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Humbled at Walter Reed

by Mikasi | May 16, 2008 at 08:14 am | 133 views | add comment

WASHINGTON - In the rehabilitation unit at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where every day is Patriots Day, there are nine "Rehab Rules" on the wall and the first commandment is: Share Your Story.

And so they do.

"I was riding shotgun in a Humvee and it came right through thedoor," Sergeant Ken Butler, 82d Airborne, was saying. "My right arm wasalmost sheared off. The charge entered the right side of my chest andit came out the left. I woke up a couple of weeks later."

When he woke up, he was in Walter Reed, 6,200 miles from the road near Baghdad where he got hit, and his right arm was gone.

A lead like this often dovetails into a story condenming the war and its toll. But not this time.

While America's Memorial Day is for the remembrence of service members killed in duty, I'd like to expand that consideration just a bit and ask us to remember all who have given greatly and recently in the armed forces. Whether we agree with their cause or not, I believe we must recognize what they did.

There are 160 inpatients at Walter Reed.

There are 700outpatients, what they call the Warrior Transition Brigade, trying toget back to where they were before Iraq and Afghanistan. Captain SarahMitsch, a Weymouth girl, is an occupational therapist and works withamputees. She was in Iraq, as was Major Matt St. Laurent, a therapistfrom New Hampshire, and so they carry an unspoken bond with the woundedwarriors they tend.

"Some guys, we start from scratch," St. Laurent said. "We've got young soldiers who can't dress themselves."

St. Laurent looked around.

"It's an honor to work with these guys," he said softly, almost to himself.