1000 US troops wounded in Afghanistan in 3 months: report

Walter Reed's Ward 57 provides wrenching proof of the devastating effectiveness of the bombs, with patients suffering amputations, spinal cord damage, traumatic brain injuries and fractures.
On Aug. 18, Lt. Dan Berschinski, 25, of Peach Tree City, Ga., was serving as a platoon leader with the Stryker brigade combat team in Kandahar province, where the roads were laced with bombs and his unit had to operate without engineer support or mine-detection equipment. His platoon was crossing a footbridge when a bomb threw Berschinski to the ground, deafened a sergeant and blew up Pfc. Jonathan Yanney, a radio operator. An initial search located part of Yanney's shredded helmet, pieces of a boot and some small body parts that Berschinski said team members put in a plastic bag.
Realizing that not only the roads but also the foot trails were too dangerous, Berschinski and his men moved on by walking through shin-high water. Regrouping in a mud-walled compound later that day, Berschinski was passing a gate when another bomb blew up underneath him, bouncing him off a wall and tossing him back into the crater that had formed.
"I immediately reached down -- up, really, since I was upside down -- for my legs. I could tell they were gone," Berschinski said in a written account provided by his family. His right leg and hip and his left leg above the knee were amputated. According to Metz, few soldiers have survived stepping on such bombs.
But the survival rate among the wounded is greater than in previous conflicts because of improved first aid, quick evacuations to field hospitals and better armored protection.
Busy wards in wartime
As more wounded flow in, hospitals must adjust. "We can open more beds as needed and bring on more staff as needed. As you can imagine, that is not without its own challenges," said Col. Paul Pasquina, chief of orthopedics and rehabilitation at Walter Reed and the Bethesda National Naval Medical Hospital. He noted that although military medical personnel are in demand stateside, they also must deploy overseas.
"The ward is pretty full now," said Tracy Glascoe, a physician assistant on Ward 57.
One significant challenge, she said, is helping wounded troops transition from a regimen of constant ward care so that they can work on further physical rehabilitation.
Resting the stub of his right leg on his hospital bed one day last week, Spec. Harrison Ruzicka said he is eager for physical therapy. The 23-year-old from North Carolina knows he faces a long recovery but said he was thankful to be alive after a bomb flipped his armored vehicle into a river Aug. 7.
He recalled being pinned under the vehicle and fearing he could drown in the river. He said he screamed for help but quickly realized no one was there. He somehow got loose, swam to the embankment and dragged himself onto land with his arms. He knew his legs were broken. "I didn't want to look at them because I would have put myself in shock," he said.
He started calling for his good friend, vehicle driver Sgt. Jerry R. Evans Jr., 23, of Eufaula, Ala. "I was in his wedding party," Ruzicka said. "There was no response. Nothing from him." (Washington Post)