By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times
5:24 PM PDT, August 30, 2010
Reporting from Landstuhl, Germany
Before Marine Cpl. Corey Griggs went on his last patrol in
Afghanistan's restive Helmand province, he had a premonition of sorts.
"I was joking with my buddies that it was going to be a bad night,"
said Griggs, 23, of Portland, Ore.
He was right.
As darkness settled on a recent Saturday over the desert village of
Sangin, someone threw a bomb over a mud wall at Griggs and his squad.
The blast shattered his right forearm and embedded jagged shrapnel in
his left.
After emergency surgery at a military outpost, Griggs, who is also
being monitored for possible brain injuries, was placed aboard a
specially outfitted cargo plane airlifting him to the Landstuhl
Regional Medical Center next to the U.S. air base at Ramstein, Germany.
Since 2004, nearly 13,000 U.S. service personnel wounded in Afghanistan
and Iraq have been evacuated to Landstuhl, the largest American-run
medical facility outside the U.S.
Some of the wounded are patched up and sent back to frontline duty.
Many others are taken to the U.S. for advanced treatment at military
hospitals in Washington, D.C.; Bethesda, Md.; San Antonio; or San Diego.
As the U.S. troop buildup in Afghanistan continues, Landstuhl is
experiencing an increase in wounded patients to levels unseen since the
2004 battles in the Iraqi city of Fallouja.
The complexity and severity of wounds are also increasing, said Army
Col. John M. Cho, a chest surgeon who is the hospital's commander. On a
medical rating scale, the number of patients above a level considered
extremely critical has increased 190% in the last two months, he said.
On the day Griggs arrived, the hospital was caring for patients wounded
by gunfire, roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades, including a
Marine with shrapnel in his back and bowels, and other troops with
concussions, back injuries and a crushed hand.
On some occasions, a wounded soldier or Marine on life support will be
brought to Landstuhl. Life is sustained long enough for family members
to arrive from the U.S.
Navy Cmdr. Joseph Sheldon, one of nine chaplains at the hospital, meets
them and guides them through the emotional process of saying farewell.
It is not uncommon, he said, for them to ask the unanswerable question:
How could a merciful God have let this happen?
"I tell them truthfully that I don't know the answer," said Sheldon,
who deployed with the Marines during the assault on Baghdad in 2003. "I
just know that I continue to believe God is good because I see so much
of his goodness."
With 3,000-plus employees and an annual budget of $180 million,
Landstuhl provides care primarily for 245,000 U.S. military personnel
and family members based in Europe and Africa.
More than 64,000 military personnel have been brought to Landstuhl from
Iraq and Afghanistan since 2004, most for noncombat injuries or
illnesses.
Griggs, assigned to the Twentynine Palms-based 3rd Battalion, 7th
Marine Regiment, will leave soon to be reunited with his pregnant wife
and their 2-year-old son. The Iraq veteran hopes to become a welder
when his service ends soon.
Initial screening did not show any sign of traumatic brain injury, the
so-called signature wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But medical
specialists have found that such signs often show up months after an
incident. For that reason, Griggs' medical chart will call for periodic
follow-up exams once he returns home.
For many here, the first thought is to return to duty.
Lance Cpl. Demon Bowles, 23, of Leavenworth, Kan., was brought to
Landstuhl after he blacked out and banged his head while deployed in
the sweltering Helmand heat.
A battery of tests has not uncovered a cause. Follow-up exams will be
done by Navy doctors after he returns to base at Delaram in the
southern Afghan province of Nimruz.
"I just want to get back to my unit," Bowles said.