I watched Bob Woodruff's special report To Iraq and Back last night on ABC. It was the most powerful piece of TV journalism I've seen on commercial news in a really long time. In addition to following Woodruff's long, painful--and apparently quite miraculous--recovery from a devastating brain injury (the left side of his head was blown right off), the show introduces us to a number of the soldiers and families Woodruff befriended while in the hospital.
Returning to normal life after a TBI (traumatic brain injury) is a slow, frustrating process, and many of the soldiers will never be the same again. Many will recover speech and re-learn the use of their limbs, but others will remain drooling, diapered men, too disturbing for their former comrades to see.
By revealing this heretofore unpublicized consequence of the wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, Woodruff compels us to question our governments intentions with both of these conflicts. Are these really worthy wars? Because unless we believe that these young guys and their families are suffering for a just cause, their pain and anguish is for nothing. It is an empty sacrifice--and all the more sad.
