A Letter From a Battlefield Hospital

The milblogs are wonderful reads to see how so many of the youth (and some not so youthful, yet reluctant to admit it) of this nation are handling duties on the front lines of freedom all over the world. The stories from a plethora of infanty, armor and MP writers are there for the understanding. Check the blogroll on the left and many are there. In Vietnam, the ratio of fighter in the jungle to support in the rear was at a 1:9 ratio. The fact is, our technologically advanced military machine needs lots of skilled, technical support to make it happen. One of those many areas of support is the medical corps of the various services. Today, via Black Five, I found a letter from a surgeon in Iraq, dated just two days ago (12/13/2005). It is a difficult read, for it describes the part of the injury process between the event, and before the recovery, the critical time, when the fragile nature of life is at great risk. As LTC Banes shares so well, the staff of the CSH fights their own incredibly vicious battles at times. His letter talks to some issues in the details one might never consider, as you think much more of the troops doing the hard work in the streets of Iraqi cities, or on the mountain trails of Afghanistan. If you're prone to shedding a few tears when you read about the bad things that happen, get your box of kleenex before you click on the link. If you're one of those tough guys who doesn't get choked up easily, I suspect the end of the story within the story near the end of the letter will cause some emotion to well up in you, too. Here it is: Letter from a Battlefield Hospital Read and absorb the story of the professional medical specialists who care for the wounded, ours and theirs....See the response from the troops to the care they get, and know every service person is a valuable part of the great team that makes it happen.