Modern War Wounds Can Devastate Vets' Sexual, Emotional Health

Submitted by Minuteman on Wed, 2014-02-26 09:00

Link here. Excerpt:

'The tools of war have changed. With the increased use of powerful explosive devices, men and women patrolling on foot in bomb-laced areas of combat are increasingly suffering traumatic injuries to the groin and genitals, experts say.

Those injuries can pose complex long-term sexual and psychological challenges.

It is hard to even imagine having your genitals crushed, burned or ripped off in a blast by a makeshift bomb, said Dr. Chris Gonzalez, the lead author of a new review article published recently in The Journal of Men's Health. "For some, it's even worse than losing a limb," he said.

The impact of so-called "improvised explosive devices" (IEDs) is different from gun fire encountered in earlier combat, explained Gonzalez, who is a professor of urology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago.

"The energy comes from the ground up, so the first thing that gets hit is in the perineal [groin] area," he said.'

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Once again we see the government proposing band-aids. More coordination between different health care providers, more protective armor, more money for treatment. Nobody is willing to talk about the underlying issues, such as what the hell are we doing in these countries anyway, and who gave us the right to invade them? And isn't this aggression a violation of international law? Likewise, why is it that we just take it for granted that an infinite supply of young men will offer themselves up to be sacrificed on the altar of the American empire and its ill-advised invasions of foreign countries? Soon, I hope, the truth about the experiences of these vets will reduce the supply of young men eager to enlist, and that should ring some alarm bells in Washington DC, if nothing else does.

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Submitted by redwoodwriter on Fri, 2014-02-28 00:53

... not mines or explosives meant to kill or even better, merely wound. A wounded man is much more trouble and expense than a dead one. A dead man is a martyr. A wounded man is a tragedy-- and an on-going expense, as well as a living advertisement vs. whatever war is being fought.

Mines have been around for a long time. This is a pretty good telling: http://members.iinet.net.au/~pictim/mines/history/history.html

Notice the first explosive mine designed merely to wound instead of kill was used by Germany in WWI against the Boers in S. Africa. Since then weapons designed primarily to wound and not kill have been all the rage in "conventional" conflicts.

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Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2014-02-28 02:14