A little report on Ramstein and Landstuhl, Germany

[lebkuchen]

I was in the Ramstein/Landstuhl area over the weekend. Ramstein is where the US Air Force Base in Germany is. This is the base where most of our wounded are flown into. Landstuhl is the US army hospital where the wounded are treated, which is about 20 minutes south of Ramstein, on top of a hill. The hospital has undergone extensive renovation, as has the terminal at Ramstein Air Base. A lot more construction is going on at Ramstein, with new roads about to be put in. Ramstein's base terminal is the most modern military terminal I've ever seen. There were several C130s and C5s parked on the runway.

In front of the terminal was a group of army enlisted soldiers dressed in desert fatigues loading up their gear. I asked, "Are you coming or going?" They said, "Going." My friend asked one soldier, "Are you looking forward to it?" He said, "No, not at all." My friend tapped the soldier with his newspaper and said, "You be safe." He said, "Thank you, sir."

All the US bases are guarded by the German military. After showing ID, DL and vehicle registration to the German soldiers standing guard at Landstuhl, I asked them if there were many injured soldiers coming through the base. They said yes, all the time. I asked if they came by helicopter or ambulance. They said both. There were on average three helicopters a day bringing the severely injured to Landstuhl Hospital after the wounded had been triaged in a gymnasium at Ramstein. He said the "krankenwagen," or ambulance, came through the Landstuhl base gates throughout the day, bringing the less critically injured. The gate guard said it was really sad. I said, yeah, it was really a shame. I thanked them for Germany's help during this time of need. They said the German equivalent of "Don't mention it."

I read last night that we've lost three more soldiers with several more of our wounded Landstuhl-bound. A "Stripes" reporter did a piece three weeks ago on the shortage of base hospital blood supplies and the need for more donations. I'd like to read a future "Stripes" interview of Landstuhl doctors so we can get some definitive numbers on our forgotten wounded.

[KT2000]

1. Thank you

for the post and your kind comments for the soldiers. And thank your friend too. It is very sad.

[oasis]

2. Our troops will be coming home with some eye opening stories to tell

[madfloridian]

3. Thanks for the post.

I find it insulting to our military for our press to ignore their problems over there.

[lebkuchen]

4. The need to triage our wounded in a gymnasium surprised me

I hadn't realized our numbers of wounded were that large at any given time. Imagine what a photograph of the triage "unit" would do to sway public perception...just what the Bushies don't want--a scene out of "Gone With the Wind."

Instead, they paint a rosy picture of "progress" made in Iraq, choosing the propaganda device of speaking in opposites to divert the public's attention.

[Paschall]

5. That jumped out at me, too, lebkuchen

Why isn't 60 Minutes in there with cameras?

Thanks, as always, for another important post!