Hospital Visit

Two new friends from GRD and I visited soldiers in the Combat Support Hospital (pronounced CASH). They have been doing it for almost a year and showed me their routine. The hospital is across the street from GRD and next door to our dining facility. During my first visit a few days earlier, we visited two soldiers with non-combat injuries. The rest of the beds were empty except for an Iraqi patient that our doctors had treated. The hospital use to be Saddam's royal hospital. During the visits, my two army friends talk about the unit the soldier is from and often the soldier wants to tell their story, on how they were injured. They always tell the soldier how proud they are of them, that they are a hero and thank them for their service. The night of this picture, we visited with a Marine with a combat injury. He was upbeat, grateful for our visit and shared his story. When we left he said, "God bless you" and we replied the same.

The next morning, the newspaper Stars and Stripes had this report on the incident: "Coalition forces are seeking the source of a roadside bomb that injured a Marine here (Fallujah) early Saturday after the Marine's explosive ordnance disposal team was dispatched to detonate it. The Marine, of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, was in stable condition after being evacuated to the surgical hospital at nearby Camp Fallujah. ... The incident came at a time of increased security gains. Marines have credited the security improvements to a local population that has turned against insurgents and to the continued progression of local security forces, among other factors."