19 August 2009

Poland's Armed Forces Day at Landstuhl hospital

Polish Soldiers (from left) Krzysztof, Mariusz, and Rafal at Landstuhl hospital with Mariusz's sister and wife.


This past Saturday was Poland's Armed Forces Day. As part of the celebration we awarded some wounded Polish paratroopers St. Michael the Protector t-shirts from RangerUp!. St. Michael is not only the patron saint of warriors in general, but of paratroopers in particular. As you can see, they loved the shirts!

The Poles, along with troops from many other countries, are in the thick of it fighting in Afghanistan, and Landstuhl hospital has treated casualties from 12 nations since the beginning of the War on Terror. Because of the specialized trauma care only available at facilities like Landstuhl (or WR and BAMC for US troops), some of our coalition patients stay here for long-term care. It's an opportunity for us to get to know them better, and it's especially gratifying for the Landstuhl staff - as opposed to US patients who leave after a couple of days for stateside medical facilities, we're actually able to see these guys get better!

John Donovan has posted a great story about the Polish Prime Minister visiting his troops in Afghanistan for Armed Forces Day along with another photo of our Polish patients at Landstuhl. Check it out!

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