Once More in the Company of Heroes (858 hits)
Category: GeneralLabels: NonFiction
Rating: 1.94 on 39 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack11058 (View user info) at 2004-12-08 13:43:18 EST
Walter Reed Army Medical Center sprawls over several acres of Northwest Washington, DC, adjacent to picturesque Rock Creek Park. It is my new home for the next five months, until my five-year hitch in the US Army is complete.
I am assigned to the medical holding company. This is the company that is home to various sick and injured soldiers from all over the world. Walter Reed is considered the best of the army hospitals, so the army's most seriously ill and injured are often sent here for care.
I'm in physical therapy 10 hours a week. I strain and sweat during aquaphysio-therapy, I grate and groan through my time in the physical therapy clinic, I take medication at night to sleep, and medication and ultrasound wave therapy to kill the pain during the day.
I am a lucky son of a bitch.
I was injured in a car accident in peaceful Korea.
The war wounded are here.
Staff Sergeant L. -- Lost an eye in a roadside bomb while returning to base after distributing schoolbooks and supplies to childred in Baghdad. His new prosthetic eye has an American flag embedded in it. It can be very disconcerting to look him square when you are talking to him. But he's always ready with a laugh or cigarette.
Sergeant C. -- Had his right leg blown off above the knee while guarding a hospital. In his free time, he likes to play pranks on people using his new fake leg. Sometimes he screws it in backwards so the foot faces back, and walks around in the mall asking for people to straighten him out. He always seems to be smiling, and it's not just the medication.
Specialist R. -- Has a badly scarred face from an improvised explosive device, and a bad case of post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that leaves you with sleepless nights, flashbacks, nervousness, irritability, and high stress. He has it because he was the only one of the four guys riding in his vehicle to survive the blast that injured him. But he makes time to distribute red cross care packages to other soldiers who can't even get out of bed.
Corporal S. -- Took a rocket fragment in the spine while he was trying to drag his wounded Lieutenant to cover. He will walk again, maybe in six months. For now he makes do with a clunky wheelchair from the 1960's (the military's supply is running low). His wife and three children are with him now, and he wonders what the future holds for a 23-year old hispanic kid who will never regain full use of his legs.
These men have become my friends. They do not complain overmuch, though they are saddened by what they have lost. They are unashamedly patriotic. Who else but a patriot would put an American flag in his fucking glass eye. They are jokers and pranksters. They are considerate of others even less fortunate than themselves.
They have fought for this country and paid a high price. Many of their friends have paid the highest price of all. But each of them, and most of the others I've spoken to, say they would do it all again.
As for me, I'm just not sure anymore. I don't know how I feel, or how I should feel, about the war that's going on.
It's a divisive issue. Most of you are on one side or the other, and vehemently so. That's ok. That's what I love about America.
I just wanted to introduce you to my friends. They are good men who were just doing their job.
Don't forget them.
User Reviews
Submitted by silverstone148 (user info) at 2006-03-10 13:18:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by NotSteve (user info) at 2005-07-14 14:47:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by nitty34 (user info) at 2005-07-14 14:29:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-05-15 05:03:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yes,thank you.
Thank you, and I don't.
Again, this post was simple, good, and most important, Honest!
It seemed to be, a quite normal, easy, and I guess "evolutionary"* choice, for me.
At the time, the country was more divided than anytime before, or after, for that matter.
The "lines" were drawn hard, in the sand.
So, I chose a side; First Viet Nam /Then Law Enforcement*.
And so, I understand the thoughts, you mentioned in this post, quite well.
In any event, its good to communicate with someone who knows:
"...............................""I want to live a life of danger"
<1hardwiredJoedaddy>
Submitted by CoffeeAndSmokes (user info) at 2005-02-25 10:58:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
touching
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2004-12-10 13:53:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Zandy1123 (user info) at 2004-12-08 13:54:11 (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for you and your friends
I support the troops %150
but I don't support the war.
it's a damn shame.
--------------------------------------------------------
Zandy summed up my feelings precisely. I am against the war, but now you guys are over there I don't want any one of you injured or killed.
On a side note, I was talking to some squaddies in the pub the other day and they were full of stories about things which are very similar to what you have just said (And in your Sandbox series).
Good to know there are some similarities this side of the pond.
Respect to you for your service.
-Davros
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2004-12-10 13:46:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2004-12-10 13:37:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
ETS and all the rest of you supportive folks.
Thank you from the very cockles of my heart. Indeed, I said from the cockles. It's so good to know that there are folks out there who think of us.
It means just as much coming from those of you who don't necessarily support the war. It says something about someone's character that they can be against something and still show care for those who are involved.
I must have the only job in the world where I wake up every day and pray to be out of work.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-12-10 13:27:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You really seem like a hell of a guy, jack...
I appreciate you and what you've done to protect our way of life (crazy as it is). I wish our leaders could have even half the honor.
Submitted by MikeyP3184 (user info) at 2004-12-08 18:30:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Guys like them are the reason I joined up in the first place. Hope to meet some more just like them when my rotation to the Sand Box comes up. Good stuff man, very good stuff.
Submitted by oddity420 (user info) at 2004-12-08 17:17:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I feel you man. I've spent a total of a year over in Iraq. I go back in another 6 months. I've seen the hospitals over there. Most of the guys who get injured are awesome. While some of them may have gotten hurt doing stupid things, there is a lot that were hurt saving other marines lives. As I am sure it's the same in the Army. I know I won't forget any of the guys who were injured or killed over there any time soon. My first convoy over there was hit by small arms fire. They took out the driver of the Hummwv I was in. He didn't die, but he sure as hell wasn't driving anymore. It was probably the most scared I have ever been in my life. From where he was it, if he wasn't there, it would have hit me. Like I said, I won't be forgetting this thing anytime soon.
Submitted by bluegoddess (user info) at 2004-12-08 15:47:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by AlwaysAnEagle (user info) at 2004-12-08 15:42:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Amen, dahlin.
I used to live right across Rock Creek Park from Walter Reed.
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2004-12-08 15:27:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
galldurn Bishop Post Wednesday.
Submitted by Smoothe (user info) at 2004-12-08 15:15:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
very well written. ETS - you are so on the money. Blind faith = self-inflicted brainwashing
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2004-12-08 15:15:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Zakalwe: Thanks for reading, and thanks for viewing these guys with the humanity they deserve.
LadyP: It's more like the flag is inside it. Remember how you could get a picture of a football or a guitar inside the jewel in your high school class ring? It's like that. Except from a distance it just looks like a shiny red iris in his eyeball. Then you get close and see it's a waving american flag inside there. It's kind of creepy.
Lucky: I agree, and thanks for your input.
Submitted by Luckylacquer (user info) at 2004-12-08 15:07:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
SO easy to wave an opinion around, not so easy to sit there face to face with the outcomes...the consequences, the people who have names, and families, and lives. They fought for something. Who are we to tell them they were wrong.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2004-12-08 15:01:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"His new prosthetic eye has an American flag embedded in it"
Woah, like, there's a flag STICKING OUT OF HIS EYE?!? Because if it isn't, tell him to try that one day, just for a gag. Well, I can't say that I think that the whole war thing was a good idea, but you lot are trying to make the best out of a shit situation, and I respect that.
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:58:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
It's all too easy too see these people as statistics. Thanks for giving them a little humanity.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:48:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:46:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
God Chicken: Read. Excellent first post, by the way. I think you and I feel much the same about all of this.
ETS: Thanks for your response to my response. You're a class person and one of the reasons I like Uber so much is that I can enjoy the discussion generated in threads almost as much as I do the posts themselves.
JMG: Thanks for your support. I see it every day here at Reed. Care packages flow in. Random people send cards and gifts. Yesterday a veteran of WW2, Korea AND Vietnam tearfully shook my hand and thanked ME for my time in Afghanistan. Yeah, like my six months really measured up to his four+ YEARS in combat.
All: I guess how I'm really beginning to feel is just burned out on war in general. It started, of course, with Afghanistan (you can check out my smelly sandbox series if it interests you). You see too much, and do too much. As far as Iraq is concerned: I think Saddam was an asshole. I think we should have gotten rid of him for being an asshole, not for trumped-up bullshit. But we shouldn't have done it when we did. I think we needed to wrap up in Afghanistan first. We got close to bin Laden AND Omar, more times than the media will ever know, and then our focus shifted.
Then again, if we get rid of everyone who we deem an asshole, we'd have a laundry list of fuckers to take out. And what would stop another coalition from taking us out, if they deemed our country's leaders assholes because we were taking out other assholes.
And so it goes...
Thanks again for reading, all.
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:34:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Red state, blue state, we all support the troops.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:34:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I did get that much out of it, Jack, and I really really respected the fact that you were being arbitrary on war. I was addressing the respect for the patriotic ideal itself, for I see it as the SOURCE of a lot of our misguidedness as a nation.
+2 for your cool response to what was an assholish review.
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:31:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked this. Good stuff.
Submitted by runninginplace (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:24:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
good post
Submitted by Ferretnose (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:22:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:15:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks for the response everyone, especially ETS. I like a thoughtful response. Natch, I don't fully agree with you. I think it would be great to be a citizen of the world. I also wish we would all stop killing each other. Africa, Middle East, America, et al.
However, I actually believe that an end to world-wide violence will never be seen unless we are FORCED to stop by outside circumstances. I'm sure many of you creative writers out there know exactly what I mean.
Until then...
As I said, I just don't know how I feel anymore. I hope you realize I was simply trying to show my admiration for my friends and their fine qualities, and I was trying to do so without speaking out in favor of or against the war.
Respectfully,
Jack
Submitted by GodChicken (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:14:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I just worry that when it is all over, will these boys be able to stand tall and show their wounds with pride, or will they never speak of it, and will they see all their medals with blood on them that is not just their own?
Hell, will I? (read my 1st post jack)
Submitted by Smurfs (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:12:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome:
'Patriotism is to countries as blind faith is to religions.'
This kind of mindless drivel annoys me, learn the difference between ethnocentrism and patriotism before you attempt to regurgitate anarchist cliché's that you don't understand.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:08:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I feel bad that they have lost something, but that is why they are soldiers and I am not. I don't feel especially allied with any 'country'. Want to know what I say? FUCK COUNTRIES! FUCK THE USA! FUCK IRAQ! FUCK GREAT BRITAIN! FUCK THEM ALL! I am a citizen of the world, Jack. You should join me.
Patriotism sickens me. Honestly, it does.
Patriotism is to countries as blind faith is to religions.
Submitted by SilvrWolf (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:08:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by stardamage (user info) at 2004-12-08 14:07:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Zandy1123 (user info) at 2004-12-08 13:54:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for you and your friends
I support the troops %150
but I don't support the war.
it's a damn shame.
Submitted by tinactin (user info) at 2004-12-08 13:54:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Holy shit..a prosthetic eye with the American flag? That's hardcore.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2004-12-08 13:52:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
well written.
cheers.
Submitted by the_mysterious_stranger (user info) at 2004-12-08 13:51:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by comicbookguy (user info) at 2004-12-08 13:49:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2004-12-08 13:48:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
If you get a chance, you should check out the medical museum at Walter Reed (if they still have it there; it's been quite a few years). There are some amazing oddities there, most in large specimen jars if memory serves me.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2004-12-08 13:48:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment