Reporting For Duty

I’ve seen several articles regarding soldiers who, having lost limbs as a result of hostile action in Iraq, are now returning to active combat duty. An all-volunteer army that is already having difficulties recruiting new soldiers has to find other ways to keep its more experienced personnel, so it’s not entirely surprising to witness this development. Hopefully, the private sector will follow the military’s lead and employ more veterans with disabilities. Some of the prostheses that soldiers are receiving are incredibly sophisticated–and incredibly expensive. It’d be nice to see that technology become available to the general population. However, what I’m really interested in tracking is how these soldiers re-integrate into their units once they’re back in-country. Will their commanders and subordinates accept them or will there be some resistance to their presence? In another decade or so, it may be relatively common to see soldiers with amputations serve in a variety of combat situations, and that’s why I think it’s fascinating to observe this evolving perception of melding the biological and the artificial.