Reflections On The Plight Of Severely Wounded Veterans

Beyond The Battlefield: A Reporter's Reflections On The Plight Of Severely Wounded Veterans


David Wood
Posted: 10/21/11

"Beyond The Battlefield" is a 10-part series exploring the challenges that severely wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan face after they return home, as well as what those struggles mean for those close to them. Learn how you can help here. Other stories in the series can be found here. Listen to reporter David Wood discuss "Beyond The Battlefield" with NPR's Terry Gross here. Wood and wounded veteran Bobby Henline will hold a live video chat this afternoon. See more details and send them questions.

In the dusty desert village of Jigjiga, in Ethiopia, I once watched a man die.

He'd been caught in fighting between Ethiopians and Somalis, in one of those senseless wars that go nowhere and settle nothing.

The Somalis had routed Ethiopian forces after a brief battle between their pre-World War II tanks. Now the Ethiopians were counterattacking. Airstrikes by a couple of aging American and British fighter-bombers, flown by Ethiopians, had us pinned down. Bombs tore into the village health clinic, a modest, green tin building. Rockets splintered crude shacks in the market, pulverized the mud wattle huts where most people lived. Strafing rounds of .50-cal bullets caught the unlucky who were trying to flee.

I didn't see the young man get hit, but he crawled toward me and collapsed where I was huddled against a low wall. His wound was horribly obvious: shrapnel had ripped open his chest and stomach. Blood soaked his clothes, matted his beard. His eyes were glazed.
read more here