Monday, November 28, 2011

Scott Olsen Interview in Oakland Yesterday

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This is from Indy Bay media.

3 comments:

  1. That was a little heartbreaking, but still moving. That kid has some serious damage to the speech centers of his brain; he'll get better, but he'll never be the same.
    Traumatic brain injury is the "signature" injury in Iraq; it's pretty sick that this kid got it at home.

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  2. It was tough to watch. The irony level is enormous. He does two tours in Iraq, comes back here, protests (completely nonviolently, let it be said) and gets shot in the head by police from close range for his trouble.

    A friend of mine volunteers at the VA hospital, and he's been devastated by what he's seen, particularly the brain injuries.

    NPR did a story yesterday on the issue of the military's failure to properly identify and treat traumatic brain injuries of the troops, but what got me about it was that this has been a scandal for years, and the military brass simply don't care. How they can maintain that position with an all volunteer force and not experience continuous mutiny is beyond me.

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  3. Yeah, I saw it for the first time in Fahrenheit 911; I could tell it would be a scandal and a tragedy. Ironically, it's partly due to better battlefield medicine that these guys live to talk at all. People died from less in those "old" wars. Now they want to cut VA health care...

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