Sounds pretty bad to me. from Promethea’s link.
Soldiers getting injured, who VOLUNTEERED to go put themselves in harm’s way, is bad, but we never say a damned thing about a far worse problem of innocents getting injured and killed every damned day in collisions that are mostly preventable - in the United States in 2005, 42,636 people were killed and 2.9 million people were injured in car collisions (I’m not going to call them accidents because of their preventable nature). You know what happens when you are lucky enough to not be killed in a serious collision? You lose limbs, you lose eyes, you lose the ability to walk for the rest of your life, you get horrible burns, you get unbearable, chronic pain, you get trauma that will change your life.
I don’t want to take anything away from the seriousness that is injured soldiers, but there’s a much, much bigger crisis of people getting injured going on that we aren’t even talking about.
There was a big spread about them a couple of months ago in People with wedding photos and regular photos.
I don’t understand how that’s remotely relevant, featherlou.
a) We’re responding to an unusual and moving photo
b) Of course we’re not talking about injuries caused by collisions in this thread. It has no relation whatsoever to this soldier and his injuries.
c) Collision injuries DO get talked about. Hence the seatbelt laws, and reminders of seatbelt laws posted on roadways. And car seats. And airbags. And crash tests. And drunk-driving laws, and checkpoints, and speed limits… it goes on. What more proof do you want that people are talking about it? At any rate, I’d say that merits its own thread, but doesn’t fit in this one.
What a shame.
Too bad he joined up.
Unfortunately, theirs is not an isolated case.
Our president should have nightmares over what he has wrought.
I don’t understand this either. We sure are talking about. Where do you live that we don’t? As Beadlin says, we have all kinds of laws and everything in place, and people drive pretty voluntarily too.
And i do believe it’s one thing to volunteer for the military and another to go to a war like the current one, on made-up pretexts, with no real reason behind it.
That’s a power picture of love and loss. However, without the context of other pictures, it seems like it’s the picture BEFORE the real picture gets taken, when she’s listening the photographer for directions. I wish it were in greater context.
Yeah, and there’s babies born every day with deformities and some of them have no faces, either. Won’t someone think of the chiiiiiiildren?
Seriously. Off topic. Take a deep breath and open your own thread. We won’t run out of room on the messageboard today.
As for the picture, my guess is that in reality is was a “Wait, what? Were we ready?” moment, but it does look haunting anyway. My prayers are with these two, but I suspect they’re going to be fine. There’s a lot of love and a couple of good heads involved there.
Thanks for linking that article. Any guy who makes a sardonic joke about his condition with his second sentence after having his trach removed – he asked his fiancee, “Wanna make out?” – has a helluva chance of a making a great life for himself, in my opinion.
It’s interesting that you brought that up, since when I saw that photo, I was reminded of this woman who was horribly disfigured in a similar way thanks to a drunk driver plowing into her car (warning - there are some photos inside her website that some people may find upsetting): http://www.helpjacqui.com/
And yet a lot of people out there still drive drunk without realizing that they could end up doing just as much damage to someone’s life as a suicide bomber did to this man’s life.
I’m glad that I now know more about the story behind it. I definitely have a lot of respect for that young man for trying to come to terms with his life-changing injuries with dignity and humor. I hope they have a very happy life together in spite of this setback.
Kudos to his wife, also. They sound like lovely people who deserve each other.
Those two are gonna be just fine! 
They both seem to have great attitudes, and as he noted, “soldiers and marines with fewer injuries than him behave(d) more self-pityingly.”
This part also says a lot: “I’m not political and I don’t complain.” His younger brother is also in the marines and may be deployed in Iraq. Sometimes it bothers Ty, but they both signed up, so that’s that, he says stoically.
It may not be the most photogenic, but that head sure is screwed on nice and straight.
Wow, you can tell all that. And be wrong. I’m impressed.
Some of you are great at creating stories behind the pictures.
It is naive to think that everyone marries for love, especially in this case - none of us will really know what each of them is thinking however, some people marry due to guilt, pity, money etc. It is also naive to think they will live happily ever after. I’m not sure of the stats, but I don’t think high school sweet hearts have good marriage longevity stats. Coming back from war AND with a disability puts even more stress on relationships.
Did you bother to read the article linked to? I think that’s what people were talking about.
I’ll second that. The article portrays a solid, long term, relationship prior to his war injuries. It also alludes to strong family support on both sides. Based on that, I’d guess they’ve got a better than even chance at a long and happy marriage.
They have my best wishes!
Here are a whole bunch of pictures from their wedding (amongst other events). This is a great “I didn’t know the photographer was ready yet” picture. I think they look very happy!
I truly wish them all the best.
Yes I did - that’s how I knew they were a couple from a very young age.
There is such a thing as spin - especially given that the subject is war heroes.
There are so many possibilities - the wife may not be courageous enough to fess up to no longer wanting to be with him, many of his war veteran issues may have not come to light yet, they also may be a match made in heaven that will last a lifetime, but I still think is naive to think so.
And you have the presumption to attatch a ridiculous political statement to a wedding photograph. Not impressed at all.