Wexler visits wounded Iraq vets, warns against policymaking in ‘bubble’

Wexler visits wounded Iraq vets, warns against policymaking in ‘bubble’

WASHINGTON Army Spc. Matthew Drake cannot speak.

The 21-year-old soldier from Ohio sustained injuries to his face, brain and right arm while fighting in Iraq. He can barely move his hand and his legs are covered with extensive burns. His neck is restrained in a brace and thick blue tubes help him breathe.

He communicates with blinks of his eyes. One blink means yes. Two blinks mean no.

“He is really determined to get better,” Drake’s mother said in his hospital room.

She eagerly pulled pictures out of her purse of her son before he left for Iraq to show U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, who visited four soldiers and their families Tuesday at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

“It is essential that everyone up on Capitol Hill remember that when we decide to go to war, that there are men and women whose lives are forever changed by our policy decisions,” Wexler said after speaking with Drake and the other soldiers Tuesday. “The worst thing we can do as lawmakers is act as if we live in a bubble.”

Most of the soldiers on the neurological-care floor visited by Wexler said their units were hit by bombs. They sustained injuries that are easily visible dried blood, stitches and bandages intensify the wounds.

Chief Warrant Officer Robert Earl Percy, 55, is a member of the Los Angeles Police Department. He has been a helicopter and airplane pilot in the reserves for 35 years and said he is proud to have served actively in the military in Vietnam and Iraq.

He was injured about 45 miles north of Baghdad when a bomb went off over a trailer where he was drawing up his flight plans. He lost use of 75 percent of his left arm and has a tube in his throat that serves as an airway. He speaks by covering the hole at the end of the tube.

“It is important for a guy like me to see and hear things from people like you so I can find out how things really are,” Wexler told Percy.

With tears falling from his eyes, Percy said his heart is breaking for all of the young soldiers who are coming home with severe injuries.

“I’m very proud of you,” Wexler said. “You are a great hero.”

“I’m not a hero,” Percy replied. “I’m just an old man doing his job.”