Hospital in Germany copes with heavy flow of wounded from Iran, Afghanistan

Hospital in Germany copes with heavy flow of wounded from Iran, Afghanistan

MATT MOORE

Associated Press


LANDSTUHL, Germany - With its quiet, winding halls, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at first looks like just another community hospital. But it has become a front line in the Iraq and Afghan wars thousands of miles away.

The patients - young soldiers with faces lacerated by flying glass and shrapnel from exploding roadside bombs, others missing a leg or arm - shuffle by, heading for an appointment or checkup. At this military hospital, there is a constant stream of new faces.

An average of about 23 patients arrive each day - most from Iraq, where more than 12,350 soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen have been injured since the U.S.-led war began in March 2003. The flow can spike sharply, as it did during the battle for Fallujah: 537 over two days.

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