War is War

I have a friend who lives outside of London, England. I recently had this note from her and wanted to share it with you:

There is a huge military helicopter, a Chinook, circling overhead, very low. At the hospital, half a mile up the road, they have a specialist military wing where they bring the guys in from Afghanistan and Iraq. They only bring the seriously wounded into here, and every time I see that chopper coming in to land, it gives me goose bumps. It touches down to unload, only a minute or two, then is straight up again and off.We often see the lads who are recovering; sometimes they have an evening out, with their minders, at the pub next door to the hospital, which is my local pub. They are always in high spirits, knocking back pints with tequila chasers, having a good time. They are all young and fit and in their prime. Then you look and see that hardly any of them still have four limbs. Sometimes the news reports that one of them has died. But on the whole they have an incredibly high survival rate; they are linked by technology with the medical teams in Afghanistan and Iraq.Is it the same there, they report the fatal casualties, show the coverage if bringing them home - but rarely mention the wounded? We've had in the hundreds dead (I know you have thousands) - but what they don't tell you is that since 2001 when they went into Afghanistan, just that one wing up the road has treated 8000 seriously wounded British soldiers. This week, on TV, they are finally going to show a documentary which follows two of the seriously wounded and what happens to them from the time they were blown up (which by chance was captured on camera), through treatment at the hospital up the road, to where they are now, plus the impact on their families etc. Both lost 2 or 3 limbs and one also lost his sight. I think it is going to seriously stir things up when that is shown.It's a bit like living on the set of MASH sometimes!