CNN TV SPECIAL "Wounded Warriors"

[hollister]

I apologize that this will be for the US based only - it came across on my military spouse notification line

Subject: CNN TV SPECIAL "Wounded Warriors" 27 & 28 May 8PM and 11PM (EDT) (UNCLASSIFIED)

Please join us in watching a very special hour of award-winning journalism. We extend our invitation to you and your staffs... and the entire military community and their families to watch CNN PRESENTS: "WOUNDED WARRIORS" on Saturday and Sunday, May 27TH and 28th at 8pm and 11pm eastern. Please share this invitation with all your service members and their families.



CNN PRESENTS: WOUNDED WARRIORS (airing Memorial Day weekend May 27th & 28th)

Americans trust, if their sons, daughters, husbands or wives are sent to Iraq, that the military will take care of their loved ones and bring them home quickly should they be injured. On a very special documentary CNN PRESENTS: "WOUNDED WARRIORS" we will show you exactly how that happens. from the point of injury on the battlefield. all the way home. CNN Correspondent Alex Quade follows the medical care our troops receive in Iraq at each "level of care": from the time they are wounded, through "the golden hour" with buddy care and helicopter medevac, to field hospitals, and then aeromedical evacuation to Landstuhl, Germany, where these wounded warriors have more treatment before returning to Walter Reed and other facilities in the U.S. Ms.Quade follows a number of these warriors as they receive stateside treatment and make hard decisions about their futures.

For more than 18-months, Ms.Quade has been documenting the stories of these battlefield heroes. not only those who have been wounded but those who are providing medical care. She also came across what could become a brand new level of care for all branches of the military: the first "Wounded Warriors Barracks" in America, an experiment conceived by one of the injured Marines Quade has covered from the moment he was wounded near Iskandiriyah, Iraq.

It is unprecedented coverage. An inside look that civilians have not seen. Alex Quade traveled to Iraq on several occasions to embed with units in all branches of the military. not only with combat medical teams, but also field hospitals and air medevac units on the frontlines. She was given permission from the injured, and their families, to share their personal stories. And, for the very first time, to show their faces. The footage was shot carefully and respectfully.

Quade's initial "Wounded Warriors" stories on CNN garnered an overwhelming response from across all branches of the military, as well as families of servicemen and women. Several U.S. military units are now using copies of it as part of their training for troops about to deploy to Iraq. And now with brand new follow-ups 18-months into the recovery of the wounded... this has become a very special one hour documentary for the award-winning CNN PRESENTS unit.

Maj. Gen. Don Shepperd, USAF (ret.), CNN military analyst has this to say about CNN PRESENTS: "WOUNDED WARRIORS"... "The piece is one of the best and most powerful pieces of TV journalism you will ever see. You cannot view it without a lump in your throat and mist in your eyes - the strength of our troops, the strength, expertise and kindness of those who care for them and the strength of the families will make you feel inadequate."

GySgt.Mel Greer, USMC, one of the wounded warriors Quade followed for 18-months, from Ramadi, Iraq to Camp Pendleton, California, has this to say about this CNN PRESENTS special: "You do not get shot and get home and everything is fine, as Hollywood would like you to believe. It is a long process. Recovery takes time, for some people, it takes years. And by showing viewers this, they will see the truth and it will help their families and other servicemen and women going through the process."

A final word from Gen.Don Shepperd (USAF, ret.): "We are well to remember that there are those who also serve in danger in addition to our troops; however, Alex's piece is a tribute to our military and to America."

Thank you.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

[kaima]

I suppose there is a high chance some Polish Soldiers will be in the same position of recovering from physical or mental wounds after the war as well, a sad reality of the activity. Our soldiers are lucky they fight for such a rich country that we can afford to try to assist them.

It would be interesting to see what programs the Poles are able to afford for their veterans. I have the impression many European governements regulated tobacco & assisted kiosk sales of newspapers and such to employ their wounded veterans after WW I & II.

[bescheid]

I believe this is an excellent opportunity for the public to understand and support those of the military that have suffered wounds and then the post care recovery process. These young people have given their all in the performance of their duty. Those that come home wounded and missing limbs, need the support of that the modern medical system has to offer.

I would tend to suspect that in past military thinking, the wounded were more or less kept out of the public eye for fear of public indignation. But, this idea short changes the actual maturity of the public.

It takes many hands to help this young men and women to readjust to a new life that they have never known before. A life time is a long time to live with a missing limb and/or the trauma of their experiences. It would be at night, when the mind begins to work that is most dangerous to those most seriously effected.

Maturation begins at birth and ends at death, it is not a good risk to shorten that time due to, post traumatic depression.

Charles

[Jaga]

Holly,

thanks for info. I will try to watch it. FoxNews would never have a program like that showing something negative as an effect of the war. According to the FoxNews the war always need to be "happy".
Do you remember that 2 years ago a company banned the program on ABC listing names of American soldiers who died in a result of the war - from its local stations?

[piwo]

admin said:

Holly,

thanks for info. I will try to watch it. FoxNews would never have a program like that showing something negative as an effect of the war. According to the FoxNews the war always need to be "happy".
Do you remember that 2 years ago a company banned the program on ABC listing names of American soldiers who died in a result of the war - from its local stations?

Jaga,
Why do you presume it's negative, before you even see it? What if God forbid it shows the system as being effective and the military acceptance of it as promising and hopeful. What if God forbid someone says something positive about the actual mission there? It will be difficult no doubt to watch these young people in such bad conditions with difficult choices, but maybe it will end up with a hopeful message instead. Well, that could always be spun to something negative too I suppose.

I must have missed the episode where FOX said " the war always need to be "happy"." Maybe they just tried to balance the other networks that say "everything is terrible"?? Neither is correct, but I suspect only one of these options is appealing to you..

[rdywenur]

So what happened to all those VA hosptitals that were closed all over the country. And the hospital in Washington DC. I understand that the one near me here in Canandaigua was performing experimental tests without anyones knowledge. So are these new facilities for same. Or maybe more propaganda from the government to sell the war to the public. They (us gov) haven't helped before so what would make this so different now.

[piwo]

rdywenur said:

So what happened to all those VA hosptitals that were closed all over the country. And the hospital in Washington DC. I understand that the one near me here in Canandaigua was performing experimental tests without anyones knowledge. So are these new facilities for same. Or maybe more propaganda from the government to sell the war to the public. They (us gov) haven't helped before so what would make this so different now.

I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait and see what facilities they are talking about. I too don't believe the goverment is taking good long term care of America's veterens. From the description in previous posts, I thought this program was covering the process that war wounded were receiving from the moment wounded in the field to when they were returned home for long term care.

Since I was in HS in the early 1970's, I've heard nothing but bad things about veterns care. A nation that doesn't care for it's wounded veterns, whether popular actions or not, has truly lost some of it's soul.

That's just my opinion.

[jimpres]

JOhn,

Your right those that fight for our freedom should be better taken care of.

Jim

[hollister]

Yes,
The Vets are really getting a bad deal - I know first hand down here how medical care of the Vets and the Active Duty folks is really going down hill fast! The joke here is that Tri-Care (The gov't medical insurance program) really stands for Try - To - Get - Care.
Example - A couple of weeks ago Wayne broke his finger (long story) and so he went over to the Hospital for help. About six months ago the emergency room here on base was shut down as a cost cutting measure. So when he showed up with a broken finger and bleeding like a stuck pig - they initially refused to see him as his injury was an emergency and they do not handle emergencies. They wanted him to drive to a local hospital emergency room or to an Urgent Care Center for help. As we have a standard transmission the logistics of this would have been insane. Someone would have had to drive him to the hospital (I happened not to be available at the time so it would have had to have been another soldier) - then he would have had to wait for care - etc... and the cost I am sure would have been more than simply seeing him there.
Wayne insisted that there had to be someone who could see him there at the clinic and after a intense exchange they admitted that they could - and so they saw him - fixed him up and sent him home. I am afraid that if he had gone to the hospital with the time factor that would have entailed - his finger would have swollen so much by that time that the care he needed would have been much more extensive and painful for him.

Another point - can you tell this subject really gets to me?
When you call to make an appointment - the voice recording tells you if it is an emergency to go to the emergency room - Who gets to decide if it is an emergency? So people are going to the local emergency room at the drop of the hat for care - when they really don't need to - and thus costs are skyrocketing for medical care here. (Especially since getting an appointment is a joke - it is about 2 - 3 weeks for an appointment - so people are convincing themselves that they have an emergency and trotting themselves down there for care they can get fairly quickly
My argument is that the cause is NOT that people are using the system more - they are being forces or enabled to use more expensive options for care thus causing the cause.
I will get off my soapbox and stop my rant except for one last point

If our elected Representatives had the same access to medical care and paid the same for their medical care as the rest of us - I think we would ALL have better care - they do NOT have to live with this issue and so they only get interested in it at election time and make promises that quickly get forgotten once elected.

[kaima]

Yea, Hollister, the miltiary system and medicine is the closest thing we have to socialist medicine, so it does stand as an example of what we would get with a communisitic system. Hopefully we will develop a system where all people will get the best care we can offer. Maybe somjeday some radicals may even adapt caring for the neighbor as a Christian principle we should put into practice.

Kai the Conservative