Doctor's Exhibit Paints Picture Of War's Impact
After a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of wounded veterans return home needing treatment and rehabilitation.
Their injuries, both physical and mental, have an emotional impact on their caregivers. And Dr. Bill Blahd, a doctor at a VA hospital in Idaho, has depicted the daily trauma he sees in a powerful art exhibit on the impact of war.
Blahd has never served in the military or lost anyone in the war, but he sees the effects of war on soldiers every time he steps into the emergency room, where he spends three days a week working 13 hours a day.
Blahd has seen a lot in his 30 years as an ER doctor. But in his four years at Boise's VA hospital, it's the trauma facing veterans that is so striking.
"I just had one yesterday when I was working: A guy in his mid 40s who was suicidal and drunk. His wife said he's not doing well, he's suicidal. He had a lot of kills in the war," he says.
Blahd doesn't wear his emotions on his shirtsleeve. But he says the stories and experiences that veterans recount, stay with him. So much so that he's found a way to share those stories outside the ER.
Blahd's other passion is painting. And for the past year, he's practically lived in his studio depicting the mental and physical injuries of the veterans he treats through art. The result is a series of 14 oil paintings he now has on display.
Blahd says some paintings can be tough to look at because the paintings represent the unseen wounds and trauma that veterans cope with every day.
"I was stunned at the VA to see the level of emotional and spiritual trauma that these guys have had inflicted on them," he says. "I had a way through art to maybe explain some of the feelings that are hard to verbalize."
David Hale, who owns the gallery in downtown Boise that showcase Blahd's paintings, says the exhibit titled "In Our Name" is a very powerful body of work.
Khatain, a veteran of the Air force, also worked in a field hospital in England treating injured soldiers from Operation Desert Storm.
"And so I've heard every one of these stories many times over in various permiatations and more," he says. "He hit me with it very powerfully."
Among Blahd's other paintings, is a smiling high school senior holding a basketball right before enlisting. Blahd wants to show people the cost of war on soldiers.
Effects Of The War In Iraq - News
After a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of wounded veterans return home needing treatment and rehabilitation. Their injuries, both physical and mental, have an emotional impact on their caregivers. And Dr. Bill Blahd, a doctor at a VA
11, 2001, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's estimated that millions of Americans are afflicted with the nightmares, anxiety, depression, dysfunction and outbursts of uncontrollable anger that are just some of the symptoms that manifest most
The question that has been bothering me is why join the Army, not to mention the 101st Airborne as an infantryman if you are a Muslim, knowing that you will most likely be deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan since the US is currently at war in both?
But Iraq has been Suleimani's key arena. The last eight years have witnessed a proxy war between Suleimani's Quds force and the US military, the full effects of which are still being played out, as the US prepares for a full departure from Iraq and
In The Great War for Civilization, British journalist Robert Fisk explains how the brutal Iran-Iraq war carried a tag price of around $100 billion in direct costs. According to former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the opportunity cost of the war
Questions And Answers On Iraq War
Iraq war ?
Do you support President Bush’s “surge” strategy in Iraq ? Will it work? If so, why? If not, why not and what are the alternatives? Which alternative do you support and why? In answering these questions consider the importance of Iraq in respect to the “ war on terror,” a source of oil, regional stability, and our ability to deal with non-regional security issues
Curtis answers:One of the biggest effects of the war is that it has divided our citizens. After the attacks that led us to war all of the country wanted to “get them terrorists”. Then when it got ugly some got a little weak in the knees and chickened out. Now they have forgotten the terrorists are out to kill us and all we stand for and would rather it all go away and pretend like it didn’t happen at all. Those who want to stay and see it to the end are judged as war mongers and hateful. The country is greatly divided and it scares me to see it this way.
Curtis answers:I don,t hear anything “rosy” goes on in Iraq. There was a recent TV show about a city in Iraq got no insurgent attack because it was in very tight security procedures. It dosen’t represent things rosy at all. It will take at least one decade for the Iraq to rebuild its economic oil boom and peace as many oil wells are destroyed by this war. The wars goes on as if a routine for never ending insurgency because the Muslim religious groups have separated branches of the Sunni, Shiite, Kurdish, and probably others. I recall the book of “Japanese Management for American Executive”. The first page described that Japan has its size equivalent to US Manisota but Japanese has devoted to almost one religion and its nation united strongly.
Effects Of The War In Iraq - Bookshelf
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The Effect of the War in Iraq on America's Security
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Iraq War - Wikipedia
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