The soldiers that "Made it"

1300 dead so far huh? How about the 17,000+ that made it?

"Most Americans haven't seen the growing legion of wounded troops returning from Iraq who are cared for at military facilities sealed off from the public. The media, in turn, have focused on the hit-and-run guerrilla attacks that claim one or two GIs in Iraq almost daily. Little attention has been paid to the long, difficult and very personal struggles that ensue in wards at BAMC and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington."

Check these pics out of some of our brave souls who made it:

WARNING!! A couple of the photo's are very graphic!!

www.thememoryhole.org...

I was thinking about this as well. That is really a very large number of wounded. There was an article about the survival rate, of the wounded... It's high due to the vest but the injuries themselves are often horrible.

Like the ones shown in the pics.

A paragraph in the article that mentions John Adams (one of the people pictured):

Supporters of the war in Iraq would very likely say that while these examples are tragic, they are no different than what happens in any war. But what if these soldiers were killed or wounded in a war that did not need to be fought? The latest addition to the arsenal of opponents of Bush�s decision to invade Iraq is a report published by Jeffrey Record for the Army War College. Professor Record concludes that Iraq �was a war-of-choice distraction from the war of necessity against al-Qaeda.�

Here are statiistics discussed wich suggest the body armour is effective but creaties its own problems by creating more survivors but usually with missing limbs.

discuss.washingtonpost.com...


What is good protected:
- the skull (brain) , kevlar helmet
- trunk, chest, abdomen, vital organs, bodyvest

Not good protected:
- frontal face
- arms
- legs

What needs to done is further development of body-armour, giving the soldiers more complete coverage without making the suit too heavy or inpractiible.

A good start, I would think for example that the kevlar helmets could be extended to look more like motor helmets and use some kind of reinforced plexiglass to cover the eyes. also filters that would stop blaswaves rupturing the eardrums. The helm could doubletime as a headupdiplay fro tactical information and integrated nightgoggles etc.

Most important would be the lower extremities, legs are not only suspectible to gunshot fire and shrapnel from nearby explosions, but ESPECIALLY from landmines, however covering the whole legs adds weight and makes you look like a icehockey goaly, ultimately some kind of mechanised suite must be devised that will help the soldier carry all that extra armour around and give some power on top of that.



[edit on 22-12-2004 by Countermeasures]