Action 035: Wounded Soldiers.

I had the opportunity to go bowling with a friend and her kids at the bowling facility on the Naval Hospital grounds. First we went into the on site store, which is called The Exchange on military property (any military property that I know of). Because Walter Reed is closing, the Naval Hospital has become the new location for severely wounded military personnel. We all hear the stories on the news and read in our newspapers about how soldiers are wounded and feel bad. Yesterday, I saw three visibly severely wounded military men. One in a wheelchair, with no legs from the knees down. He was quite helpful when he saw Kerry and I walking around confused, cracking jokes and laughing with us. There was another who kept to himself, walking a bit crooked, clearly still trying to get used to his new metal right leg, from the calf down. And yet another man, who was taped up some, but otherwise, seemed, on the surface, to be uninjured in some severe way. Yet, he looked incredibly unhappy. He was with his father and sister (my guess based on what they looked like physically), and he really just didn't seem to have much to say and didn't smile once. These sights were small, but powerful reminders of what exactly our military does for us. There are those of us who never supported the way and think Bush is the world's biggest dumb dumb, but have always supported what our military does for this country. But this really brings it home just how many come home injured and how little we truly know about these heroes who signed up to protect this country and have literally given life and limb to make sure that protection remains strong. I'm often not particularly proud to be an American, as we are ass backwards in so many ways, but this experience? Well, there's really no place I'd rather be.