SFGate Series: "War Without End"

[Hissyspit]

Three parts so far of a four-part series: http://www.sfgate.com/warwithoutend



For nearly six months, Michael's wife, Carrie, rarely left his side. Her parents in Washington state cared for their three kids. When he was well enough, the couple lived together at Walter Reed's outpatient hotel, but Michael's nightmares and anger were a strain. He'd heard about a mother of four who took one look at her amputee husband and fled. He feared Carrie might leave, too. Chronicle photo by Deanne Fitzmaurice


PART THREE

For double amputee Sgt. Brent Bretz, the medical complications of his injuries are only part of the challenge of becoming whole again
Joan Ryan
Six months after his legs were blown off in Iraq, 23-year-old Army sniper Brent Bretz jiggled the joystick on his electric wheelchair to coax it up the back ramp of the taxi van. It was a muggy June night in San Antonio. Kathy Pearce, Brent's 52-year-old mother, watched with the driver, relieved that for once they could venture from the Brooke Army Medical Center without having to find someone to lift her son from his chair into the passenger seat. "This is something to think about, bud," Kathy said of the van and ramp. "I am not owning a minivan," Brent said over his shoulder.

PART TWO

For severely wounded soldiers like Sgt. Michael Buyas, it's a long battle back to what passes for 'normal' life
Joan Ryan
Sgt. Michael Buyas returned home from the war on a sunny Sunday morning in May.

PART ONE

Damaged soldiers start their agonizing recoveries
Joan Ryan
Michael was used to the room now, but at first it seemed like a sci-fi human body shop, where broken people came for patching and rebuilding.

The Series

Part One
Walter Reed Army Medical Center is where many of the war's most damaged soldiers start their agonizing recoveries.

Part Two
Being a hero in central Washington state is a thrill, but for Michael, the challenges of having a young family, no career and no legs can be overwhelming.

Part Three
Brent finds that in plunging back into the bar scene at home in Arizona his relationship with his mother strains to the breaking point. nervous.

Part Four
Perhaps the biggest milestone is joining fellow soldiers and remembering how, even without legs, to stand tall.

Casualties
From March 19, 2003 to March 22, 2006
Dead: 2,319
Wounded: 17,269
Amputees: 454
Amputees who have lost more than one limb: 62

Sources: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Brookings Institution, Department of Defense

[EFerrari]

1. A very powerful series. Hard and necessary to take in.

:(

[bleever]

2. Here's the cost of war, face to face, family by family.

:thumbsup:

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Yeah, I've been reading that, too.

Heart rending.

[Dunvegan]

4. This is an extraordinary picture from the SF Gate article:

Ten months after he lost both legs in Iraq, Sgt. Brent Bretz had traded in
his electric wheelchair for a manual one and was venturing back into the life
he led before shipping out.

He and his 4-year-old daughter, Celeste, dressed as Tinker Bell, attend a
Halloween block party in Tempe, Ariz., last fal

--Chronicle photo by Deanne Fitzmaurice

[Hissyspit]

6. And this one.

[Kerrytravelers]

5. And still, pieces of human garbage like * and his co-horts in murder

go about their merry lives, as if nothing is going on.

I really hate all of bushco and their followers. I really, really do.

[Der Blaue Engel]

7. This part made me angry and frustrated and sad:

At the end of the driveway waited Brent's enormous, shiny, jacked-up black Ford F-150, a "Bush-Cheney '04'' sticker on the back window.

Battered citizen syndrome. :(

[Hissyspit]

8. Seriously. But it is typical of military towns. n/t

[Imagevision]

9. Meanwhile we're left with a president who continues to lie about this war

Like Helen Thomas said; "why did we invade Iraq?!! not for oil, not for wmd's, instead Bush is determined to bring his brand of freedom to the world. all this from a recovering alcoholic.

[Hissyspit]

10. Updated now with Part Four here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/29/MNSOLDIERS29.DTL