Monday, October 18, 2004

Making a Difference

Special report for the Washington Times by Jed Babbin. The article features the thoughts, feelings, and reactions to the war by those in the military. Some have been severely wounded.

Sgt. Doughty was severely wounded in an ambush by insurgents when an improvised explosive device, or IED, blew up in July during his unit's secret mission inside the deadly Sunni triangle.

He lost both legs.

Today, Sgt. Doughty, 29, is recuperating and adjusting at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington.

Some wounded soldiers "have a chip on their shoulder," Sgt. Doughty acknowledges. "The biggest thing I would say is that I don't have any regrets, and 99 percent of the guys up here [at Walter Reed] with me don't either."


They "feel like heroes," he says.

Recent interviews with Sgt. Doughty and other troops rebutted talk in some quarters of troops' growing disillusionment with the U.S. mission in Iraq. The interviews included a Marine corporal also being treated for wounds at Walter Reed and men in a National Guard unit in northern Iraq that faced renewed attacks from insurgents in recent days.

Make sure you read the whole thing.

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