Gates back on the job after arm fracture

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Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, left, attends a strategic planning meeting in his office at the Pentagon on Feb. 13 with his arm in a sling after slipping on the ice and fracturing the limb.


Gates back on the job after arm fracture
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 13, 2008 18:48:04 EST

Defense Secretary Robert Gates barely skipped a beat after suffering a high-arm fracture Tuesday night when he slipped on an icy walkway in front of his Washington home.

Opting to wait until Wednesday morning to be X-rayed at the Pentagon and examined at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., he was back on the job before noon — albeit with his right arm in a sling, said Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell.

The injury forced Gates to miss an appearance before the House defense appropriations subcommittee Wednesday morning to testify on the Pentagon’s 2009 budget request. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England took his place.

Gates was undoubtedly not the only person who slipped and fell Tuesday, when Washington was struck by a late-afternoon barrage of freezing rain that left many of the area’s streets and sidewalks coated with ice, causing dozens of traffic accidents and, likely, more than a few spills among pedestrians.

Gates’ injury was first reported as a fractured right shoulder. Morrell said it was actually a fracture to his upper humerus, the arm bone that connects the shoulder to the elbow.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_gates_accident_080213w/