Read the WOUNDS OF WAR series in the
LA TIMES, here and
here.
Maj. Mary Hannah, a physical therapist. "Even the most experienced people here -- it is beyond their imagining. These are our babies. And they just keep coming, coming, coming."
Since April, when the first casualties began arriving, more than 1,875 have been treated at Walter Reed, an average of about 10 a day, 300 a month.
"The number [of amputees] is big to me now, bigger than anything I've seen since Vietnam," said Jim Mayer, 57, who lost both legs in that war and now volunteers at the hospital several days a week helping amputees. "When we see each other here, me and the other volunteers, our line to each other is, 'They just keep coming and coming.' "
A half hour away, at Andrews Air Force Base, the tennis court and gymnasium of the fitness center have become a medical staging facility for those evacuated from the war zone. More than 7,500 have come through since April.
There are so many spouses, parents and children that the more than 600 rooms in guest houses on the hospital grounds are not enough to hold them. Some are doubling up in single rooms.