Robert Bazell: In Iraq, a head wound isn't always a trip home

More supporting of the troops Bush style:

Military personnel with brain injuries pressured to return quickly to duty

When I arrived in Iraq recently I had a question for the leaders of the medical staff.

Last year when I was reporting on the http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2006/04/the_signature_w.html"> treatment of brain injuries among troops returning from the war, I learned many experts were
concerned about low-level brain injuries among the troops. The rehabilitation experts at Veterans Affairs had been shocked to hear that soldiers and Marines who had been exposed to the concussive force of numerous blasts from roadside bombs, but not obviously injured, were routinely returned to duty.

The VA experts worried that this could lead to an epidemic of mental health issues among veterans in the years to come. I asked at the Pentagon if anyone was concerned about the issue and got no answer.

In Iraq, I found that what the VA experts were hearing is certainly true. Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) remain the signature weapon of this war. These bombs have gotten increasingly powerful.

In the military hospitals in Iraq, most of the U.S. wounded had been injured by IEDs. Most surprising to me, it was not the first IED for most of them. In fact, I met several who had survived as many as five IED blasts. One young soldier had been through five in the past six weeks alone..."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17350373/