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Drawing strength

The halls of military hospitals in the U.S. and Germany were invaded recently by members of the National Cartoonists Society on a mission to bring smiles to the faces of the brave men and women who have sacrificed in service to their country.

I was honored to be a part of it.

The list of participants reads like a “Who’s Who” of the country’s top cartoonists: Jeff Keane of “The Family Circus”; Mike Peters of “Mother Goose and Grimm”; Rick Kirkman of “Baby Blues”; Stephan Pastis of “Pearls Before Swine”; Tom Richmond of MAD magazine; Chip Bok, editorial cartoonist for The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal newspaper; and retired soldier Bruce Higdon, a cartoonist and caricaturist.

On this trip, we visited the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. The USO funded the bulk of the cost, with the rest of the financing provided by the Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of the company that owns ArmyTimes, and several private donors.

We drew cartoons and caricatures for the patients, but mostly we talked, and listened. The stories we heard were inspiring. The patients didn’t complain, and they certainly weren’t scared — they described their wounds as if they were explaining how to change the oil in your car. We never heard them say, “If only,” or “Why me?” Instead they talked about the future, and how they intended to keep moving forward.

The only time emotion came to the surface was when they talked about the buddies they left behind, or those who never came back. Camaraderie is still powerful in today’s armed forces, and many expressed a desire to get back to their posts and finish the job. I am two or three decades older than most of them, and I felt like a child in their presence.

The medical treatment our troops receive is impressive, part of a complex process that begins on the battlefield and culminates at military hospitals in the U.S. (usually Walter Reed, Bethesda, Naval Medical Center San Diego or Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio).

When troops are injured in Afghanistan or Iraq, they are treated locally in theater, then flown to Landstuhl, where they are stabilized for the flight across the Atlantic.

In many cases, the stay is a short one — those with minor injuries stay overnight near the airstrip at the Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility at Ramstein and leave the next day. If they need more care, they are transported to nearby Landstuhl, where they are cared for until they can be sent stateside for extended treatment and recuperation.

Today’s medical technology is cutting-edge, but in the end, it is all about the people who use it. Medical staffs at each of the hospitals shared a commitment to their patients that bordered on obsessive, but in a good way.

The newest and best prosthetics are being provided to those who have lost limbs; they come in variants that allow swimming, running, skiing — you name it. I shook the prosthetic hand of a soldier at Walter Reed, and with a simple flex of his bicep, his mechanical hand gently squeezed mine in return.

Over the last few years, cartoonists have dropped in on military hospitals and Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers all over the country, continuing a tradition that began in World War II, when cartoonists flew to remote bases to provide some cheer to the troops serving overseas.

Jeff Keane’s father and creator of “The Family Circus,” Bil Keane, visited troops in Vietnam; his son is following in his footsteps as our troops fight the war on terrorism.

The NCS works with the USO, Armed Forces YMCA and VA to coordinate the visits, and the partnership works well. We already are planning trips to several medical centers all over the U.S. and hope to get permission to drop in on facilities in U.S. Central Command.

We consider it a privilege to visit our wounded warriors and are humbled by the sacrifices that they have endured so that we can enjoy the lives we lead. If we can put a smile on their faces as they fight through their pain, so much the better. Until the day they have all gone home, we’ll continue drawing funny pictures and listening to their tales.

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The writer, a retired Navy captain now landlocked in Idaho, created the Military Times cartoons “Broadside” in 1986 and “Greenside” last year. For more about his trip, visit his blog on all things military at http://www.militarytimes.com/blogs/broadside/.