An Unacceptable Oversight

U.S. military medical personnel have not gotten nearly enough attention for their brilliant work in keeping our injured troops alive.  Fortunately, the LA Times (!) has done an excellent job with a "audio slideshow."  If you can stand a bit of blood, click here.

Update 5/11/2006 7:55pm: There were two more parts to the slide show, and accompanying news stories, now added to the link:

The vision in Vincent Worrell's left eye was blurry. The hearing in his left ear was bad. Two of his upper teeth were missing. There was a hole in his left shoulder, a surgical scar on his lip, shrapnel in his face and a metal pin in his left thumb.

Still, it was a very good day. He found a simple joy in being able to push his 5-year-old daughter, Indra, on a park swing. It was a blessing to hold hands under the trees with his wife, Jayme.

Just five weeks had passed since a roadside bomb blew shrapnel and grit into Worrell, an Army staff sergeant, as he walked on patrol Nov. 6 in Iraq. Now his little girl clung to his arm, as if she were afraid he would evaporate if she let go. That week, she had drawn ink spots on her hand and wrapped it in a white towel to imitate her father's shrapnel wounds.

"Daddy's girl," her mother said.

Damn.  You wonder how it's even possible to thank these guys.