This time it was a new subject, one we’d not really broached before. It came out of the blue while laying in bed snickering and laughing at what, I don’t remember.
We were always happy when we could amputate below the knee.
What an odd statement. But a practical one. An amputation below the joint allows for an easier transition into a prosthetic once the wound has healed. Still it struck me so odd there would be a preference among the medical unit.
He recounted the first time he took a limb to mortuary. See, the amputated limbs are not simply discarded. They are treated with the same respect a soldier who’s died is given. Only they are carried, by hand, across the base to where they need to go.
He spoke of wrapping the limb, the special procedure they took, the feel.
Then, he spoke of the weight.
No one should ever have to do that.
No, they shouldn’t.
I looked up how much an arm would weigh, but I remember reading an article about the newest in prosthetics.
9 pounds.
A soldier fitted with a new prosthetic arm will carry with him 9 pounds. And a thousand more pounds will be spread across the shoulders of him and every doctor, nurse, medic, and buddy who cared for him.
9 pounds, and the weight of angels.
