"Wounded" in Iraq

An Op-Ed by Bob Herbert in todays NYT (subscription needed) really opened my eyes concerning our "wounded" soldier from the Iraq War. What do you think of when you hear a soldier was wounded. Shot in the arm or leg? How about this version from a wounded soldier?

“I was like, ‘Oh, we got hit. We got hit.’ And then I had blood on my face and the flies were landing all over my face. So I wiped my face to get rid of the flies. And that is when I noticed that my fingertip was gone. So I was like, ‘Oh. O.K.’

“So that is when I started really assessing myself. I was like, ‘That’s not bad.’ And then I turned my hand over, and I noticed that this chunk of my hand was gone. So I was like, ‘O.K., still not bad. I can live with that.’

“And then when I went to wipe the flies on my face with my left hand, there was nothing there. So I was like, ‘Uh, that’s gone.’ And then I looked down and I saw that my legs were gone. And then they had kind of forced my head back down to the ground, hoping that I wouldn’t see.”

This was from a series of interviews of wounded soldiers for an HBO documentary called "Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq". Be sure and watch the promo video.