I’ve been trying to reverse the situation in my mind and look at it from all the different angles I can.  I still just can’t imagine doing this sort of thing myself in any sort of situation.  These nutcases are protesting against the war on terrorists at Walter Reed hospital:

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read “Maimed for a Lie” and “Enlist here to die for Halliburton.”

The anti-war demonstrators, who obtain their protest permits from the Washington, D.C., police department, position themselves directly in front of the main entrance to the Army Medical Center, which is located in northwest D.C., about five miles from the White House.

Among the props used by the protesters are mock caskets, lined up on the sidewalk to represent the death toll in Iraq.

I could be walking past them soon.  I’ll maintain my composure but I’ll be steaming inside.

From his dad:

Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 3:45 PM

Athough it has been a bit of tough weekend, it ends on an up-note. Jason is in his room with Jodi and Dan watching a Bears game (Bears were winning the last time I checked). This afternoon is probably the best he has felt for the last several days and certainly his ability to communicate has greatly improved this afternoon. The swelling in his face has gone down enough so he can now see at of this right eye which is fantastic news.

Tomorrow Jason is schedule for two sets of surgery. The first is a cleaning and treatment of the Buddock, and the second is for this arms. They may close his right arm and it looks like the elbow will be saved. Second, they will place the pins in the left arm.

On Tuesday, they will do the face reconstruction. The surgeon feels like a good job will be done.

From his Dad:

Tuesday, October 18, 2005 

Jason’s wounds were cleaned in preparation for his trip.  According to the Doctor his flesh looks healthy. 

He arrived in the U.S. about 7:00 PM.  Dan was able to see him.  Dan said that he did not look as bad as he expected.  He is stable and heavily sedated.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

I just talk with Jason’s nurse.  She said that he is stable and able to follow simple commands.  He seems to be aware of his surrounding.  Jodi should arrive in D.C. this morning.  The Army is arranging for Katy, Lisa and my flights out.  I should fly out this afternoon.  Jason will go into surgery today to close his wounds. 

I may have trouble communicating regularly once I leave for D.C. 

Thank you all for nice emails and phone call.  We appreciate your support.

From his Dad:

Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2005 9:02 PM

At 5:00 PM I had an opportunity for a long talk with Jason’s nurse and then I had an opportunity to talk with the surgeon who had assessed his condition and cleaned his wounds.  The good news is that although Jason is heavily sedated he is communicating through nods to the nurse’s questions.  However, because he is heavily sedated he will remember nothing about his treatments and travels until they reduce the drug dosages. Nurse and Doctor assess him as stable, good blood pressure, heart rate is good, temperature is normal, there are no internal injuries and he has movement in all of his extremities. 

The negative news is that he is on a ventilator (which the nurse says is normal for someone heavily injured).  The Doctor said that there are three main injury areas.  First, they amputate his arm below the elbow but if there is not enough soft tissue for a prosthesis they will be forced to amputate his arm above the elbow.  They want to keep the elbow if at all possible.  Second, some bones in his face seem to be crushed and it may require facial surgery.  Although Jason has facial swelling and maybe some broken facial bones, according to the nurse the facial injury does not seem to be too bad, i.e., ears, nose, eyes, mouth and hair all intact. A specialist in this area will examine Jason tomorrow.  Third major injury is to his both sides of his buttock.  This injury required surgery in Iraq and will require more surgery.  However, wound should heal.    The only thing that seem worrisome to the nurse was that they still needed to give him blood which she immediate assured me was normal for extensive injuries.

I ask the Doctor directly about Jason’s overall condition and what kind of recovery that could be expected.  He said that main concerns now were blood clots and infection but the Doctor said he is very unlikely to die.  Second, that Jason could have a full recover but it will require one or two years of surgery and physical therapy. 

Jason will be surgery tomorrow and we will have more information about his condition about noon central time.  He if remains stable the Doctor intends to have him flown to Walter Reed hospital on Tuesday.   They may keep Jason sedated until he arrives at Walter Reed.   Katy, Lisa and I will meet Jason at Walter Reed later this week.   If Jason stays at Walter Reed more then 30 days that will become his home military base.  Once he is recovered enough to leave Walter Reed, Jason will go before the medical review board they will decide the extent of his disability and he will be referred to medical care at his home address for any further treatments (i.e., right now that is XXXX).

I will keep you posted.  Katy and I have appreciated the notes and calls of support.

From my brother (Jason is the son of my wife’s brother, Brad is my brother’s son):

Brad has had a picture of Dad’s combine you took many years ago with Jason in it. That picture was on our wall in the trailer, but has been on Brad’s wall since we moved into the house. The kids only know Jason as the boy in that picture.

Thanks to everyone that has said kind words both in the comments and in private email.  Here is pretty much everything I know about what has happened and what the status is.  Xenia has posted a little bit about things too.

I was looking at a picture of him on Friday.  It was a picture of him when he was about seven or eight years old riding in a combine harvesting wheat with my Dad on the farm with the Boomershoot site in the background.  My Dad suggested I show the picture to my friend Lyle who was having lunch with me at my parents house.  It was at almost exactly at the same time as when he was injuried.  Whenever I look at pictures of him now I look at his right arm and hand.  The arm and hand he no longer has.

This might be about the incident:

There were no effective attacks against Task Force Liberty forces since last evening when two IED attacks damaged one Humvee and wounded seven Soldiers who received non-life threatening injuries.

From his father, typos and all.  I have obscured some information that shouldn’t be of particular insterest to anyone but immediately family:

Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2005 5:42 PM

Friday, October 14

A bomb exploded near or under Jason’s humvee causing sever injuries while he was on duty on Friday, Oct. 14, 2005.  Other members of this unit were hurt or killed.

Friday, October 14, 2005

I received a call from the Army about 11:00 PM 8 hours after the incident.  I was told he was critical condition; his right arm below the elbow had been amputated, he had laceration on right side of his face; he had abdomen and back injuries.  He has been placed in a medical coma.  I verified that the call was for real (Jason had warned us about hoaxes) and called Katy.   Army casualty center is in Washington, D.C. and they are our link to Jason (1.888.331.XXXX).  They have been very helpful and caring but there seems to be limited information coming out of the Army trauma center in Balad, Iraq were Jason was sent after the explosion.    

I was told that the Army would provide a flight to either Germany or to the trauma center in the U.S for Katy, me and Lisa.  They advise waiting tell Jason arrives in the U.S. because his stay in Germany seemed to be uncertain as to the length (4 to 7 days) and we are not sure of his condition.   

Saturday, October 15, 2005

I was told that Jason was entering surgery for his back at 12:30 AM; I later found out it was for the buttocks.  He was out of surgery at approximately 9:00 AM.  It was unclear if he was in surgery all of this time or what the extent of the injuries was. 

I was told that they were flying him to Army trauma center in Landstuhl, Germany this evening.  It is a 10 hour trip and he should arrive Sunday morning.  This is good sign because he is in stable enough condition to be moved.  Hopefully we will be able to arrange a phone call once he arrives.  I am suppose to get a prognosis report when leaves Iraq / Kuwait (approximately 7:00 PM).  Unfortunately, I just learned that the prognosis report will not be available for several more hours 

Barb referred me to co-worker (Shane XXXX – 509.332.XXXX) who had recently spent 15 months working as a physical therapist in U.S. Military Hospital in Germany.  He was able to give me a better perspective of what the recovery process would be like and how Jason would be treated by the Army.  First, the Army pushes the wounded soldiers to get up and become active as soon as possible, even during their short stay in Germany they are immediately placed in physical therapy?  They are typically reassessed and additional surgery is performed as necessary.  Wounded solders are sent directly to a military hospital or trauma center depending on their injuries.  I was told by the Army that Jason will more than likely go to D.C (i.e. Walter Reed) or Huston (Brooks).  Shane says the care at these facilities is very good and they try keep them there as long as necessary.   Once the immediate surgeries and other treatments are completed, Jason will probably be assigned to his base at Ft. Steward and have therapy there, additional surgeries as necessary and counseling.  He will work at the base if is able.  Jason will be given 30 day medical leave(s) to come home and he will receive treatment as necessary while he is here.

Sent: Sun 10/16/2005 8:12 AM

I was on the phone early this morning trying to determine what Jason’s status was.  They had very little information because he is still in transit.  Jason is scheduled to land in Germany at 4:45 PM (German time) today which is just an hour from now Central Time.  They said that it will be several hours before he is processed into the hospital and evaluated.  He will be at Landstuhl Medial Center at least until Wednesday and possibly until Saturday (Those are the days that the two weekly flights are made to the U.S.). The average stay in Landstuhl is 5-6 days during which time they evaluate Jason, clean is bandages, perform any immediate surgery, and get him ready to travel to the U.S.   

I think Jason was in a medical induced coma for the trip to Germany.  I don’t know if they will keep him in the coma.  He is currently list VSI (Very Serious Injury) which is civilian equivalent of critical condition.   

Jason’s Aunt Judy and Uncle Stan are planning to visit him while he is in Germany.  Landstuhl is about five hour drive from Brussels where they live.

I am hoping to get a more complete report on the seriousness of Jason’s injuries once they do the evaluation in Germany.  I have not had any success getting the medical report from Iraq.

Update: Another weird coincident thing… When Lyle, his son, and I were eating lunch with my parents, probably just before the bomb went off that caused Jason’s injuries, we were talking about my great Uncle who lost his hand in an explosion over 80 years ago.

An unexpected phone call after 10:00 PM is a bad omen.  This one was no exception.

My nephew in Iraq had a bomb explode under his Humvee.  He is in critical condition.  His right arm has been amputated below the elbow.  He has lacerations on his face.  They are evaluating injuries to his back and abdomen.

I know what I am about to write is an emotional response.  It’s not what I think we should do, it’s what I feel we should do.  I’ll be more rational in a few days.

Nuke Mecca, nuke Medina, nuke every “holy” city on that continent and fill the craters with pig manure.  Osama is in the mountains of Afghanistan?  Make those mountains into glass lined sub sea-level valleys in Afghanistan.  Islam is hereby banished from our planet, our solar system, and our galaxy.  All paper copies of the Qur’an shall be put into pig manure, shredded, then used to fertilize fields in Israel.  All digital copies and their backups shall be deleted, the media reduced to at least it’s molecular components if not transmuted into different elements.  If anyone so much as mentions a word related to Islam they shall be dropped, naked, into the middle of a pig sewage lagoon.  If they can swim out fine.  If not then no great loss.