Re: word from Iraq

While I have no doubt that there are many who have been badly wounded (including the son of a friend of mine), the situation you describe here is related to the way the military categorizes their personnel. A soldier is either "on duty", "on leave", or "AWOL". Each of these categories may be further defined. They may be on duty at work, on quarters (home sick), or essentially "assigned" to the hospital. A soldier who has been sick or wounded may not be returned to duty with their unit until they are fully capable of performing their responsibilities. Therefore, when they no longer need to be actually in a hospital, but are not able to be sent back to their units they must be housed somewhere until cleared by their doctor for full duty...hence the barracks and hotel. I remember back during Vietnam we had entire wards full of convalescent soldiers, and they were quite a handful for the nursing staff, who became more parents than nurses!
Cathy
On Sunday, February 1, 2004, at 04:22 PM, TeichFlora@aol.com wrote:

BAMC hospital, one of the largest military hospitals in the US, located in San
Antonio, has the number one burn unit for the military. They are filled to
capacity....to the point where those patients that can actually walk or get around
in some fashion are housed in baracks on post, and the military even rented a
civilian hotel close to the hospital for these as well. Every day soldiers
that are in the military hospitals die from wounds sustained in Iraq....but one
doesn't hear about these.
Noreen
zone 9
Texas Gulf Coast 

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