(I posted this in the main board - might get more thoughts on this forum)
I want the US troops out of Iraq ...
Not because I don't want the Iraqi people to live in freedom,
Not because I don't want the U.S. to continue the war on terror,
But because of the toll it has had, and continues to have, on many Americans soldiers who have died or gotten terribly injured like this guy below:
Shurvon Phillip, right, who has been unable to speak and can barely move since he was injured in Iraq, with his his mother, Gail Ulerie; his nephew, Malik; and his niece, Kyla.
Keeping Hope Alive Shurvon’s mother has been his greatest advocate and believer.
The Relearning Process Therapy at the V.A. hospital in Cleveland. The hope is that Shurvon’s remaining brain cells can be taught motor skills.
The Sergeant Lost Within
“You want to wear this or this for therapy tomorrow?” Sgt. Shurvon Phillip’s mother asked, holding two shirts in front of him. On one wall of his bedroom hung a poster of a marine staring fiercely, assault rifle in hand and black paint beneath his narrow eyes. Shurvon’s eyes, meanwhile, are wide and soft brown. He sat upright, supported by the tilt of a hospital bed. He cannot speak and can barely emit sound or move any part of his body, and sometimes it’s as if the striking size of his eyes is a desperate attempt to let others understand who he is, to let them see inside his mind, because his brain can carry out so little in the way of communication.
He gazed at the two shirts and, with excruciating effort and several seconds’ delay, managed to jab his gnarled right hand a few inches toward his choice, a black pullover with writing on the front. White letters declared the man, and a white arrow pointed upward to his head; red letters proclaimed the legend, and a red arrow pointed downward to his groin.
Gail Ulerie, Shurvon’s mother, had already received his O.K. — a painstaking raising of his eyebrows — on a pair of jeans. Mostly, Shurvon can answer only yes-or-no questions. The slightly lifted brows, a gesture that stretches his eyes yet wider, signify yes. A slow lowering of his lids indicates no. Now, with tomorrow’s clothes decided, Gail, a Trinidadian-American, reclined Shurvon’s bed for the night. He wore a hospital gown and tube socks pulled up tightly on the twigs of his caramel-colored shins. The socks were immaculately white, as if Gail believed that if everything were properly and precisely attended to, right down to the cotton that sheathed his toes, her son’s brain could recover.
In Iraq’s Anbar Province, in May 2005, Shurvon, who joined the Marine reserves seven years earlier at 17, partly as a way to pay his community-college tuition, was riding back to his base after a patrol when an anti-tank mine exploded under his Humvee. The Humvee’s other soldiers were tossed in different directions and dealt an assortment of injuries: concussions, broken bones, herniated discs. Along with a broken jaw and a broken leg, Shurvon suffered one of the war’s signature wounds on the American side: though no shrapnel entered his head, the blast rattled his brain profoundly.
Read Rest of Article in NY Times Mag...
I am getting tired of being sad when I read these accounts and beginning to become more angry about it as one of my central reasons for U.S. troops should pull out of Iraq - too many war casualties such as this guy Shurvon that while not a statistic like a death are essentially just as hard on a family, if not more so because of their serious injuries. Too many poor white, black, brown people getting screwed over because of all of this... this dude essentially joined to help pay for his community college tuition and in return he got dealt this fate for his service?
Everyone wants to talk about terrorism and Iraqi democracy, thats fine and all but war casualties are so often overlooked that its as if the war is happening without them.
Just wanted to bring this to attention.
I want the US troops out of Iraq ...
Not because I don't want the Iraqi people to live in freedom,
Not because I don't want the U.S. to continue the war on terror,
But because of the toll it has had, and continues to have, on many Americans soldiers who have died or gotten terribly injured like this guy below:
Shurvon Phillip, right, who has been unable to speak and can barely move since he was injured in Iraq, with his his mother, Gail Ulerie; his nephew, Malik; and his niece, Kyla.
Keeping Hope Alive Shurvon’s mother has been his greatest advocate and believer.
The Relearning Process Therapy at the V.A. hospital in Cleveland. The hope is that Shurvon’s remaining brain cells can be taught motor skills.
The Sergeant Lost Within
“You want to wear this or this for therapy tomorrow?” Sgt. Shurvon Phillip’s mother asked, holding two shirts in front of him. On one wall of his bedroom hung a poster of a marine staring fiercely, assault rifle in hand and black paint beneath his narrow eyes. Shurvon’s eyes, meanwhile, are wide and soft brown. He sat upright, supported by the tilt of a hospital bed. He cannot speak and can barely emit sound or move any part of his body, and sometimes it’s as if the striking size of his eyes is a desperate attempt to let others understand who he is, to let them see inside his mind, because his brain can carry out so little in the way of communication.
He gazed at the two shirts and, with excruciating effort and several seconds’ delay, managed to jab his gnarled right hand a few inches toward his choice, a black pullover with writing on the front. White letters declared the man, and a white arrow pointed upward to his head; red letters proclaimed the legend, and a red arrow pointed downward to his groin.
Gail Ulerie, Shurvon’s mother, had already received his O.K. — a painstaking raising of his eyebrows — on a pair of jeans. Mostly, Shurvon can answer only yes-or-no questions. The slightly lifted brows, a gesture that stretches his eyes yet wider, signify yes. A slow lowering of his lids indicates no. Now, with tomorrow’s clothes decided, Gail, a Trinidadian-American, reclined Shurvon’s bed for the night. He wore a hospital gown and tube socks pulled up tightly on the twigs of his caramel-colored shins. The socks were immaculately white, as if Gail believed that if everything were properly and precisely attended to, right down to the cotton that sheathed his toes, her son’s brain could recover.
In Iraq’s Anbar Province, in May 2005, Shurvon, who joined the Marine reserves seven years earlier at 17, partly as a way to pay his community-college tuition, was riding back to his base after a patrol when an anti-tank mine exploded under his Humvee. The Humvee’s other soldiers were tossed in different directions and dealt an assortment of injuries: concussions, broken bones, herniated discs. Along with a broken jaw and a broken leg, Shurvon suffered one of the war’s signature wounds on the American side: though no shrapnel entered his head, the blast rattled his brain profoundly.
Read Rest of Article in NY Times Mag...
I am getting tired of being sad when I read these accounts and beginning to become more angry about it as one of my central reasons for U.S. troops should pull out of Iraq - too many war casualties such as this guy Shurvon that while not a statistic like a death are essentially just as hard on a family, if not more so because of their serious injuries. Too many poor white, black, brown people getting screwed over because of all of this... this dude essentially joined to help pay for his community college tuition and in return he got dealt this fate for his service?
Everyone wants to talk about terrorism and Iraqi democracy, thats fine and all but war casualties are so often overlooked that its as if the war is happening without them.
Just wanted to bring this to attention.
