War on terror claims more limbs than lives

Somewhere in Greater Bangor, there’s a young soldier who’s come home from the fighting in Afghanistan with a Purple Heart – and an amputated leg. The staff at the Bangor Veteran Center on Harlow Street is rightly protecting his identity, certain he’s too angry and emotionally vulnerable to talk to the media.

But whoever he is, his devastating loss is tragically characteristic of the casualties suffered in the war on terror being waged in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

The fighting in Iraq alone has claimed more than 550 American lives. Five Mainers have been killed during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom – one in Afghanistan, one in Qatar, two in Iraq and one in Kuwait. The relatively low mortality numbers are dwarfed, however, by thousands of serious injuries, many of them resulting in the loss of limbs.

American troops in this conflict are much more likely to lose their limbs than their lives, according to Vietnam veteran Neal Williams, national service officer for the Bangor-based Joshua Chamberlain Chapter 1865 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

“There’s new ceramic body armor, for those soldiers who have it,” Williams said in an inter-

iew at the Veteran Center, where he volunteers as a counselor. The Kevlar armor, though reportedly in short supply, is effective at protecting a soldier’s torso, neck and groin from bullets, grenade fragments and other lethal projectiles, but leaves limbs exposed. “[Soldiers] are surviving using this armor, but they’re losing their arms and legs,” Williams said.

Williams, whose war injuries left him without the use of his legs, said losing a body part or function is a profound, life-changing experience that can lead to depression, an altered self-image, loss of self-esteem and relationship problems. “You come back a different person,” he said.

Other combat injuries – including multiple fractures, burns, loss of hearing or vision, and exposure to chemical or biological weapons – can be equally devastating though not as apparent. Of growing concern, but still flying well below the public awareness radar, according to Williams, is the health risk of exposure to depleted uranium, or DU.

DU is created by removing some of the radioactive isotopes from natural uranium. The resulting material is extremely hard and almost twice as dense as lead. The military values it for its ability to deflect ammunition and since the early 1990s has used it routinely in the plating on armored vehicles to protect the troops inside. DU is also incorporated into American munitions, increasing their ability to penetrate enemy tanks.

When a DU shell hits its target, it burns, releasing a fine, radioactive dust that can be ingested through the lungs, the digestive tract and the skin. If a DU-plated tank is destroyed with a bomb or a land mine, it does the same thing.

The U.S. government says studies have never proven a link between DU exposure and medical concerns. But skeptics, including many veterans groups, maintain exposure contributes to many long-term disorders, including cancers, kidney and liver disease, birth defects and the amorphous condition known as Gulf War Syndrome, a cluster of primarily neurological complaints that may include memory loss, insomnia, loss of balance, depression, impotence and chronic fatigue.

Williams said the military provides no information about depleted uranium to troops being prepared for deployment.

Perhaps the greatest threat to a soldier’s health and well-being is the relentless stress of combat duty. Williams said soldiers in all conflicts wrestle with the moral implications of their experiences. “You see civilians killed and people stepping on land mines. You take human lives. If there’s a bombing, you have to carry out the bodies. You simply cannot experience these things and come back the same person you were when you left,” he said. “Your whole system of moral values gets called into question.”

Veterans respond to the psychic trauma of their experiences in a number of ways. Some turn to drugs and alcohol, others may bury themselves in their work. Williams said many veterans of World War II became workaholics, only to find unresolved emotional pain emerging after retirement. The rate of divorce and suicide is high.

Soldiers who are badly hurt in Afghanistan or Iraq have their injuries stabilized at field hospitals before being transported to the Army’s hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. They may stay at Landstuhl until they are well enough to return to the front, or they may be sent back to the United States for further treatment and rehabilitation. In that case, they are most often transferred to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Williams, who recently returned from a trip to Washington to interview patients at Walter Reed, said conditions at the hospital are “really bad,” with a serious shortage of staff and beds.

Those who cannot return to duty may come home to Maine to continue treatment and rehabilitation at the Togus VA Medical and Regional Office Center or one of several satellite clinics located in Bangor, Caribou, Calais, Rumford and Saco.

Spokesman Jim Doherty said there are currently no veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan receiving inpatient services at Togus, but about 60 are being seen on an outpatient basis.

Doherty said there is little reason to expect an influx of acute injuries because the most critical needs are met at Walter Reed or other facilities. “Most of those who are coming back are relatively healthy,” he maintained.

Veterans may experience waits of a month or more before being assigned to a primary care physician at an outpatient clinic, Doherty said. The waiting list is longest in Bangor, but additional clinicians will be available there soon. Pressing medical needs can be addressed through the urgent-care clinic at the Togus campus, he added.

For more information

The Bangor Veteran Center offers information, referrals, counseling and support to returning service members and their families and friends. Reach the center at 947-3391.

Togus VA Medical and Regional Office Center can be reached at 623-8411, toll-free at (877) 421-8263 or via the Internet at www.visn1.med.va.gov/togus/

For compelling personal stories and photos of injured service members from across the country, visit www.thememoryhole.org/war/wounded.