Michael's Dispatches

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Published: Tuesday, 10 July 2012 14:31

10 July 2012

These wars have left us with thousands of troops and civilians who may have sustained brain damage from explosions.  Recently, my friend Carl Prine, a military combat veteran of Iraq, terminated his writing on Line of Departure due to apparent brain damage.  Carl believes that an IED blast may have contributed to the problem.  It is terrible to see anyone suffer brain damage.  That it happened to such a gifted military writer is double damage, and saddening for me.  Carl’s writing will be missed.  He was truly gifted.  We communicated today.  His condition is bad.

A cousin who is a Marine officer sent a bomb video today.  This looks like Iraq.  The date stamp shows 2007.  My cousin the Marine asked me to pass this video along so that more people will understand what our young veterans are facing.  My cousin’s note said:

“This is the type of explosion that our troops are dealing with, not the puny kind we see on television or in the movies.
 Pass this on... so Americans will now understand what an IED truly is… and what our war veterans are dealing with.”

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  shsu · 7 years ago

  http://www.hcop.com/PDF/Erickson%20Seattle.pdf

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  Phil Strick · 7 years ago

  May want to take a look at the Amen Clinics (google it) and read about what he is doing for Veterans and the NFL players with Brain Damage.

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  Lane Young · 7 years ago

  leads to a page that is marked private
  
  http://vimeo.com/45512976

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  Upaces · 7 years ago

  Bring them home! They are fighting short handed and having to improvise due to Obama cutting the Military budget.
  
  BRING THEM HOME!
  We do have the Star Wars Weapon to use...NO MORE LIVES OF OUR MILITARY

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  Shea Brown · 7 years ago

  Yes,, get out troops out of there,, we have no business there,, no reason to be there. Let the boy diddling illiterate Afghans grow their poppy and keep heroin supplies up. Out now. Senseless waste.

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  Linda Lafond · 7 years ago

  How sad to hear that -- praying for a miracle for him. I wonder if they are trying neurofeedback with him. They are using it successfully to treat many brain issues and brain injuries, including depression, autism, ADHD, and even PTSD. Here is an article that talks more about it:
  http://tucsoncitizen.com/tc-off-topic/2011/02/01/miraculous-recovery-from-traumatic-brain-injury-with-neurofeedback-therapy/

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  Linda Lafond · 7 years ago

  P.S. Just wanted to pass along a link about therapists who are providing free neurofeedback treatment for vets with PTSD: http://homecoming4veterans.org/index.html

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  okiquit · 7 years ago

  The IEDs in Iraq where this video appears to originate were mainly made with munitions left over from Saddam's regime. Those munitions came from the hundreds of ammo dumps our troops failed to secure during the invasion. That failure was partly due to lack of manpower and partly to indifference. Our troops thought they would soon be leaving Iraq to the Iraqis. Instead we disbanded the Iraqi army and banned millions of rank-and-file Baath Party members from meaningful jobs ... simultaneously infuriating and impoverishing thousands of people who became the backbone of the insurgency and quickly learned to make IEDs. So we basically created the IED problem.
  
  And BTW it's time to bring our troops home from Afghanistan. We had a chance to make a difference in Afghanistan in 2002-2008. But we pissed away the opportunity so we could send our most critical resources and manpower to Iraq.

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  C Good · 7 years ago

  Oh no . . . I am so sorry to hear that Carl Prine diagnosis is getting worse, I read his goodbye post on LoD and had been hoping he might be getting better.
  
  And good God. Did anyone survive the blast in that video?

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  Iris LeMire · 7 years ago

  :sad: Does anybdy read the Bible anymore...this has all been foretold by writers inspired of God and it is a book of instruction of how to live and be happy......or not! Can you see how the world is going.......Hey, no more Beaver Cleaver suppers at the table... card games with family...making food from scratch (just read a cookbok girls..or boys). Have a little garden.. ___Bring lunch to work and save 30.00 a week per person.___...u don't have to have 2 cars.....Moms take care of your own children... not Daycare from 7-6 and put poor baby to bed at 8? So Sad. Animal kingdom takes care of their own...no babysitters. Who is smarter? Live a simple life!!!!1!
  This world lies in the hand of the Wicked one....We pray the Lord's Prayer..thy kingdom come..thy will be done ..on earth as it is in heaven....THINK about that..paradise on earth like God intended! Not government by man....which stinks!!!. I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses and if this makes you think about God's plan for mankind today ...please email me.

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  Elaine · 7 years ago

  Personally? This is what I would like to see happen.
  FIRST: Bring them ALL home.
  Then when they begin begging for help again...lay down the new rules.
  Stay out of the way and stop the damn PC for Our Military and let them what they do best.
  WIN....with no holds barred!
  
  That IS what Our Military does best and they haven't been allowed to do that.

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  Jony Afpak · 7 years ago

  Wow! This is what happens to occupying terrorists? Yay. Get out of occupied lands and stop killing/bombing innocent people all over the world, uncle sam, the biggest terrorist!

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    Odgred Weary · 7 years ago

    Yeah, THAT's a useful comment. I bet you cheered for the German Army in 1945, too.

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  robin yates · 7 years ago

  I have never seen a valid reason for the invasion of this country.

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    Elaine · 7 years ago

    ...I want the "real" reason from anyone on here that can tell me.
    
    At one point, I was told, "Well, it is about getting the oil." Huh?
    
    We have oil here as well as in Canada!
    Now it is because Islam is evil?
    Huh? Let them resolve their own problems and BRING THEM HOME!
    AND, do NOT allow anymore Muslims into Our Country!!!

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  Brad Blauser · 7 years ago

  This video was reportedly taken by a mounted camera at entrance gates to Forward Operating Base Taji. Friends on base said the concussion of this blast blew their office door opened, slammed them against the outside wall and slammed them closed again. Our troops in the Humvees didn't have much of a chance against such huge bombs.

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  Mary · 7 years ago

  My prayers for all those with hidden wounds. This is horrific.
  
  Not to lessen the loss in any way, I am a Marine mom, but watch the traffic going towards the bomb location facing our direction. There is a vehicle parked there with a group of people stopping other cars from going through.

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  Elaine · 7 years ago

  The Mind/Soul experiences trauma everyday they are over there. One can overcome head wounds, damage to their physical bodies; but the wounds sustained from the horrors and see and experience have an even greater impact. God Bless Them All, and bring them home NOW.

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  Shaun · 7 years ago

  Good grief - unthinkable

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  Heath · 7 years ago

  As an American at home, I demand that the Pentagon starts both heavily armed manned and un-manned flights along convoy routes and have soldiers guarding roads so that nobody is able to touch these roads. That video made me very furious !! US Troops should be beating the living shit out of anybody who plants these IEDS. Go after those who make bombs with no mercy !!

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