Realities- When your buddy gets hit

Just so we remember, as 30,000 or so troops deploy into the Eastern and Southern regions of Afghanistan, where almost all the fighting takes place, the real risks to all soldiers:

The following is a correspondence I came across through a colleague. The names and places have been blanked out to protect the individuals' privacy and to prevent any repercussion from his/her command for posting the correspondence. But I believe it's valuable as it really gets at the trauma of being in the war zone and what perseverance means- to continue doing dangerous a job after seeing your buddy get hurt really badly.

"I must make known that the last 36 hours here have been absolute hell. I was on mission for the last week in a very bad part of ______ . I'll leave further specifics at that, but where I was is not a good area, nor do I hope to return there in the near future..."

"At the root of all this -- my partner, ____, was hit in a mortar attack at the Combat Operating Post (COP) where we were staying. To be quite blunt, his injuries are bad -- he took shrapnel to face, and for now, we know his left eye is lost (the right one is questionable) and his skull has suffered several severe fractures."

"I was in the general vicinity when the rounds hit the COP...maybe 75 meters from his location. When we found him it was an ugly sight. I don't care to relive that experience again -- helping to transport a bloodied-colleague in a stretcher to a nearby Helicopter Landing Zone, only to feel helpless because of the nature of his wounds. All I could do was hold one end of the litter and and support the IV-drip that was running from one of his arms as we loaded him onto the Blackhawk."

"That was the last I saw of him. I know he's now in Bagram -- having undergone two surgeries -- and is being prepped for movement to Germany for further evaluation and care. What happened yesterday though was bad... the aftermath of it all is no more pleasant. Having to collect his belongings and watch as the Army inventories them is unnerving. The process is handled almost as if he's dead. What compounds the frustration is that I'm now the only person left on this _______ Team, waiting for replacements to arrive. Thankfully, my higher-ups are moving me temporarily to another team until the others arrive, but to have this happen under these conditions makes processing this incident no easier."

"I'll be okay though. Everyone here has been very supportive. As I've said to others, it's just the nature of his injuries that eat at me. Everywhere I walk, no matter what I'm doing, those images constantly replay in my head...and in that sense, it's tough. But please, don't be too alarmed by this note. Yes, what happened was absolutely awful, but as I said before, I'll manage. It's just that this is still so fresh, and never did I imagine that I'd be put in a position where I'd have to help rush a colleague to a MEDEVAC after he'd been hit by shrapnel from a mortar that exploded just 20 meters from him. What gets at you is that getting hurt out here is all too easy. I must admit, I'm kinda scared..."

"Well, obviously we run huge risks out here... This Sunday was tough for everyone here. Last update I got on ____ was that he's undergone four surgeries and is in stable condition in Germany. Obviously, his life has no changed forever... I can only imagine the pain this is causing his family. I'll leave it at that..."