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June 11, 2006
Some Wounded GIs Opt to Stay in Iraq
Some Wounded GIs Opt to Stay in Iraq
MAHMOUDIYA, Iraq — Parallel scars running down 1st Sgt. Rick Skidis' calf tell the story of how he nearly lost his leg when a roadside bomb blew through the door of his armored Humvee.
The blast shredded muscle, ligament and tendon, leaving Skidis in a daze as medics and fellow soldiers rushed to help him. Skidis remembers little of that day last November except someone warning him that when he woke, his foot might be gone.
After five months and six surgeries, the foot remains intact but causes Skidis haunting numbness and searing pain caused by nerve damage.
CountryWatch: Iraq
Skidis, 36, of Sullivan, Ill., fought through the surgeries and therapy to return in April to Iraq, conducting the same type of patrols that nearly killed him.
He is not an exception.
Nearly 18,000 military personnel have been wounded in combat since the war began in Iraq more than three years ago, according to Defense Department statistics. Some have lost legs and arms, suffered horrific burns to their bodies and gone home permanently.
But the vast majority have remained in Iraq or returned later — their bodies marked by small scars and their lives plagued by aches and pains.
"I wear my scars proudly," said Skidis as he gingerly lifted his pant leg to show the railroad-like tracks where doctors made incisions to save his foot. Why didn't he stay home? "I felt guilty because I wasn't sharing the same hardships that they were," Skidis said shyly, while another soldier nodded at his side.
For some soldiers in Iraq, it was a roadside blast that muffled their hearing or peppered their body in shrapnel. Others have been ripped by gunfire, sometimes leaving them with jabbing pains in their limbs and compromised movement.
Their wounds are often similar but there are many reasons for remaining at war when their wounds are a ticket home.
Some can't imagine any other job than being a soldier. Some know no other life. Others, like Skidis, feel the guilt, an obligation to their fellow soldiers.
Staff Sgt. Katherine Yocom-Delgado, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y., lost 70 percent of the hearing in her left ear weeks ago when an artillery shell landed just a few feet away from her. Her teeth still hurt and she has frequent headaches, especially in the morning.
Yocom-Delgado tilts her head when she listens to people talk.
But she hasn't considered leaving — the wounds are not as important as the mission.
"I'm alive and I'm happy to be alive," she said with a smile. "I don't hurt every day."
As a woman, Yocom-Delgado represents just two percent of those injured in Iraq, a figure she quotes and has read in new articles. It's an odd distinction, she said, just her luck.
Spc. Steven Clark's luck is worse. The 25-year-old has been shot three times and wounded by shrapnel from a grenade that tore into his legs and back. He has been awarded three purple hearts — a fourth is on the way — and a bronze star with valor.
His friends have nicknamed him "Bullet Magnet" — but he won't consider leaving.
Clark, of Fitzgerald, Ga., says getting wounded was a mistake and his pain is punishment for letting people down. He won't show the scars on his calf or shoulder or back. He calls the attacks "incidents."
"I have pains. I have numbness from nerve damage. But it's just something I'm going to have to live with," Clark said. "I'm not going to change what I am just because it's dangerous."
Soldiers in the battalion, the 502nd Infantry Regiment of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, have been struck by more than 230 roadside bombs since they arrived in Iraq last October, leaving 15 dead. They've discovered about 350 more on the roads that crisscross their swath of desert.
More than 100 of the soldiers have been wounded, mostly on patrols in their sector south of Baghdad where Shiite and Sunni Arab tribes often clash with coalition forces. Twenty-seven of those wounded were evacuated from Iraq and remain at hospitals in the United States.
Pfc. Salvadore Bertolone, 21, of Ortonville, Mich., was injured when a roadside bomb blew glass shards into his face and arm. A scar curls down his cheek, but he dismisses his injury.
There are perks to staying in the fight after an injury, he said.
"I get free license plates for the rest of my life," Bertolone said. "And I've got people who are definitely going to be buying me drinks when I get home."
Though proud of their fellow soldiers, medics fear long-term health problems lie ahead.
"The soldiers here are so focused on staying in the fight that they suck up the pain and push through," said Capt. Dennison Segui, 33, a medic and physician's assistant from Browns Mills, N.J. "I know I'm busy here, but I'm nowhere near as busy as I will be when we get back."
Many of the injured soldiers have begged their commanders to let them come back. One soldier was sent home after a bomb exploded in his face and damaged his eyes. He likely will never return to Iraq, but still asks. Another was sent home because of a heart condition, but returned to Iraq three times, according to Lt. Col. Thomas Kunk, a commander in the 502nd Infantry Regiment.
Kunk, who is not a doctor, decides every week which wounded soldiers can return to duty. Often the soldiers research regulations and argue endlessly, he said.
It's heartbreaking when he has to say no, but he does.
"Sometimes there's too much 'Hooah!' in us guys," Kunk said. While he doesn't want to dampen that enthusiasm, he said, "I don't want to hurt the guy the rest of his life."
Kunk has injuries of his own, so he understands a soldier's conviction to fight. His leg swells and throbs by the end of the day, the lingering effect of a roadside bomb that damaged nerves and muscle. But he, too, won't think of leaving.
"I'm a father. Heck, I'm a grandpa to be honest with you. So I just kind of look at it from that perspective," said Kunk, 48. "I want to do right by them."
Wild Thing's comment.....
Thank you Jack H. for sending this to me. This is Jack H.'s old unit from Vietnam.
I rememebr them from my visit to Camp Eagle with Bob Hope.
As Jack H. said......" it's the good old 50duce or for people that dont know the 502nd inf."
Courage isn't something you can see or touch. It comes from deep within us, it comes from deep within our troops. We can never thank them enough for all they do.
Posted by Wild Thing at June 11, 2006 11:55 AM
Comments
You know Chrissie I still can see Camp Eagle clearly in my mind as if I were there The rows of neat hoochs situated on a slowly rising hill.I remember Misery Hill most of all where you made that walk up to mount the choppers carrying your rucksack and supposed basic load of ammo 350 rounds instead I carried that and 2 claymore bags filled with loaded mags.I even remember the mess hall which was a novalty to me comming off months on the Loatian border on Lam Son 719. I remember the stage they had set up for some USO shows.It's funny now but back then Camp Eagle represented civilazation to me.I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers I cant even talk to them about it they have never understood and never will. Yet I can talk to you on the internet and you understand.God bless you
Posted by: Jack Hamilton at June 11, 2006 01:47 PM
opps I goofed up on more than my spelling I see.It was dark when I was doing this. Did not want to disturb the wife.
Posted by: Jack Hamilton at June 11, 2006 01:50 PM
What a contrast between this story, and the daily crap fed us every day about personalities' lifestyles and athletes' snivelling, and politicians' indulgences. When I came home from Vietnan I was shocked and angry at the attention to trivia and drivel here. I wanted to go back to Vietnam where life made sense and people I dealt with were not backstabbers.
I sure do understand these soldiers wanting to stay with their units.
Thanks Jack and Chrissie for being part of the real world.
Posted by: TomR at June 11, 2006 02:16 PM
Jack I deleted the extra one. I have done that myself even when doing a post and not a comment I have posted things twice and had to ho back and delete. haha
It means a lot to me Jack to hear about it. Once a person has been there it stays in their dna I call it,like a part of my flesh. Sometimes I just want to be around Nam Vets and no one else including Nick too, but my being needs that connection.
You know what, the only three people in my whole life other then Nam vets I have ever talked to about Nam, where my Dad, Nick and Linda. And I wasn't even one of the troops and it is hard so I know just a tiny bit how it feels.
Thank you for sharing about it, thank you for unspoken things too that aren't even said that the heart knows.
Posted by: Wild Thing at June 11, 2006 03:01 PM
Tom you said it, what a difference in a story like this and the unimportant bs in the news.
Thank you Tom for being a part of my real world too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at June 11, 2006 03:09 PM
What a refreshing change from the MSM crap. I too remember Camp Eagle and the joy of getting there, and those wonderful roads to and from it. Thanks Jack H. for the memories and the article. Like Tom R., I wanted to go back for many of the same reasons, the only deterrant was a 3 year old daughter and a starving wife. These are the stories that the Kerry's and Murtha's don't want us to hear. Today's kids aren't all buying into the crap either, recruitment has exceeded quota's. Thanks WT for graciously letting us bare our souls here about Vietnam, there aren't many who understand nor care.
Posted by: Jack at June 11, 2006 03:59 PM
HI Jack your right, these sure are stories that Murtha and his ilk do not want to hear. IO ebt if they did they would be depressed for days instead of being proud of our troops like they should be.
Thank you Jack.
Posted by: Wild Thing at June 11, 2006 06:23 PM
Jacks:
There's a strange quality to this blog and Internet thing. I met a bunch of vets on the blogs during the Kerry campaign, and we've talked back and forth about the war. We've never met face to face.
Most of spent thirty years and more in silence about it all, never joined any vets organizations and now find an outlet with people we'll never see in the flesh.
You aren't alone in this, and never were even if it seemed that way. Thank you Chrissie.
Posted by: Rhod at June 11, 2006 08:14 PM
Like Rhod, I also did not join vet organizations. Too many phony war stories and a few other reasons. I have had a few veteran buddies although no one I served with. And our discussions are always political or military, but without personal war stories. Blogging has now introduced me to many more vets, and wonderful supporters of vets, and I realize that I am very, very typical of the average vet. It is the assholes and exaggerators, the high profile phonies and the "victims" of military service that are the odd men out. Of course, they are also the darlings of the media, academia and the Left.
Thanks to bloggers like Wild Thing and SondraK and Lindasog and others, we finally have a platform to opine, compare, meet and agree. My guess is the freedom of the Internet will soon be a target for the Left to try to get government control of.
Posted by: TomR at June 11, 2006 10:09 PM
Well I for one plan on meeting Chrissie the next time Kathy and I go to Florida. We used to go a coulple times a year to Panama City and stay at the Landmark and play tennis.There were at least 6 couples that would meet there and play these were grudge matchs I mean rugged. We would play till after dark then either go out for dinner or throw something on the grill it was a great time.
Posted by: Jack Hamilton at June 12, 2006 12:12 AM
TomR, Thank you for being apart of our world...we are all better for knowing you...and Smokey.
Posted by: sierrahome at June 12, 2006 12:32 AM
I never joined any veterans organizations either, at a 5 year company reunion in 1974, at the local training center, I was solicited by a member of the local VFW hall to join, I went there and found the attitude was "you didn't experience a real war like we did in WWII and Korea" so I never joined. Why spoil their clique, I'd never disrespect their sacrifices or accomplishments. Like nearly all returning Nam vets I went from military to civilian status in two days and one of those days was air travel, no decompression time, the only debriefing was to not talk about the war. At a loss for the first 3 years I re-enlisted in the Army Reserve for a one year hitch, spent that summer's annual training with one other reservist hauling rock and gravel and building tank trails because we'd joined too late to train with the main company, that was the only meaningful function we did that year, I was their training NCO and couldn't get any cooperation between the Reserves and the Regular Army, I left at the end of that year in frustration and joined the National Guard the next day for a couple of years as a tank crewman/TC, I left all together two years later when the armored unit I was in was stripped of every one of it's 25 M60A1's, even the M88 went to Israel after we'd busted our asses getting them and ourselves in shape as one of the best National Guard units in the country. I went into the control group until the remainder of my enlistment ran out. The one thing it did for me was get me back into the civilian realm by being associated with civilian soldiers, several of whom were Vietnam vets and finding the decompression I needed. We tried our best to prepare the men for what has been the norm in todays military, the call-up. Prior to and during the Vietnam War the reserves generally was a good place to serve and get some training while not being subjected to combat. That has all changed. I was blessed with the opportunity to have had another reunion, the 35th in August 2004, which was sponsored in our honor by the wives of my old unit who's husbands were then serving in Iraq, at the same old VFW hall, I've been in there three times now. It was a wonderful affair with a surviving brotherhood amongst the second generation of weekend warrior's spouses who were going through what all of them do, we all were more concerned about them in Iraq than of our own pasts, a family. They've all made it home February 12, 2005, some are still recuperating from wounds but thankfully there were no fatalities in either the Vietnam or the Iraq experiences, however that old unit was wiped out in the Korean war. Those care packages, mail and the occaisional entertainment entourages are great morale boosters, but I think the internet has made it possible to communicate on a regular basis, something we never had, that is a biggest morale booster. They still need and deserve our support whether they are Stateside or elsewhere, part time or full time, without any stigmas, after 48hrs. of active duty there is no distinction between regular or reserve. Thanks WT for being there and for all of you who have served.
Posted by: Jack at June 12, 2006 12:48 AM
Jack H. that would be fun I would love that.
Posted by: Wild Thing at June 12, 2006 07:38 PM
Jack it would have been so awesome to have the internet back then like it is today. Great post and sharing, thank you so much for being here.
Posted by: Wild Thing at June 12, 2006 07:40 PM
I have to say that I have been to several vet organizations many years ago and met many WW2 veterans that treated me great. I have been a member of veterans of VFW for several years but have never been to a meeting. I guess I should go sometime.
Posted by: Jack Hamilton at June 13, 2006 06:25 AM
