Americans wounded in the Iraq war are being ferried back to the scenes where they were maimed to help achieve psychological closure, the first time such visits have been tried while a war is still in progress.
Americans wounded in the Iraq war are being ferried back to the scenes where they were maimed to help achieve psychological closure, the first time such visits have been tried while a war is still in progress.
The seven-day program is called Operation Proper Exit. For the eight wounded men who returned to Iraq this week, including five amputees and one blinded soldier, the hope is that returning to places many of them left while unconscious or in agony might reassure them that their losses have been worth it.
Here, Rick Kell, of Troops First, comforts Sergeant John Hyland during a visit to Forward Operating Base Normandy in Iraq on October 14, 2009. Hyland had returned to Iraq after losing a leg in an explosion in 2007. (The New York Times)
Sergeant John Hyland, left, and Spec. Craig Chavez under portraits of fallen comrades during a visit to Forward Operating Base Normandy in Iraq on October 14, 2009. They are among eight veterans of the war in Iraq who returned this week under a program called Operation Proper Exit, intended to help them heal. (The New York Times)
Sergeant John Hyland, (L) 38, from San Antonio, lost his left leg and suffered back injuries when an improvised explosive device (IED) hit his Humvee in 2007, and Spc. Craig Chavez, 29, from Temecula, California, blinded by a 2006 improvised explosive device blast that destroyed his face – now reconstructed – and cost him his left eye and most of the vision in his right. They are back in Iraq to try and get closure after the war.
Spec. Craig Chavez, left, and Sergeant John Hyland embrace at the end of their visit to Forward Operating Base Normandy in Iraq on October 14, 2009. (The New York Times)
