proper health care) to begin with!
Gravely wounded Iraq vet visits old Walter Reed haunts
By Les Blumenthal McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — For months, Spc. Rory Dunn lay in Bed 32, Ward 58, on the fifth floor of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, recovering after a roadside bomb in Iraq exploded and crushed his forehead from ear to ear.
As he lay in the neuroscience unit struggling to recover from one of the worst traumatic brain injuries doctors had seen, he vowed that he'd never come back to Walter Reed.
Last week, he did.
Dunn wanted to thank the doctors, surgeons, nurses, therapists and others who'd helped him survive after most thought he'd surely die.
"This guy here is a miracle," said Solomon Montgomery, a former professional football player turned physical therapist, as he enveloped Dunn in a hug.
"Dude, you look good," said Dr. Stephen Rouse, who restored Dunn's skull using a plastic insert designed by a 3-D computer program.
Since he left the hospital in 2005, Dunn has rebuilt his life. He's living with his dog, Duke, in a condo he bought in Renton, Wash.
His wounds have healed, but scars remain...........

4471?

nope, try 20,000. seems like even some of the vets WITH EVIDENT injuries are getting the runaround. what about those whose symptoms are a bit harder to detect? king george sends them to war (an unjust illegal and immoral one at that) and when they come home, kicks them in the ass

20,000 vets' brain injuries not listed in Pentagon tally
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
At least 20,000 U.S. troops who were not classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been found with signs of brain injuries, according to military and veterans records compiled by USA TODAY.
The data, provided by the Army, Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs, show that about five times as many troops sustained brain trauma as the 4,471 officially listed by the Pentagon through Sept. 30. These cases also are not reflected in the Pentagon's official tally of wounded, which stands at 30,327.
HIDDEN WOUNDS: Marine didn't recognize signs of brain injury
The number of brain-injury cases were tabulated from records kept by the VA and four military bases that house units that have served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One base released its count of brain injuries at a medical conference. The others provided their records at the request of USA TODAY, in some cases only after a Freedom of Information Act filing was submitted..........

more on our injured veterans

they're coming back with injuries no one is prepared to treat.
why do young men and women keep on enlisting when they see the treatment given to those already serving? i don't get it. the bumbler in chief, king george, is directly responsible for the lives of every man and woman serving. we MUST demand they all get proper treatment

AP Reveals The Other 'Surge': Brain Injuries for GIs
NASHVILLE The war in Iraq is not over, but one legacy is already here in this city and others across America: an epidemic of brain-damaged soldiers.Thousands of troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, or TBI. These blast-caused head injuries are so different from the ones doctors are used to seeing from falls and car crashes that treating them is as much faith as it is science."I've been in the field for 20-plus years dealing with TBI. I have a very experienced staff. And they're saying to me, 'We're seeing things we've never seen before,'" said Sandy Schneider, director of Vanderbilt University's brain injury rehabilitation program.Doctors also are realizing that symptoms overlap with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that both must be treated. Odd as it may seem, brain injury can protect against PTSD by blurring awareness of what happened.But as memory improves, emotional problems can emerge: One of the first "graduates" of Vanderbilt's program committed suicide three weeks later."Of all the ones here, he would not have been the one we would have thought," Schneider said. "They called him the Michelangelo of Fort Campbell" — a guy who planned to go to art school.As more troops return from the war, brain injuries are a growing burden — for them, for the few programs to treat them, and for taxpayers who pay for their care and disability if they cannot hold jobs.Most TBIs are mild, and most of these patients recover within a year. But one-fifth of the troops with these mild injuries will have prolonged or lifelong symptoms and need continuing care, the military estimates. Nearly all of the moderate and severe ones will, too........