Showing posts with label Bethesda Naval Hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bethesda Naval Hospital. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Miss America from tiara to tarmac?

Miss America Joins the Air Force
Military.com
Under The Radar
June 19, 2018

Scanlan is now an Airman First Class in the Air National Guard. She's also a law student at UC Berkley.
Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011, speaks to the crew of the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Charles Drew from the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Cape St. George during a replenishment at sea. (Christopher Johnson/U.S. Navy)

During her term as Miss America, Scanlan participated in USO tours, visited Walter Reed and Bethesda military hospitals and toured several military installations.
read more here

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Neighborhood Parade Welcomes Home Army Surgeon

Md. family welcomes hero dad home from Afghanistan with neighborhood parade
FOX 5 News
Anjali Hemphill
October 21, 2016
BETHESDA, Md. - A Maryland hero was welcomed home from deployment in Afghanistan in style Friday night-- by his entire neighborhood. Army Lieutenant Col. Benjamin Potter, an orthopedic surgeon from Bethesda, has spent the last four months caring for injured service members and Afghan allies.

Lt. Col. Potter had a block party waiting for him to help him celebrate his return—and of course, a very happy family. The neighborhood scooter brigade parade is actually a tradition for the Potter family, one that pumps up the whole neighborhood.
read more here

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Boston Red Sox and Celtics pay visit to wounded soldier

Raynham soldier recovering from IED blast gets special visit from Boston Red Sox, Celtics
Taunton Daily Gazette
Marc Laroque
Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter
Posted Apr. 7, 2014

Submitted Photo Brandon Korona, 22, of Raynham, center, who is undergoing treatment at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md., after surviving an improvised explosive device blast last June in Afghanistan, poses for a photo with Boston Red Sox infielder Mike Napoli, left, last Tuesday at the Walter Reed Hospital. Korona's mother, Lori Downing, is at right.

RAYNHAM — A Raynham Army sergeant who survived the blast of a 200-pound improvised explosive device last year has an optimistic outlook on his recovery from a severe leg wound.

Brandon Korona, who is undergoing treatment at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md., said on Sunday that he is in high spirits after going through another surgery in February, as part of a lengthy treatment process. Korona, 22, said that the odds are in his favor that he will not have go through the amputation of his left leg or foot.

“Everything is going well,” Korona said. “I had another surgery to use my heel. They are working right now to just get me mobile again. I’m still working toward avoiding amputation. But that’s slowly becoming less of an option. I’m healing up better.”
read more here

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Speaker of the House silent on cuts at Military Hospitals

Speaker of the House silent on cuts at Military Hospitals
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
June 1, 2013

When John Boehner said "I got 98 percent of what I wanted." with sequestration no one asked him how he dared be so happy when it meant so much harm to the American people. Congress hadn't managed to pass a budge that had a chance of passing for the simple reason it helped the wealthy but harmed the rest of the American people. We're used to it. We're used to people like him always shooting his mouth off about what he thinks the people want when he doesn't seem to care about what we need.

As most of us were reading how Meals on Wheels would no longer be able to deliver hot meals to thousands of elderly people and the disabled, he was whining about the Air Traffic Controllers and how cutting their hours made it hard on members of congress to have to wait in line with the rest of us. They acted fast to fix that problem.

Bridges and roads fall apart but instead of putting thousands to work fixing them, he approved of so many public workers losing their jobs.

Cops and firefighters lost jobs after most of these jobs are done by veterans coming home from combat and still wanting to serve their communities.

When he pushed and pushed to blame someone over what happened in Benghazi, he didn't seem too interested that Congress cut the budget for security. Boehner doesn't seem too interested in the outcome of the 98% of what he wanted would do unless it directly affected members of Congress.

We've heard speech after speech and hearing after hearing on the backlog of claims at the VA but what we didn't hear was that there has been a history of congressional ambivalence to what disabled veterans face when they come home. The VA claims were higher during other administrations simply because Congress never really got their act together on making sure veterans didn't have to wait in long lines to be treated and compensated for what their service did to them. Reporters failed to inform the American people that when troops were sent to fight in two wars there were less people working on taking care of them than after the Gulf War. That is how we ended up in the mess in 2009 when the backlogs hit 915,000.

Now it seems we have the ultimate betrayal. Workers at Military Hospitals are being cut. Yes, that is the truth but it is doubtful Boehner will do a damn thing about it.
Walter Reed hospital workers receive furlough notices
May 30, 2013

ABC7 has confirmed the region’s two military hospitals are furloughing more than 3,500 civilian employees who care for the nation’s wounded warriors, nearly their entire civilian staffs.

The impacted employees are from departments across the board at both hospitals, including members of the trauma team, physical therapists and nurses. They will be forced to take 11 unpaid furlough days starting in July.

Hospital officials say the furloughs affect 2,392 caregivers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda. That’s 94% of the civilian staff there.

Officials say 1,163 caregivers at Fort Belvoir’s hospital in Virginia are being furloughed, affecting 85% of its civilian staff.
read more here

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Disabled Vets at Walter Reed can't find parking?

"The lack of parking became a big issue in 2011, when 2,000 employees from the now closed Walter Reed hospital in northwest D.C. were reassigned to the Bethesda campus. There are plans to add more spaces over the next five-to-10 years."
Parking Crackdown at Walter Reed Patrols stop employees from taking spots away from patients
NBC Washington
Thursday, Mar 28, 2013

Parking at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda can be a challenge. Now, it's getting a little easier for veterans who go there for treatment but can't find a parking space. read more here

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Gold Star Moms helping others Mother's Day and everyday

Gold Star Mothers continue the service of their fallen children
Maryland chapter, revived during decade of war, dedicate themselves to active duty personnel, veterans
By Matthew Hay Brown
The Baltimore Sun
May 12, 2012

BETHESDA — A mother arrives at the Red Cross office at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on a mission for her son, a 23-year-old soldier and double amputee. He needs a back scratcher.

With her bright eyes and wide smile, volunteer Janice Chance gives her that and more — a reassuring rub on the arm and an offer to do anything else she can for the soldier, who is visiting the hospital for tests.

In a sense, Chance is here for her own son, too.

Marine Capt. Jesse Melton III, the oldest of Chance's three children, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2008. Soon after his death, the Owings Mills woman began volunteering with the Red Cross at Walter Reed and in the emergency room at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Chance is one of 50 Maryland mothers who are honoring the memory of their fallen sons and daughters by tending to the needs of those still fighting, the wounded and the veterans.

Together, they have revived the long-dormant state chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, a service organization made up exclusively of women who have lost children in the military.

Founded after World War I and widely recognized during World War II, the American Gold Star Mothers had been dwindling for decades. Now the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have brought a new generation of women to the organization.

Maryland is one of several states seeing a revival. Nationally, the organization now counts 2,000 women as members.
read more here

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Marine Corporal Garrett Carnes welcomed home

Crowd gathers to welcome injured Marine home
April 20, 2012

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Hundreds of people filled the streets of downtown Mooresville on Friday to welcome home a Marine who was wounded in Afghanistan. Corporal Garrett Carnes, 22, lost both of his legs in an explosion in February.

The Patriot Guard escorted Carnes and his family from Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md., to downtown Mooresville. The 400-mile trip started on Interstate 495, and then traveled to I-66 and down I-81.
read more here and wathdh two great videos

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Veterans Day Ceremony in Bethesda

PHOTOS: Veterans Day Ceremony in Bethesda
Residents and community leaders gathered to honor veterans in Bethesda Friday.
By Erin Donaghue
The yearly event is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Bethesda and the American Legion post #105. Credit: Erin Donaghue
go here for more pictures

Monday, October 10, 2011

From A Decade Of War, An Endless Struggle For The Severely Wounded

This is one of those pieces that make you marvel at what these men and women are like. Over the last couple of years I've met more amputees than I had before and I count myself blessed to have come into contact with them. Their bodies are damaged, some would say broken, but their character is full. Many of them came back home missing parts of their bodies and ended up falling in love because of their character. Think marriages like their's won't last? Think again. In the Orlando DAV, we have two triple amputees from Vietnam and both of them have been married for over 25 years.

Beyond The Battlefield: From A Decade Of War, An Endless Struggle For The Severely Wounded

David Wood

July 4, 2010, was a bad day for Tyler Southern. He dreamed he was with his older brothers, playing sandlot football, running and laughing, horsing around just like they used to when they were together as kids in Jacksonville, Fla.

In his dream, he was whole again.

Then he awoke in his hospital bed at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and reality came flooding back. Both of his legs and his right arm were gone, blown off in Afghanistan two months earlier by an improvised explosive device so powerful that only bits of his legs and boots were ever found. The explosion left one remaining limb, his left arm, broken and mangled.

Southern began to hyperventilate. His mother Patti, at his bedside, reached out to calm him. Mom, something's coming on, he cried. Breathe with me, she murmured. Breathe with me. She gathered him in her arms and held his head tight against her chest as sweat beaded over his body and his heart pounded wildly. He gulped lungfuls of air, his mother rocking him in her arms.

Breathe with me.

Suddenly Southern vomited. Patti rocked him gently in her arms until he was calm.

"My last big, bad day,” he recalled recently. "Everybody has 'em," he added, speaking of the other patients he knows who are struggling with severe wounds.
read more here

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Army to move hundreds of wounded troops as Walter Reed closes

Army to move hundreds of wounded troops as Walter Reed closes
By CHRIS CARROLL
Stars and Stripes
Published: July 19, 2011

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of wounded and sick servicemembers will be on the move in August as Walter Reed Army Medical Center enters its final weeks in existence.

About 445 troops currently are recuperating at the 102-year-old facility in Washington, D.C., which is slated for closure next month. Two-thirds of patients will be transferred in August to the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., opening on the current grounds of Bethesda National Naval Hospital.

The remaining one-third will go to the soon-to-open Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, which is replacing the nearby DeWitt Army Community Hospital at the northern Virginia Army base.
read more here
Army to move hundreds of wounded troops as Walter Reed closes

Friday, June 3, 2011

Officials respond to concern over new Walter Reed operating rooms

BRAC: Officials respond to concern over new Walter Reed operating rooms
Darci Marchese, WTOP reporter

WASHINGTON - The Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical says there will be more than enough operating rooms to treat wounded warriors post-BRAC.

It released the following statement Thursday morning:

"Based on projections for casualty care and historical usage rates, seven and a half ORs are utilized for Wounded Warrior surgical care between the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center facilities. We have a sufficient number of ORs now and will have enough ORs in the late Summer/Early Fall to care for Wounded Warriors as we transition and integrate patients and staff into the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.

"Bethesda has developed a detailed plan to defer elective surgeries in Aug 2011 during the BRAC transition to ensure that Wounded Warrior care is not impacted. Additionally, surgical leaders from WRAMC, Bethesda, and Fort Belvoir will utilize a number of ambulatory operating rooms for same day surgeries in the National Capital Region such as those at Malcolm Grow Air Force Medical Center and the Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center during the BRAC transition period.
read more here
Officials respond to concern over new Walter Reed operating rooms

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Don't forget the wounded, they are veterans too!

While parades are nice for Veterans Day, we need to remember all the veterans in hospitals trying to recover from the wounds they received. This is about a program to get themn out of the hospital, even if it is just for a little while and let them just be men/women again. They are veterans everday, but for them they are also wounded veterans.

Program lets wounded vets experience W.Va. hunts

By John McCoy - The Charleston Gazette via AP
Posted : Sunday Nov 7, 2010 12:00:18 EST

FRANKLIN, W.Va. — With a quick squeeze of a crossbow's trigger, James Raffetto proved that it would take more than an insurgent's bomb to keep him from enjoying life.

"I never thought I'd be able to do something like this," Raffetto said, as he sat forward in his wheelchair and gestured to the deer lying dead nearby. "When you get hit, you think your life is over. This is proof that it isn't."

For Raffetto and a growing roster of servicemen wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Potomac Highlands Wounded Warrior Outreach has been an avenue back toward an active lifestyle. Founded last January by a retired West Virginia conservation officer and a handful of friends, the outreach brings wounded soldiers, Marines and sailors to West Virginia to hunt, to fish and to enjoy a few days of life outside a hospital's walls.

"We work with the people at Walter Reed (Army Hospital) and Bethesda (Naval Hospital) to bring these fellows here," said group founder Bill Armstrong. "The idea is to get them into the outdoors for a day or two so they can relax. Some of these guys have literally been in the hospital for years, and they need some time away from the hospital routine."

read more here
Program lets wounded vets experience W.Va. hunts

Monday, July 12, 2010

Marine Mom Forced To Choose Between Injured Son, Job

The law allows family members of injured service members up to 26 weeks unpaid leave to care for their loved one.



This is something every injured serviceman or woman's family needs to know. They do have rights under the law to protect their jobs. This is also something every parent should pay attention to. Think of how much you help your own adult kids. Getting them through college, supporting them when they don't make enough money on their jobs or when they lose the jobs. Helping them make car payments and insurance premiums. What average people are willing to do for their 20 something offspring's is astonishing but then add in when they are in the military and ended up wounded serving this country.

IED blasts have blown off limbs, bullets hit brains and other body parts and fires have burnt off skin. Add in the fear these parents have to go through when their kids are deployed and then the fear of the unknown when they are able to survive but then having to worry about keeping their jobs and paying their bills. It is a story that is repeated over and over again across the country.

Marine Mom Forced To Choose Between Injured Son, Job
By Nicole Ferguson

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. – A Hopkinsville Marine mom said she was given an ultimatum in June. She could leave her injured son's bedside or lose her job.

"Before this happened I'd only missed a one day in over a year's time, and that was the day they put my mother on life support," said Susan Powell, a CNA at Western State Hospital. "I'd work overtime, never called in, so I just never thought they'd tell me my job was at risk."

On May 24, her 21-year-old son, Lance Corporal Franklin Powell, stepped on an IED in Afghanistan. Doctors determined much of the young Marine's leg would need to be amputated.

Powell said Western State Hospital had no problems letting her go to her son's bedside at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda Maryland on May 30.

The problems began a week into her second trip beginning June 16.

"They told me if I couldn't come back by Friday to work, my job would be terminated," said Powell of the phone call she received from Crown Services, a corporate office of Western State Hospital. "Once my situation allowed, I could come back and reapply."
read more here

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=12788050

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Troops' care facility listed critical

Troops' care facility listed critical

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon effort to consolidate two premier hospitals for treating wounded troops has more than doubled in price and is so rudderless that an independent review and a bipartisan group of legislators say the care could suffer.
The cost of closing Walter Reed Army Medical Center, replacing it with a larger complex at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and building a hospital at Fort Belvoir, Va., has risen from $1 billion to $2.6 billion, Pentagon records show.

Correcting the problems raised by Congress will cost another $781 million, according to a Pentagon report released Monday. And improvements must wait until after the new Bethesda facility — named the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — is finished in September 2011, the report says.
go here for more
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-04-26-hospitals_N.htm

Saturday, April 17, 2010

U.S. combat-wounded troops war theater to Washington due to volcanic ash

Ash plume over Europe affects medevac flights

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Apr 17, 2010 10:45:55 EDT

A volcanic ash plume that has severely impacted commercial aviation over Europe also has forced the diversion of all military and commercial contract flights over the region, an official said Friday morning.

The most immediate effect is on U.S. combat-wounded troops, who are being flown straight from the war theater to Washington, D.C., without making the customary stop in Germany, said Navy Capt. Kevin Aandahl, a spokesman for U.S. Transportation Command.

One contracted commercial passenger flight has been grounded in Europe, “and they’re just going to wait out the plume,” Aandahl said.

He said he couldn’t identify the base, or whether it was carrying troops forward to the war theater, for operational security reasons.
go here for more
Ash plume over Europe affects medevac flights

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Marine succumbs to wounds on 28th birthday

Local Marine Passes Away
Jack Shea Staff Writer
10:22 PM EDT, March 16, 2010


RICHFIELD, OH A courageous battle for survival by a wounded U.S. Marine from Richfield ended Tuesday night, when Gunnery Sgt. Robert Gilbert passed away at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

Sgt. Gilbert, who turned 28 on Tuesday, was surrounded by his family and fellow Marines, who had taken part in a round the clock vigil at his bedside.
read more here
http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-marine-dies-txt,0,1835981.story

Friday, February 19, 2010

Navy reviewing Murtha’s medical care

Navy reviewing Murtha’s medical care

By Lance M. Bacon - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 18, 2010 19:43:57 EST

The National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., is reviewing the medical care provided to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., during gallbladder surgery on Jan. 28. Murtha died Feb. 8.

The “in-depth standardized quality assurance review” of the care Murtha received is required when a patient dies at the facility or if there is an adverse event during that care, Navy spokesman Cmdr. Danny Hernandez said Thursday.

Hernandez said he had no information on how long the review would take or how many reviews of this type are done annually.

After Murtha died, his close friend and fellow congressman, Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pa., told Navy Times that Murtha’s death was likely the result of an inadvertent cut to his intestine during laparoscopic surgery. Brady said he had been told by Murtha’s staff that the small nick caused an infection.
read more here
Navy reviewing Murtha medical care

Monday, August 3, 2009

Wounded Marine Fights VA For Care

Casey Owens said he thinks President Bush owes him an apology after he lost both legs and didn't get the help he needed to heal. I know a lot of people that will respond with the usual, calling him "Bush basher" instead of considering this Marine served the nation, all parts of this nation, would have died for this nation, even for the people who couldn't possibly care less about him.

See, that's the real problem here. I'm surrounded by people like that in every part of my life. They never want to hear the truth.

I addressed an email one of my friends sent slamming President Obama. When I pointed out the difference between the two Presidents, the amount of money budgeted and the progress being made to help our veterans, she said I was "Bush bashing" and that I was wrong about Bush cutting VA funding.

Personally I like her so I didn't want to argue. I figured the point would have been lost because she didn't even know what the facts she looked up meant. She said the VA budget was increased in 2008 but didn't notice that was at the end of his term and also after the Democrats took control over the House and the Senate, thus controlling the committees and sub committees. Here are some other facts they like to avoid.

There were less doctors and nurses working for the VA than there were after the Gulf War but we had two military campaigns producing more wounded everyday.

That Nicholson returned money to congress unspent at the same time suicide alarm bells were screaming to be addressed across the country, but nothing was being done for the troops or our veterans.

That the Republicans in Congress, including their hero McCain, making a point to keep voting against veterans because they doubt their supporters have the ability to look up their voting records or take the time to listen to debates carried by CSPAN. McCain's record on veterans is abysmal. He was against the GI Bill saying it was too generous but when it came time to vote, he was someplace else. He was happy though when President Bush, also against the GI Bill, congratulated McCain on its passing. Top that off with McCain campaigned on solving the overflow of the VA by getting rid of veterans not meeting his standards of being combat veterans. He wanted all non-combat wounded veterans to have cards so they could get private care and stop using the VA. What a guy! That was his answer after he voted against them and kept saying there was not enough money in the budget to fully fund the VA.

They have a history of doing this then claiming they are the veterans best buddies when it comes time to get their votes.

This is not about Bush bashing or Republican bashing, but about truth. That's something that used to matter in this country when people cared enough to find out and the media felt the obligation to inform instead of perform. The troops and our veterans ended up paying the price. The Democrats are no angels in this but they are far better at taking care of the men and women we send while the Republicans are more about spending their time and money on taking care of the contractors instead. I get angry with Democrats in congress because when the troops needed them to really stand up for them, they refused to take to the airwaves across this country and demand something be done. I kept waiting for that to happen after hearing their passionate speeches on the floor of the congress, but they never arrived. The only one coming close was John Edwards when he was talking about homeless veterans.

President Obama, the one some love to hate no matter what he does for the troops or our veterans, paid attention all along. He wanted to be on the Veterans Affairs Committee, when John McCain was not. (Wonder why that is if they were so important to him? Did anyone ask him?) Obama managed to pay attention to the PTSD rates and the fact so many were taking their own lives. He paid attention so much so that he went to the Montana National Guard to take a look at their program. I knew about it because this is what I do all day long everyday so I've investigated most of the program out there. Obama was running his campaign and had a lot of other things to take care of but quietly he took a serious look at their program and promised to support it. Had he not cared, he wouldn't have had a clue how good it was. This was at the same time McCain was telling veterans that PTSD was not that big of a deal, more media hype and his wife Cindy said that McCain didn't have PTSD because of his strength and training. Wonder how well that went off with the four generals that came out publicly admitting they needed help to heal too?

But the game goes on and the Right go after the Left and visa versa with the troops and our veterans stuck in the middle, waiting for help. Did any of these people stop to think that the troops didn't make us wait when we said they should go? So why should they and their families suffer for lack of care just because they got wounded doing what we asked them to do, sent them to do and paid for them to do? Can we finally, once and for all stop the political game at least when it comes to taking care of them and be honest?

Wounded Marine Fights VA For Care
"Shrugged Off" by Veterans Administration After Failed Surgeries, Wounded Vet Forced to Seek Help on His Own
(CBS) Casey Owens wasn't expected to live after he lost both legs in Iraq. But he made it out of a military vehicle alive and to Bethesda Naval Hospital where CBS News national security correspondent David Martin first met him in October of 2004.

"I don't remember anything, but I know that it was a mine," Owens said.

Everyone would agree the U.S. government owes Casey Owens the best possible medical care. No one who hears his story could say he got it.

"I don't know why I'm just depressed, crying a lot and feeling down, just feeling hopeless," Owens said.

He said that to the latest doctor he turned to in his desperate search for the help he was not getting from the Veterans Administration.

"Dealing with the VA and being held up and not getting the care that I feel I wanted or treatments that I see fit," Owens said. "That's a very discouraging thing for me because I did my part and their part is to help heal us and they failed me."

All he ever wanted to be was a Marine. Even after he was wounded he donned his dress blues for President Bush's second inaugural. But the amputation on his right leg kept failing and the VA told him he would need a fourth operation to repair the stump.

"What they offered me was the same surgery that had failed three times before," Owens said.

Each surgery meant more of his right leg had to be amputated.

"I didn't have much more of my leg to give," Owens said.

He wanted a different procedure.

"So I did research on my own and found the doctor which took six months of approval to get," Owens recalled.

His mother says he spent six months with a raw stump just.

"He was in excruciating pain," said Janna Dunkle, Owens' mother. "He's sitting, laying on a bed, watching TV or staring at walls."

Finally he got the operation and, he says, a personal apology from President Bush for the delay. He was up on two legs but still searching for treatment of the wound you can't see: the brain injury.
read more here and for video
Wounded Marine Fights VA For Care

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Cpl. Matthew Lembke died of wounds received in Afghanistan

Marine Matthew Lembke of Tualatin dies of injuries suffered in Afghanistan
by Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian
Friday July 10, 2009, 5:04 PM

Cpl. Matthew Lembke, a Tualatin man serving his third combat tour, died Friday at Bethesda Naval Hospital from complications from his blast injuries suffered in Afghanistan.

The 22-year-old Marine sniper had been patrolling on foot June 22 when an IED exploded. He lost both his legs and sustained internal injuries.


He was flown to the U.S. Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany where his parents, Claudia and Dale, and sister Carolyn, joined him. Last weekend, he was flown to Bethesda in Maryland where he underwent several surgeries.

read more here
Marine Matthew Lembke of Tualatin dies of injuries suffered in Afghanistan

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Capt. Robert J. Yllescas succumbs to wounds suffered in Afghanistan


DoD Identifies Army Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Capt. Robert J. Yllescas, 31, of Lincoln, Neb., died Dec. 1 at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., of wounds suffered Oct. 28 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit at Combat Outpost Keating, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.