The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #117126 Message #2553668
Posted By: Sawzaw
31-Jan-09 - 10:29 AM
Thread Name: BS: Why Iraq Was a Mistake, Teribus...
Subject: RE: BS: Why Iraq Was a Mistake, Teribus...
Mishawaka surgeon discusses his view of Iraq What he saw there changed his life, he says. January 26. 2009 Oral surgeon Russell Linman has no qualms about being blunt during his lectures about the war in Iraq.
He shows people pictures of amputees and of soldiers' faces before he did his best to reconstruct them.
"It gives people a better idea of what is going on over there," Linman said.
Linman, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, served in a military hospital in Balad, north of Baghdad, from May to September 2005.
Linman, 47, was with other surgeons in the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group. His job was to perform major reconstructive surgery, specializing in serious facial injuries.
What he saw changed his life forever, he said.
Linman, who works in Mishawaka, has lectured almost a dozen times on his experiences in Iraq.
His next lecture will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the VFW at 1750 W. Plymouth St. in Bremen. The speech is open to the public.
Linman recently sat down with Tribune staff writer Tom Moor and talked about what it was like to serve in Iraq........................
Q: What do you try and teach people during your lecture?
A: I try and show people war has changed, because it's a terror-based war. There's not two combatant armies going against each other. I don't know what it was like in Vietnam, but I think what's going on over there is quite a bit different. Soldiers have better armor now, so there's not as many casualties.
I never felt like I was going to die, although mortars were coming in. I felt I had good support in the U.S. compared to other wars. ... I feel like people are somewhat misled about what's going on over there. The surge, I was in support for it to begin with, and it worked.