Subject: Numbers of war dead cooked
Bart, as a registered nurse who has worked at
Brooke Army Medical Center and still has friends
who work there, I can tell you that they lose
kids pretty regularly, especially in the Burn Unit and
Critical Care. When I used to work there full-time
from 1996 to 2000, every time we heard a
Code Blue, we knew it was usually some poor old
guy giving up the ghost.
Now, it's more than likely a young severely injured
evacuee soldier or Marine. But, I'm retired from
the military now, and I don't give a hoot's patoot
what the military talking points are. These kids come
to BAMC in waves (we used to refer to them as
mass-cals) some already too far gone to do much
more than be hooked up to ventilators. Most of
the surgeries done at BAMC in the 90's were hip
replacements, reproductive surgeries, lap chole's,
lap appys,etc. Now, most are limb amputations.
One bright spot---the only one that I can see---is
that these kids aren't stupid. They are very, very angry
at the Bush Administration. But, don't cheer
yet. They're very angry with the blase American public, too.
It was so sad once, Bart. I was at the airport
in Dallas and a group of young soldiers in Desert BDUs
were huddled together waiting for a connecting
flight to take them to their destination in Ft. Hood.
Their poor uniforms were threadbare, sun-faded;
their boots almost bleached. But, it was their attitudes
that I found the most pitiful. They sat huddled
together well away from other travellers, their body language
putting up a barrier that no one could mistake.
No one went up to them to maked conversation or thank
them for their service. People were actually
averting their eyes from them. I made eye contact with one
young man who gave me a tired smile and quickly
looked away. When one of the female soldiers needed
to go to the bathroom, the other two accompanied
her and a half dozen of the males loitered by the
bathroom door in a protective huddle. If one
wanted to get a smoothie, or make a phone call, they
would travel in a tight little entourage, never
in ones, twos or even threes, but in groups, never far
from sight of the main unit.
I never voted for Bush or any of his henchmen,
but I can say that those kids made me feel so
incredibly guilty because I was here and they
went "there".
Michael Moore said it best, "Will they ever trust us again.
Rosa, Retired.
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