After the grief, a teen follows his dead brother's path to the Army

After the grief, a teen follows his dead brother's path to the Army
By Don Babwin
ASSOCIATED PRESS
9:28 a.m. December 26, 2003

Associated Press
Susan Tyrrell and her former husband, Arnold, sit in the living room of Susan's house in Forreston, Ill., with their children Kelly Zitelman, right, and Joe. Kelly holds a photo of her brother, Scott Tyrrell, who died of an injury he sustained in Iraq.

FORRESTON, Ill. – Nobody would have faulted Joe Tyrrell if he changed his mind about joining the Army now.

Not after standing over the hospital bed of the badly burned body of his brother, seeing only emptiness where his arms should have been, understanding then as few do the price some soldiers serving in Iraq have paid.

But after he buried Pvt. Scott Matthew Tyrrell, 19-year-old Joe, with the blessing of his family, enlisted in the Army.


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Making war with high hopes and thin skins - Editorial (12/21/03)

Making war with high hopes and thin skins
By PHILIP GAILEY, Times Editor of Editorials
Published December 21, 2003


President Bush went to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington last week for a knee examination, and while he was there, he visited with soldiers recovering from wounds suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was the fourth time since the war on terror began that the commander in chief has met privately with wounded soldiers at the Army medical facility. Bush took special note of one amputee: "I remember coming in a couple of months ago to pin the Purple Heart on a fellow who lost both legs and one arm. Today, I saw him walking."


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Making war with high hopes and thin skins (12/21/03)

Making war with high hopes and thin skins
By PHILIP GAILEY, Times Editor of Editorials
Published December 21, 2003

President Bush went to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington last week for a knee examination, and while he was there, he visited with soldiers recovering from wounds suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was the fourth time since the war on terror began that the commander in chief has met privately with wounded soldiers at the Army medical facility. Bush took special note of one amputee: "I remember coming in a couple of months ago to pin the Purple Heart on a fellow who lost both legs and one arm. Today, I saw him walking."


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Marine sets Airborne first Amputee becomes first to earn wings (12/18/03)

Marine sets Airborne first Amputee becomes first to earn wings
By Bridgett Siter/The Bayonet

FORT BENNING, Ga. (Dec. 18, 2003) -- A 23-year-old Marine who lost his foot to a landmine in Afghanistan made history last week at Fort Benning.

When Sgt. Chris Chandler graduated from Airborne School Dec. 12, it was the first time anyone with a prosthetic limb — Soldier, Marine or otherwise — was allowed to earn his wings.

“It’s just one less leg I have to break,” said Chandler, who dismissed his graduation as being more noteworthy than that of his classmates. “I’m still nervous every time that door opens, just like everybody else.”


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New technology and medical practices save lives in Iraq (12/17/03)

Posted on Wed, Dec. 17, 2003
New technology and medical practices save lives in Iraq
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/7511929.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
BY ALAN BAVLEY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

FORT RILEY, Kan. - (KRT) - When a rocket-propelled grenade hit Sgt. Patrick Brown's Humvee in Iraq, he survived thanks to a new protective vest.

But he wasn't unscathed.

Shrapnel from that blast on a Baghdad street tore through Brown and four members of his platoon, inflicting deep, gaping wounds.

Doctors and soldiers credit new technology like improved body armor, helmets and even goggles with saving American lives in Iraq. New ways of using medical personnel - deploying well-equipped surgical teams closer to combat, for example - mean injured soldiers are getting attention quickly.


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