thedrifter
11-02-07, 07:31 AM
Helping to heal 'wounded warriors'
November 2, 2007
By Courtney Greve, Staff writer
Daily Southtown
A nurse pointed toward a room and asked the Rev. Robert Barry to visit its tenant.
Inside, a blond, ruddy-cheeked teenage soldier lie still on a bed. His wide eyes exposed his fear.
"He was looking down at where his two feet should be," said Barry, a Catholic priest and an Air National Guard lieutenant colonel and chaplain. "I had to leave the room because I burst into tears."
That was one of the many stories that Barry shared Thursday at Saint Xavier University about his interaction with "wounded warriors" during three tours of duty at Landstuhl military hospital in Germany.
Barry said he is the first to greet injured soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen when they arrive.
"I see the plain, raw courage in the faces of the men and women coming straight from the battlefield," he said. "It is my honor to serve there."
Barry's 60-minute lecture at the school in Chicago's Mount Greenwood community, where he teaches moral theology and medical ethics, elicited an emotional reaction from the audience. They sighed. They shook their heads. A few were brought to tears.
"My first question is always, 'What happened?' They describe the battles they engaged in," Barry said. "The terror and the horror that these soldiers experience ... can only be compared to a firefighter trapped in a burning building."
In his two decades of military service, Barry has been deployed 14 times to various locations, including Colombia, Argentina and Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where he provided counseling after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
He recently was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his extensive service.
Barry will return to Germany next summer. Tours for chaplains average about 45 days because they are on-call around the clock.
"Day after day after day working with these men and women, who are courageous beyond imagination, eventually it wears you down," he said.
Bill Richards, of Chicago's Morgan Park community, could relate. As an Army air controller during the Korean War, he transported injured soldiers by Jeep when a plane wasn't available.
"I have a very difficult time talking about it without getting upset within," he said. "And that was 50 years ago."
Richards attended the lecture in part because his daughter-in-law is serving a six-month tour as a flight nurse based out of Landstuhl.
Barry lauded the excellent doctors and nurses working at the hospital, which can treat up to 150 patients.
"Never have wounded soldiers had such medical power awarded to them as in this war," he said.
Barry said 10 percent of battlefield injuries today end in death, compared with 50 percent in World War II, 30 percent in Korea and 20 percent in Vietnam.
After their physical wounds are healed or stabilized, Barry gets to work mending their spiritual and emotional ones.
"I ask Catholics and non-Catholics, 'Can I say a prayer for you?' Almost all agree," he said. "They know they're in trouble. They've been hurt, and they're scared about their future. They welcome any help. Prayer boosts their spirits."
The injured soldiers also rely on each other. Talking about their experiences with their peers helps them move beyond any feelings of guilt about their comrades who suffered greater injuries or died, Barry said.
"Emotionally, they are very raw," he said. "Validating what they did does so much to calm them and bring them peace. ... But the spiritual recovery can take years."
Jule Hazard, of Mount Greenwood, said she regularly prays for the troops, but she never thought to pray for wounded soldiers or those who help them recover.
"They need our prayers - bad," she said.
World War II veteran Marion Kelliher, of Riverdale, said that while she opposes the Iraq War, she finds it disappointing that American civilians are not more involved.
"During World War II, we saved paper and tin foil and bought bonds," she said. "Today, only the soldiers are doing their part. We haven't had to suffer or sacrifice at all."
Courtney Greve can be reached at cgreve@dailysouthtown.comor (708) 633-5983.
Ellie
November 2, 2007
By Courtney Greve, Staff writer
Daily Southtown
A nurse pointed toward a room and asked the Rev. Robert Barry to visit its tenant.
Inside, a blond, ruddy-cheeked teenage soldier lie still on a bed. His wide eyes exposed his fear.
"He was looking down at where his two feet should be," said Barry, a Catholic priest and an Air National Guard lieutenant colonel and chaplain. "I had to leave the room because I burst into tears."
That was one of the many stories that Barry shared Thursday at Saint Xavier University about his interaction with "wounded warriors" during three tours of duty at Landstuhl military hospital in Germany.
Barry said he is the first to greet injured soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen when they arrive.
"I see the plain, raw courage in the faces of the men and women coming straight from the battlefield," he said. "It is my honor to serve there."
Barry's 60-minute lecture at the school in Chicago's Mount Greenwood community, where he teaches moral theology and medical ethics, elicited an emotional reaction from the audience. They sighed. They shook their heads. A few were brought to tears.
"My first question is always, 'What happened?' They describe the battles they engaged in," Barry said. "The terror and the horror that these soldiers experience ... can only be compared to a firefighter trapped in a burning building."
In his two decades of military service, Barry has been deployed 14 times to various locations, including Colombia, Argentina and Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where he provided counseling after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
He recently was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his extensive service.
Barry will return to Germany next summer. Tours for chaplains average about 45 days because they are on-call around the clock.
"Day after day after day working with these men and women, who are courageous beyond imagination, eventually it wears you down," he said.
Bill Richards, of Chicago's Morgan Park community, could relate. As an Army air controller during the Korean War, he transported injured soldiers by Jeep when a plane wasn't available.
"I have a very difficult time talking about it without getting upset within," he said. "And that was 50 years ago."
Richards attended the lecture in part because his daughter-in-law is serving a six-month tour as a flight nurse based out of Landstuhl.
Barry lauded the excellent doctors and nurses working at the hospital, which can treat up to 150 patients.
"Never have wounded soldiers had such medical power awarded to them as in this war," he said.
Barry said 10 percent of battlefield injuries today end in death, compared with 50 percent in World War II, 30 percent in Korea and 20 percent in Vietnam.
After their physical wounds are healed or stabilized, Barry gets to work mending their spiritual and emotional ones.
"I ask Catholics and non-Catholics, 'Can I say a prayer for you?' Almost all agree," he said. "They know they're in trouble. They've been hurt, and they're scared about their future. They welcome any help. Prayer boosts their spirits."
The injured soldiers also rely on each other. Talking about their experiences with their peers helps them move beyond any feelings of guilt about their comrades who suffered greater injuries or died, Barry said.
"Emotionally, they are very raw," he said. "Validating what they did does so much to calm them and bring them peace. ... But the spiritual recovery can take years."
Jule Hazard, of Mount Greenwood, said she regularly prays for the troops, but she never thought to pray for wounded soldiers or those who help them recover.
"They need our prayers - bad," she said.
World War II veteran Marion Kelliher, of Riverdale, said that while she opposes the Iraq War, she finds it disappointing that American civilians are not more involved.
"During World War II, we saved paper and tin foil and bought bonds," she said. "Today, only the soldiers are doing their part. We haven't had to suffer or sacrifice at all."
Courtney Greve can be reached at cgreve@dailysouthtown.comor (708) 633-5983.
Ellie