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Feb. 3rd, 2005 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ste_noniI just spent the last hour sniffling and watching CNN's Wounded Warriors Special. The cameras followed wounded soldiers and Marines as they moved through the medical system in Iraq.
My mom thinks I'm crazy for watching this stuff, but I find it very comforting. One of my biggest fears is that Joe will die alone over there. But watching this show, I realized that the wounded soldiers are not alone. Their buddies are with them and the nurses and doctors are amazing over there.
The bonds formed by soldiers are amazing. I just watched this group of guys wait by the bedside of one of their buddies who ultimately died of his wounds. These guys looked like they came from all parts of the US, but they were all giving blood to help their buddy. That makes me proud. It makes up for some of the shame that I felt over Abu Ghraib - most soldiers are decent men and women and this show reminded me of that tonight.
It really impressed me to see the alarms go off (meaning the base was under attack) and see the medical staff just keep on working. I got to see the hospital in Balad, where Joe is. It's clearly a series of tents, but other than that it's amazing. It appears to have everything you would expect to be in a hospital. One thing Joe *didn't* tell me is that Balad is the most attacked base in Iraq.
These days I'm an Army wife, but before that, I was a soldier myself. I still feel this bond with the men and women I see in uniform. A few years earlier and I could have been over there. It makes me proud to see how well it all works. When you are one little piece in the whole system, mainly you see the flaws. We used to say all the time that if we ever had to do our jobs in a combat zone, we would be so screwed. And yet that's obviously not true. Because, as I saw tonight, the systems work. From a soldier's first contact with a combat life saver, to physical therapy back in the States, the medical channels are filled with people who will risk their lives to do their job. This was the medical system I saw tonight, but it's true everywhere.
My mom thinks I'm crazy for watching this stuff, but I find it very comforting. One of my biggest fears is that Joe will die alone over there. But watching this show, I realized that the wounded soldiers are not alone. Their buddies are with them and the nurses and doctors are amazing over there.
The bonds formed by soldiers are amazing. I just watched this group of guys wait by the bedside of one of their buddies who ultimately died of his wounds. These guys looked like they came from all parts of the US, but they were all giving blood to help their buddy. That makes me proud. It makes up for some of the shame that I felt over Abu Ghraib - most soldiers are decent men and women and this show reminded me of that tonight.
It really impressed me to see the alarms go off (meaning the base was under attack) and see the medical staff just keep on working. I got to see the hospital in Balad, where Joe is. It's clearly a series of tents, but other than that it's amazing. It appears to have everything you would expect to be in a hospital. One thing Joe *didn't* tell me is that Balad is the most attacked base in Iraq.
These days I'm an Army wife, but before that, I was a soldier myself. I still feel this bond with the men and women I see in uniform. A few years earlier and I could have been over there. It makes me proud to see how well it all works. When you are one little piece in the whole system, mainly you see the flaws. We used to say all the time that if we ever had to do our jobs in a combat zone, we would be so screwed. And yet that's obviously not true. Because, as I saw tonight, the systems work. From a soldier's first contact with a combat life saver, to physical therapy back in the States, the medical channels are filled with people who will risk their lives to do their job. This was the medical system I saw tonight, but it's true everywhere.