Wounded Marines Praise Medical Care, Relate Iraq Experiences

American Forces Press Service ^ | Gerry J. Gilmore

[SandRat]

BETHESDA, Md., April 3, 2008 – Two Marines who were injured in Iraq praised the medical care they’ve received at the National Naval Medical Center here during interviews yesterday in conjunction with a grand re-opening ceremony for their newly renovated outpatient quarters.

Wounded Iraq combat veterans Marine Cpl. Daniel B. Nicholson, left, and Marine Lance Cpl. Michael S. Stilson attend a reopening ceremony for newly renovated Mercy Hall, an outpatient quarters for injured troops on the National Naval Medical Center campus in Bethesda, Md., April 2, 2008. Both Marines praised the quality of medical care provided at Bethesda. Defense Dept. photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Iraq combat veterans Cpl. Daniel B. Nicholson and Lance Cpl. Michael S. Stilson live in Mercy Hall on the medical center’s campus.

Nicholson, a native of Brevard, N.C., joined the Marines in June 2005. The tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missile gunner was wounded by a roadside bomb while riding in a truck in Anbar province in November 2006. He suffered injuries to his left arm and face. After arriving at Bethesda a few days after being wounded, he underwent numerous surgeries to repair his broken jaw and lacerated face.

The medical care provided at Bethesda is “tremendous,” Nicholson said.

“The zeal of the staff here at the hospital is just outstanding. … I couldn’t ask for anything better,” he emphasized.

Nicholson said his plans include marriage and going back to school to become a high school history teacher.

Wars have been fought since mankind began, Nicholson said. But war also produces peace, he added. The war against global terrorism is an important endeavor, he said, noting that fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq precludes fighting them at home.

Nicholson said the excellent medical care he has received at Bethesda makes him feel appreciated and that his service in Iraq wasn’t performed in vain.

“What the patients need, they get” at Bethesda, he said.

Stilson, who hails from Clarkston, Wash., was wounded by a roadside bomb while on dismounted patrol in Anbar province in September.

“Every bone in my left arm was broken,” Stilson recalled, noting he’d also suffered severe shrapnel injuries to both of his legs.
Stilson echoed Nicholson’s praise of the medical care provided at Bethesda.

”You really don’t have any other place, I don’t think, that really cares for everybody like they do (at Bethesda),” he said.

Injured Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are getting the best medical care available at Bethesda, and “they do everything they can for the guys that got wounded over there,” the Marine rifleman added.

Stilson, who joined the Marines in August 2006, said he believes the mission in Iraq isn’t completed.

“When you’re there, you want to finish the job for those guys who didn’t make it back,” he said.

[SandRat]

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[freema]

Bethesda Bump.
Some of the finest, leading care in the nation.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

As an aside, I have been puzzled about recent developments in prosthetic limbs. While different organization and companies have innovated some impressive technologies, nobody has yet combined the best ideas into comprehensive prosthetic limbs.

For example:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/18/robo_hand_gets_big_hand/

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/exploration/stories/bionicarm.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11858650/

http://www.festo.com/INetDomino/coorp_sites/de/1e70ac4a67fcfb11c12572d0004d3d44.htm

http://tinyurl.com/368s54

Importantly, so far I haven’t seen complex functions performed by an artificial limb controlled by a computer in the limb itself. This will be a major advance beyond the purely mechanical limb function for activities faster or more complex than is easy for nerve-limb connection.

Say with a left arm prosthetic, a person could pre-program a complex activity, say fingering guitar strings while they strum with their right hand. While this would possibly be too complex for a brain to limb command set, it could be much more responsive to a limited macro command set.

So they direct their left hand to “macro 36”, it knows and can tell when it properly clutches a guitar neck, with prosthetic fingers on the appropriate strings, then after a pause it changes its grip on the strings as the person strums with their other hand. Sub commands could include “pause” “start” “start over” “end”, and who knows what all else.

[rlmorel]

Boy, the Left just HATES things like this.

It doesn’t play into their “victim” mentality.

Best wishes to both of these fine young men for a speedy recovery.

[AFPhys]

Nice article. Thanks for the post and ping.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland PING!