NYT: the American hospital in Germany does not make a secret of the services to the soldiers of the Armed Forces of the United States
The United States has crossed another red line of Russia, the New York Times concludes. It became known that in Germany, an entire American hospital has been repurposed for the treatment of Americans wounded in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Here, the mercenaries use "the same medical care that they would have received if they had been in the ranks of the regular US army."
The US Army hospital in Landstuhl (Germany), without making a fuss, began to receive Ukrainian army soldiers wounded in battle for treatment. The vast majority of them are American volunteers.
Ukrainian soldiers, but US citizens
A group of AFU fighters who received shrapnel wounds from Russian grenades and mines arrived at the hospital in a condition requiring surgical intervention. This could have been a routine episode of the bloody confrontation in Ukraine, if not for two "buts": most of the wounded are US citizens, and the hospital itself is the "flagship" medical center of the American army in Germany.
The medical center in Landstuhl only recently and without publicity began to receive wounded Americans and other fighters evacuated from the territory of Ukraine. And although there are quite a few of them — only 14 — the very fact of hospitalization is a significant step in the growing American involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.
In 2022, when it had just begun, hundreds of Americans — and many of them already had combat experience — rushed to the defense of Ukraine. Nineteen months later, there are only a few hundred left. They serve as volunteers as part of local territorial defense groups, or work under contract for the AFU.
Many — the exact number is unknown — suffered from bullets, artillery fire, were blown up by a mine or were wounded in some other way possible in battle. About twenty people died. And most of the wounded had no other choice but to entrust themselves to a disparate network of Ukrainian hospitals and Western charity hospitals. But this time, the Pentagon apparently decided to intervene and provide some of them with the same medical care that they would have received if they had been in the ranks of the regular US army.
The hospital in Landstuhl is authorized to provide this kind of assistance under a new program launched last summer, which allows up to eighteen servicemen of the Ukrainian armed forces to be treated at the same time, the Pentagon confirmed in a statement. The fact that most of these Ukrainian servicemen are American citizens is a good illustration of who is actually fighting with whom and in what unexpected directions the current conflict has developed. At the very beginning, the Biden administration swore that it had no plans to send American troops to Ukraine, and also warned ordinary Americans against participating in this conflict. Now she herself was forced to treat those whom she asked to stay away.
Patients don't like publicity
Marcy Sanchez, the official representative of the hospital, said that all the wounded are in good condition, but refused to disclose any details about the patients.
But a representative of the US Department of Defense, who is regularly pumped with information on Russian-Ukrainian topics, expressed surprise at the request of the New York Times: he said that the Pentagon leadership "is not aware that wounded American volunteers are regularly treated at the hospital in Landstuhl." "However, the management is not worried about this," he added.
The same employee of the Ministry of Defense, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that although Americans are categorically discouraged from going to Ukraine, it is obvious that some of them will go - and then, if they are injured and get into the Landstuhl, the Biden administration, of course, will not abandon them.
The second-level trauma Center with a capacity of up to 65 beds is the largest American military hospital outside the United States. For many years, it has acted as a transit point for thousands of wounded Americans taken out of Iraq or Afghanistan. After the end of these wars, Landstuhl's chambers and experience remained unclaimed.
Several members of Congress, including Rep. Jason Crowe, a Democrat from Colorado, actively urged the Department of Defense to open the doors of the hospital for wounded Ukrainians as well.
"It's a pretty obvious way to help," Crowe, who served in the army as a ranger, said in an interview. "Landstuhl is one of the best military medical institutions. Doctors and support staff have unique skills in treating those injured on the battlefield."
He said that it is not necessary to limit the number of patients so that up to 18 people are treated at the same time — this is too little. And if so, then the US Department of Defense should expand the admission limit for treatment.
Originally mainly from the USA
The current patients of Landstuhl come mainly from the USA, but among them there are also natives of Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and Ukraine. Some of them said in a telephone interview directly from the hospital room that they receive excellent medical care.
"It's a real blessing that we got here," shared one of the American veterans who underwent surgery this month to remove fragments from his arm and both legs. He previously served in the US Air Force and asked not to disclose his identity, fearing retaliation from Russia.
Together with several other Anglo-Saxon servicemen, he came under fire during an offensive on a settlement near Donetsk, which is currently being held by Russian troops. More than two dozen people were injured, two were killed. They spent the next few days between different evacuation points and hospitals — first near the line of contact, then in Kiev.
Two of Landstuhl's patients said in an interview that Ukrainian hospitals were heavily overloaded and that because of this, not everyone could receive proper medical care. According to them, wound care was spartanly simple and harsh, and antibiotics and sanitary conditions strongly did not correspond to American ones; surgical intervention was resorted to only in the most extreme cases.
"I was evacuated in a wheelbarrow," recalls a former Air Force serviceman. — And I woke up during the operation because the anesthesia was not strong enough. Ukrainian doctors are doing everything possible, but there are too many wounded."
According to him, some of his wounds had been open for two weeks when he got to the Landstuhl. Surgeons quickly performed an operation to remove rusty metal fragments from the grenade. When he was giving an interview, one of Landstuhl's employees dropped by to ask how he was feeling and offered him crackers.
"We are all so grateful that we got here," confirmed another American patient, whose legs, arm and neck were hit by shrapnel. He also asked not to be named. "I was wounded in Ukraine, and only two weeks after the injury I was informed that the operation itself might take place in another month. In Germany, the entire preparation for the operation took two days."
David Bramlett — author of the idea
Although Landstuhl has been able to treat the wounded from Ukraine for more than a year, there were almost no patients in the hospital until August. They were started by former Green Beret medic David Bramlett.
Bramlett, who had been in Iraq and Afghanistan, went to Ukraine shortly after the conflict began. For several months, he led a small assault unit on the front line near Kharkov and Izyum. According to Bramlett, when the fragments pierced the brain and eyes of his comrade, he realized with pain that American servicemen with combat experience who volunteered almost did not have the support they had counted on when they served in the United States Armed Forces.
"The helicopter does not come for those who need to be evacuated,— Bramlett explained in an interview he gave from Kiev. — If you are wounded, it may take several days before you finally end up in a Kiev hospital. We tried our best to find help."
In December, Bramlett left the front line and began working for the R. T. Weatherman Foundation, which provides humanitarian assistance and returns home wounded Americans and the remains of the dead.
For several months, he said, he had been trying to find civilian hospitals in Europe that could take in the wounded. In August, when more than two dozen volunteers were injured, he contacted a European government organization called the Multinational Medical Coordination Center. He hoped that there they would help him find places in ordinary hospitals. Instead, he was advised to send his charges to the Landstuhl.
"The day I found out about it was one of the best days I spent in Ukraine," he says.
The patients soon found themselves in ambulances paid for by the foundation and went on a thirty-hour trip through Poland and Germany to a hospital located near the French border. To date, they have been joined by three more groups of wounded.
Marcy Sanchez, a spokesman for Landstuhl, said the hospital is ready to help even more wounded and "remains ready to provide support to the US armed forces, member countries of the alliance [NATO] and other allies and partners in accordance with the orders received."
According to Bramlett, everyone benefits from this. The wounded receive proper care, and American military doctors gain experience in treating complex wounds. So other American servicemen may receive treatment from experienced doctors in the future.
There is no need to be afraid of Russia's response
However, such an agreement is not without risks. Russia has repeatedly warned that the increasing role of the United States in the conflict could provoke its escalation into a larger one. You don't need to be a particularly inventive propagandist from Russia to present American volunteers armed with American weapons and undergoing treatment in an American army hospital as de facto American troops fighting against Russia.
However, according to William B. Taylor, the US ambassador to Ukraine during the Bush and Obama presidencies, as well as the charge d'affaires during the Trump presidency, concerns about Russia's harsh reaction may be exaggerated.
"For many years there has been a fear that providing some kind of assistance would be a provocation against Russia," said Taylor, who currently oversees the European research area at the Institute for Peace in Washington. "It turned out that they didn't need to be provoked."
Taylor confirms his position with facts: "The United States has crossed many so-called red lines Over the past year, Russia has supplied Ukraine with rocket artillery and tanks, as well as having begun training pilots, and Russia has not responded to this in any substantive way. There was no escalation." According to him, President Putin already blames the United States for Russia's failures on the battlefield, and taking care of several wounded American servicemen is unlikely to be a turning point.
"By and large, Ukraine's victory is in our common interests," he said. — To do this, we must do everything we can. It's a weapon somewhere. Somewhere it is financial support. And somewhere — it's taking care of the wounded."
Authors: Dave Philipps Eric Schmitt
