Casualties
The profession of arms has certain risks that go along with the job. Needless to say, it is inherently dangerous to purposely put oneself in harms way. One has to accept that injuries, to oneself or to those in your unit, are more prevalent as a soldier when compared to a profession in say, tax preparation or pet grooming. Today we had our first casualty, and we are not even in a combat zone. Ryan, a medical captain from Indiana who went through CRC with me at Benning, had the tip of his right middle finger cut off from a steel door at the issue facility. The wind had caught this heavy metal door as he was running in to see if they were open and he wasn’t able to move his right hand away fast enough. At first he though he just smashed it, but when I had to chase him inside to get some medical help, I found the other piece of his finger on the floor. After sticking into a plastic bag with a handful of snow, we rushed off with an MP escort to the hospital which is about 10-15 minutes from the area we were in. Unfortunately, they were unable to save the tip of his finger and had to reconstruct the stump with what they had. I would get into details about it, and I even have photos of the injury, but I will refrain as it is a bit graphic, especially if I start to give details about how they had to cut his bone down in order to close the wound. Sorry. It really was graphic for the entire 5 hours that we sat in the emergency room while trying to keep his mind occupied on other things instead of his finger. I kept thinking of all the other people I know that have lost partial parts of their fingers for one reason or another (BV & GD) and how they reacted when they realized that they digits weren’t going to be their full length anymore. Ryan did a pretty good job and is in just a state of disbelief that this happened to him. We have decided that he is cursed and all of us have vowed not to ride in a HUMMV with him in country. All in all, he is all bandaged up and doing well, but is just missing everything from just above the last knuckle forward. They don’t know how this will affect his deployment, but I’m sure they’ll fill him in tomorrow when we go through medical screening. One good thing is that he’s a lefty and I think we’re going to put him in for a purple heart. :)
What started out as just a cold tromp to the truck through a foot of snow and ice turned out to be a pretty hectic day. I thought that Kansas was known more for it’s tornados than it’s snow storms! I think I’m starting to love Kansas as much as I love Missouri!
The profession of arms has certain risks that go along with the job. Needless to say, it is inherently dangerous to purposely put oneself in harms way. One has to accept that injuries, to oneself or to those in your unit, are more prevalent as a soldier when compared to a profession in say, tax preparation or pet grooming. Today we had our first casualty, and we are not even in a combat zone. Ryan, a medical captain from Indiana who went through CRC with me at Benning, had the tip of his right middle finger cut off from a steel door at the issue facility. The wind had caught this heavy metal door as he was running in to see if they were open and he wasn’t able to move his right hand away fast enough. At first he though he just smashed it, but when I had to chase him inside to get some medical help, I found the other piece of his finger on the floor. After sticking into a plastic bag with a handful of snow, we rushed off with an MP escort to the hospital which is about 10-15 minutes from the area we were in. Unfortunately, they were unable to save the tip of his finger and had to reconstruct the stump with what they had. I would get into details about it, and I even have photos of the injury, but I will refrain as it is a bit graphic, especially if I start to give details about how they had to cut his bone down in order to close the wound. Sorry. It really was graphic for the entire 5 hours that we sat in the emergency room while trying to keep his mind occupied on other things instead of his finger. I kept thinking of all the other people I know that have lost partial parts of their fingers for one reason or another (BV & GD) and how they reacted when they realized that they digits weren’t going to be their full length anymore. Ryan did a pretty good job and is in just a state of disbelief that this happened to him. We have decided that he is cursed and all of us have vowed not to ride in a HUMMV with him in country. All in all, he is all bandaged up and doing well, but is just missing everything from just above the last knuckle forward. They don’t know how this will affect his deployment, but I’m sure they’ll fill him in tomorrow when we go through medical screening. One good thing is that he’s a lefty and I think we’re going to put him in for a purple heart. :)
What started out as just a cold tromp to the truck through a foot of snow and ice turned out to be a pretty hectic day. I thought that Kansas was known more for it’s tornados than it’s snow storms! I think I’m starting to love Kansas as much as I love Missouri!
3 comments:
That story reminds me of a song I once knew:
Gary of the 9 and 1/2 fingers
and the door of doom.
Why does he have 9 fingers
and where is the door of doom?
I thought all the cool people these days were missing metacarpals.
If they give you an extra sight ACOG, Aimpoint or otherwise, send it my way.
I missed that picture the first time around...kinda gross! :)
Oh those metal doors and their finger taking abilities...
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