Limb Land: Letters, Life, and Death from the Bowels of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars - Softcover

Gibbons, Lee L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1450249213 ISBN 13: 9781450249218

Verlag: iUniverse, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

Limb Land offers a collection of short stories connected by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Presenting a heartfelt, emotional journey, one story details the plight of Army Specialist Spencer, who, while in the ICU of an Iraqi field hospital, requests to "see off " his detached leg one final time. He's told policy would not allow him to bid this unusual "farewell." Groggy but coherent, he requests his detached leg from another member of personnel, who contemplates the soldiers request. Then there's the story of MPO Dugan Taylor, born into wealth but desiring to serve his country just as his father had in Vietnam. After his face is disfigured by insurgent gunfire, he comes home only to have his temperamental and transient wife walk out on their volatile marriage. A family struggles with a cancer diagnosis; a documentary filmmaker perishes, but leaves a legacy supported by the international film industry. A lieutenant experiences an incredible reunion; one he could not have dreamed possible... Limb Land presents heartfelt stories that evoke our gratitude to all who have sacrificed for these wars.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Lee L. Gibbons hails from military lineage dating back to World War I. She has had family members in active combat in every American war and conflict since then. She owns a consulting firm in Dallas, Texas. Gibbons currently resides in Dallas, Texas, with family and her dog, Secret.

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Limb Land

Letters, Life, and Death from the Bowels of the Iraq and Afghanistan WarsBy Lee L. Gibbons

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 Lee L. Gibbons
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-4921-8

Contents

Chapter One The Field.........................................1Chapter Two Love is Greater Than Illness......................11Chapter Three Love Don't Leave Me Now.........................27Chapter Four Default Dad......................................37Chapter Five One Last Sunset Together.........................49Chapter Six Documenting the Losses of War.....................61Chapter Seven Grace, Oh How Amazing...........................71

Chapter One

The Field

Military Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq

"I've been with that leg for twenty-four years, ma'am. I just want to see it once more, please, ma'am."

"Listen, son, I've never had a request like this. I don't know if we can make it happen. It's an unusual request."

"I know it is, ma'am, but please ... please, ma'am, I just want to see my leg once more."

"Son, listen, we have procedures. Your leg is probably at hazardous waste by now. I couldn't get to it even if I wanted to."

"All I wanna do is just look at my leg, ma'am, hold it, and then you can get rid of it after that."

"You'll have a new leg soon, son. Rest, let the medications work for you."

"Ma'am, they are, but I can't be going to sleep not knowing where my leg is. Please, ma'am, just this one favor."

"Sleep, son, sleep."

As Nurse Alice Rosemond exited the curtained recovery room, medical specialist Wiley Ray Hampton drew near to it. Standing only a few steps away, he had heard the conversation between the patient and his nurse, and, although the request was unusual indeed, he thought to himself that maybe he'd want to "see off" his limb too, if he found himself in the same position.

It was the job of Specialist Hampton, a twenty-five-year veteran, to gather and dispose of the wounded limbs that could not be saved during surgery. He also had the task of cleaning and processing them, which included placing them in plastic bags to be photographed. The photos then were submitted back to the staff for filing in the permanent medical files of the soldiers. After this process, the limbs made a final flight to a hazardous waste fill in Iraq that had been dubbed Limb Land by the operators. The prior shift had fallen behind, so Specialist Hampton, a fifty-two-year-old, tall, slender black man with graying hair, and the other staff members were scrambling to catch up. When he heard the silent wail of Specialist Spencer, Hampton made a split-second decision to enter behind the curtain of this war-wounded soldier. He quickly pulled back the curtain without hesitation. As he reached for the laundry bin, a weakened, but coherent soldier suddenly seized his hand. "Sir, sir. I don't know who you are, and this is going to seem a little crazy, but, if I don't ask, it might not ever happen."

"Shhh, shhh," Specialist Hampton said to the soldier. "Keep quiet."

"No, sir, you've got to hear me out."

"No, son, I know exactly what you want."

"You do?"

"Yes. And I'll find it. You want to see your leg one more time, right?"

"Yes, sir. Yes, sir," Specialist Spencer answered as a slow well of tears began to flow.

Specialist Hampton suddenly began to think about the dishonorable discharge he might receive for such an act if he were caught. But, quickly putting that thought aside, he told Specialist Spencer to sleep light. "If I get discharged for this, then so be it. I'll return as shortly as I can."

"Promise me, sir. Promise me."

"Yes, I'll return, soldier."

"How did you know anyway? Did the nurse tell you?" Specialist Spencer asked.

"No. I was passing by and I heard you asking for your leg. Don't say anything more to the nurse about it. I'll be back, okay?" Hampton said in his best reassuring tone.

"Okay, sir. I believe you."

As Hampton was leaving the room, he remembered the number of limbs that they had to process that day. He turned to the wounded soldier and asked, "Hey, what does your leg look like anyway?"

"Well, it's my left leg. I hooked my wedding band to my sock with a gold-plated safety pin. So, sir, even if you can't bring my leg back, please, please, could you remove my wedding band and bring that to me?"

"I'll do my best," Hampton told him. "I'll be back, son. I got to go."

"How long, sir? They're sending me to Walter Reed soon," Spencer pleaded.

"I'll be back today. Sleep light. I'll be back to you today, I promise."

"Okay, sir. I will. I'll sleep light, but wake me if I'm knocked out ... please!"

Specialist Hampton gave Specialist Spencer a salute as he backed out of the room. Nurse Alice Rosemond, whose co-workers had nicknamed Dracula—"Drak" for short—because of her uncanny ability to find veins and draw blood in the most difficult of situations, entered the room almost immediately after Hampton had left. She asked Spencer if he wanted to use the phone to call anyone. When he said yes, she asked if he could hold a cordless unit. Again she received an affirmative answer. Ever the talker, she added that, if he were not able to talk on the phone, she would place the phone on speaker. "Who would you like to call, sir?"

"My wife," he replied.

"Okay. Do you have the number?" nurse Rosemond asked.

"Yes, I know it by heart," he said, and he recited it to her.

"Okay, let me dial it for you. I'm so sorry, but the army only allows for a ten-minute call right now while you're in this unit," she advised. "That's the only condition. Anyway, you'll be flown to Walter Reed very soon, and you can talk as long as you like."

"Yes, ma'am."

Nurse Rosemond propped the phone to his ear with a pillow and exited the room.

He said a silent prayer as the phone rang across the shores to his beloved wife of ten years.

"Jeanine? Honey, it's me."

"Yes—baby! What a surprise!"

"Jeanine. I'm not calling with real good news."

"You sound fine to me," she said.

"Well, mentally I am. But sad news."

"Okay, what? What is it?"

"I lost my leg."

She began to cry. He tried to console her with words over the phone, "Don't cry, baby, because then I'll start." There was deafening silence. Then Specialist Spencer heard his wife suddenly begin to silently cough as if she was clearing her throat or had a bad cold. Then he heard soft humming. She began to sing to him. She sang a medley of many of their favorite songs. From thousands of miles away, she serenaded her husband. She was determined to let her husband feel her love and loyalty to him in this moment of great sadness.

As he listened to his wife's voice, Specialist Spencer's tears flowed like a river. He placed the pillow over his face and leaned back in bed. Interrupting her serenade of love, he said to her, "Jeanine, I love you, I love you."

She stopped singing only to tell him, "I love you, too, baby. I always will—even if you lost both legs I'd still love you." Then she added, "Well, which one is it?"

"The left one." He said.

"Oh, baby, did you get your wedding band off it?" she asks.

"Well, that's the part I'm working on."

"What do you mean, working on?" she asked, very puzzled.

"Well, baby, listen, they tried to reattach my leg, but they couldn't so they had to remove it. And this really nice...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1450249213
• ISBN 13: 9781450249218
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 108
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland