I shouldn't have done it.

Published on November 13, 2005 By dharmagrl In Misc

I'm watching a show on Discovery Health about a MASH unit in Iraq. It's at Balad AB. The place where my husband could go next time he deploys.

I'm seeing soldiers and airmen come into this field hospital with legs blown off, shrapnel wounds the size of grapefruit in ther sides and necks. Some of them come in with their flack vests still on and fight the staff trying to take them off.

I learned that Balad gets mortared every other day. That bothers me...because part of my husband's job is air base ground defense. He gets to secure the perimiter. He gets to be a moving target.

I really shouldn't have watched it.

But I know some people who should.

The armchair quarterbacks. Those who sit and talk about this war. THEY should have to watch this. They should have to see these soldiers come in, scared and hurt. They should have to see the pain they endure, both physical and psychological. They should have to see how losing a leg or a foot affects a person, not just immediately..but for the rest of their lives. They should have to see how American soldiers aren't just numbers to be bandied about; that they aren't statistics. They're real people.

People, not numbers. Like my husband, and my neighbor. Like our friends down the street. People.

I shouldn't have watched it, but I did. And, if my husband is unlucky enough to get hurt whilst he's there (or any place else in Iraq) I've seen the place where he'll be treated. I've seen the process by which he'll get shipped home, if he's lucky enough to survive.

I've seen it, and it scares me.

Comments

Dr Guy

on Nov 13, 2005

I think that is a CSH unit. I read an article about 2 months ago where the military was retiring the MASH units (the last one is in Pakistan), and replacing them with CSH (the article said CASH but a veteran corrected that for me) Units.

They are good. They have come a long way!

dharmagrl

on Nov 13, 2005

Posted: Sunday, November 13, 2005
I think that is a CSH unit

that's it. i was searching for the right terminology....that's the right one.

yes, they're good, but.....the people coming through there, DG, they're human. They're someone's husband or father or son. They have lives away from the war....lives that are going to be forever changed. And for what? So that America can force her way of life on a country that may not want it? So that the US can retain control of the world's oil? Because the way things are looking, Bush wasn't entirely truthful about our reasons for going there.

They are forever changed. And sometime down the road, when the truth comes out about what this war was all about, they might have to look at their missing limbs and their scars and know that they paid a very high price for a barrel of oil.

Dr Guy

on Nov 13, 2005

They're someone's husband or father or son. They have lives away from the war....lives that are going to be forever changed. And for what? So that America can force her way of life on a country that may not want it? So that the US can retain control of the world's oil? Because the way things are looking, Bush wasn't entirely truthful about our reasons for going there.

As this is not in Politics, I will not go into the reasons. It has changed things. It has cost a lot of lives. I dont think they were in vein.

No life is worthless. No injury is minor. And that goes for innocent non-american lives as well.

Texas Wahine

on Nov 13, 2005

dharma: I know several people, one of which I was very close to for at time, who were stationed at Balad.

Balad is a safe as any other base, sweetie. Yes, they get mortared, but the bad guys RARELY hit anything. The mortaring is more of a nuisance than a danger. Just remind yourself of that. The biggest risk comes from doing patrols and combat. Heck, I had a friend who was a gunner on a helicopter, and he came home safe and sound.

The only way you'll get through an Iraq deployment is to avoid letting anything into your head that will emphasize the possible danger.

PS - We're sending 7K Soldiers to Iraq this summer.

pseudosoldier

on Nov 13, 2005

I know several people who were stationed at Balad. You've been emailed with a little more info that I hope you find encouraging.

Hang in there, we're pulling for you.

Shovelheat

on Nov 13, 2005

I picked up a "scrapbook" that a retired JP maintained once and I've always wished I hadn't of done it. It was FILLED with page after page after page of photos from every death inquest he had ever done in his nearly thirty year career. Lots of car wrecks and suicides and murders. What was the most shocking to me was the children and a few of the people I personally knew.

I've seen a few things in real life too that I wished I hadn't- a traffic fatality once and a drug overdose victim and a suicide. Once those things get into your brain they are there to stay.

dharmagrl

on Nov 13, 2005

The mortaring is more of a nuisance than a danger. Just remind yourself of that. The biggest risk comes from doing patrols and combat.

That's what I'm trying to tell myself. We also have people at Kirkuk and Camp Victory...and somewhere else that I can't recall the name of right now. Either way, it's highly likely that he's going to Iraq. I'll get used to the idea in time....I'm just a little sensitive today.

Reply By: pseudosoldierPosted: Sunday, November 13, 2005
I know several people who were stationed at Balad. You've been emailed with a little more info that I hope you find encouraging

I'll go check in a sec, but in the meantime...thank you for trying to make me feel better. I've got friends who did a 9 month tour at Bagram and Kirkuk at the start of all of this, and I know people who are there now. None of them got hurt or killed, so I know I'm probably getting freaked out over nothing.

Once those things get into your brain they are there to stay.

Yeah, they do. And it kind of sucks.

singrdave

on Nov 13, 2005

I know several people who were stationed at Balad. You've been emailed with a little more info that I hope you find encouraging.

That's exactly what I was going to say... pseudo and I know the same people.

I'm sure that everything will be fine. Honestly. My USAF brother in law, who's stationed at Aviano AB in Italy, just got orders to Baghdad. Fun in the sun, he reports just before Christmas. But it's his third time in the desert, so he knows a bit more about what to expect.

ParaTed2k

on Nov 13, 2005

There are reasons I am glad that you watched it, and that those scenes are available for public viewing, but there are also reasons why I wish they would never see the light of day. I agree, all too often we let our political views of the war (whether for or against) take center stage and we forget who is really paying the price. On the other hand, I hate it when I see these brave men and women (along with their wounds) politicized for someone's personal gain. Thank you for doing your best to keep politics out of your article.

I hope the images people see help them to never forget that price, and especially the people who paid the price. I don't think it should deter our leaders from choosing to go to war when it is necessary, but those faces, names and lives should always be taken into consideration in the decision.

But then again, how often do we all make choices that have led to injury and deaths when others made the same choices. If we all watched the same footage, but it was of patients at a city hospital who have been in car accidents, house fires or other disaster situations... would we make our future choices any differently?

dharmagrl

on Nov 13, 2005

But it's his third time in the desert, so he knows a bit more about what to expect.

The next deployment Dave goes on will be his 8th or 9th (can't recall exactly) and will be his 6th trip to the middle east. He knows what's up...he did his best to reassure me this afternoon, bless his little heart. But, it's still his job and he's still going to have to go.

ParaTed2k

on Nov 13, 2005

If it helps at all, from my research I've found 66 American servicemember deaths in the Balad area (with a possible 20 or so more that I'm still checking out). If the bacteria are mortaring Balad daily, they aren't getting very far with it.

dharmagrl

on Nov 14, 2005

from my research I've found 66 American servicemember deaths in the Balad area

It's not necessarily the deaths I'm worried about...I mean, of course I worry about them, but I also worry about him getting hurt or losing a limb. Regardless of how you look at it, it's not the safest place to be, and that's what bothers me.

He's been to places that weren't safe before, of course.....and I managed to deal with that. Was 20lbs lighter when he came home, but I still managed to deal with it. lol

greywar

on Nov 15, 2005

I was at Balad... nice place to be honest with you. Insurgent mortar teams are the Keystone cops of artillery. No worries.

dharmagrl

on Nov 16, 2005

I was at Balad... nice place to be honest with you. Insurgent mortar teams are the Keystone cops of artillery. No worries.

Thank you. All of you...especially you gous who have been there and can tell me from experience that it's not such a bad place to be.

I had thought the same thing about the mortar teams too, Greywar. I saw a documentary about them a whole back...they had dropped the mortatinto the tub and immediately crouched down with their ears covered, waiting for the explosion....but it didnt happen. So, some of them starts bashing the bottom end of the tube with the rock whilst another one peers down the other end of it to see if he can figure out what's gone wrong......

....unfortunately, it didn't go off. If it had, dipshit would've had his head blown off.

I know that these dudes are a rag tag bunch of mofo's, and whilst I'm feeling better about the whole thing I still have that little voice in the back on my head saying 'all it takes is one stray round..'.

I'll get over it.

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