Blood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57

by Michael Weisskopf

This "expert piece of journalism by a brave man about brave men" follows three soldiers and a reporter through eighteen months on Ward 57, Walter Reed's amputee wing ( The Washington Post )

Time magazine's Michael Weisskopf was riding through Baghdad in the back of a U.S. Army Humvee when he heard a metallic thunk. Looking down, he spotted a small object inches from his feet and reached down to take it in his hand. Then everything went black.

Weisskopf lost his hand and was sent to Ward 57 at Walter Reed Medical Center, the wing reserved for amputees. There he met soldiers Pete Damon, Luis Rodriguez, and Bobby Isaacs, alongside whom he navigated the bewildering process of recovery and began reconciling life before that day in Baghdad with everything that would follow his release.

Blood Brothers is the story of this difficult passage―a story that begins with healthy men heading off to war, and continues through the months in Ward 57 as they prepare for a different life than the one they left. A chronicle of devastation and recovery, this is a deeply affecting portrait of the private aftermath of combat casualties.

Genres: Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Memoir, War

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 3, 2006

Reviews

[Cora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down. Weisskopf, a journalist for Time Magazine, has fast-paced sound-bite style that kept my attention for the entire book.

While covering a story in Iraq, Weisskopf lost his hand in a grenade explosion. His narrative covers his and his acquaintances' recoveries in Walter Reed's Ward 57. As the first civilian to be treated at Walter Reed, Weisskopf walks a thin line between friend and reporter while probing into the details of the events that led to his peers' amputations.

This book is a great read no matter what your political leaning or your stance on the war.

From my perspective as a young, educated, anti-war liberal it can sometimes feel impossible to identify with or understand the motivations and feelings of someone that enlists in the military. I think this book does a very good job of revealing the personalities of a few U.S. soldiers and making it easier to sympathize with them. It showed me that heroism is real, and it can be found in the actions of a soldier who fought in a war that I think wasn't worth waging.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a true story about a journalist who lost his hand while covering the war and was subsequently rehabbed at Walter Reed, the first civilian to have done this. The book follows his journey as well as a few other soldiers who were at Walter Reed at the same time, all of them new amputees. I admit, I got totally geeked out over the OT parts. I guess saying I enjoyed this book would be a stretch since it isn't an enjoyable subject, but I found the story lines, especially as the journalist coped with his new identity as an amputee, very engaging and enlightening. At times the writing was a bit melodramatic, but hey, he is a journalist, so for the most part it was very easy to read non fiction.

[Gregory Tait · Rating 4 out of 5]

These soliders are true American heros....we need support all amputees of this endless war on terror!

[Rebecca Jordan]

Amputees wandered in all day to pull up a chair at the crossroads of industry and medicine. They came for repairs. They came for fittings and batteries. They came to watch technicians stoop over worn wooden benches, file plaster casts, program devices, and fire propane torches. Prosthetists were re-creating a birthright in body parts...

[David Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of several soldiers who lost limbs in Iraq. The author, an embedded journalist, lost his hand.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Time magazine reporter Michael Weisskopf went to Iraq to do a cover story on the U.S. soldier as Time's "Person of the Year" for 2003, he came back with the story of a lifetime. Problem is, it wasn't the cover story. It was a story that came from losing his right hand to a grenade.[return][return]As the first reporter wounded in a war ever afforded the privilege of being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Weisskopf was in a unique position to view and truly understand the care and treatment provided battlefield amputees. From that position, he brings us Blood Brothers , the story of soldiers treated on Ward 57 of the hospital, the amputee ward.[return][return]Weisskopf was in a Humvee on patrol with the First Armored Division in a district of northwest Baghdad on December 10, 2003. He heard a clanking sound, thinking it was just one of the rocks youth tended to throw at the Humvees. He looked down, saw a small dark oval, picked it up and began to toss it over the side of the vehicle. "I may as well have plucked volcanic lava from a crater," he recalls. "I could feel the flesh of my palm liquefying."[return][return]Thus starts Weisskopf's journey into a world of pain, medicine, rehabilitation and courage. At Walter Reed, he comes to know a variety of soldiers who have lost one or both hands, arms, feet or legs or any combination of them. Weisskopf tells the stories of three of them as much as his own. He takes us through not only his own experiences, but the medical, rehabilitative and personal trials and tribulations of a variety of Ward 57's patients, focusing in particular on Pete Damon, Luis Rodriguez and Bobby Isaacs even after their discharge from the hospital. None of them are alone or particularly unique. By the time Weisskopf was injured, the Iraq War had produced twice the rate of amputations of every war of the 20th century, except Vietnam, for which there were no good statistics.[return][return]Read balance of review at http://prairieprogressive.com/?p=824

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This was an interesting memoir/biography about four men who lost limbs due to the war in Iraq. Author Weisskopf was a journalist temporarily in Iraq when he received the injury that caused the loss of his right hand. The other three men in the book were soldiers who--around the same time but caught in different battles--lost arms or legs. All four end up together in Walter Reed Medical Center's Ward 57, where military amputees are treated and rehabbed.

The book covers the physical pain (especially of phantom limb syndrome), the adjustment to the technology of artificial limbs, and the emotional distress of a changing sense of power and self-image. Further, Weisskopf grapples with whether his action--which saved the lives of others--was actually heroic (as others claim) or purely instinctual. Meanwhile, one of the other men agonizes over whether he himself was responsible for the accident that caused the loss of his arms... and killed a fellow soldier.

As a journalist, Weisskopf does a good job of reporting and fact-checking, and interesting tidbits are scattered throughout the book. For example, battlefield medicine during the Iraq war saved many more lives than it had in the past but created a multitude of amputees; this in turn boosted the technology for 'smarter' artificial limbs. Another appeal of Weisskopf's reporting is that he stays fairly even-handed about the war and President Bush. Even though Weisskopf was not in general a supporter of the Iraq war or Bush, he also presents the soldiers' divergent point of view.

The author offers up a few glimmers of humor involving his new 'smart' artificial hand (one anecdote about stopping traffic while driving and one mishap while attempting to tie a necktie). All in all, a well-written book about a potentially difficult topic.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read book for every civilan to have a brief glimpse at what our wounded soliders endure for our freedoms. I worked on Ward 57 for 18 months. It was a humbling and rewarding experience. This book brings to life how an amputee feels and the rehab that is involved. I received the book while I was working on the ward and started reading it. Only made it halfway through. One day I plan on finishing it. The book helped me to be more compassionate towards the soliders and to have empathy in regards to their injuries.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inside look at the aftermath - psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, and physically - of soldiers who sacrificed life and limb in the war. Interesting point of view from a U.S. reporter who was imbedded in the war and injured while riding with soldiers. He tells his story, as well as others, from injury through the rehab/recovery process. As a therapist, it was cool to read about what our patients might really think about us and the impact we have on their recovery.

[Betsy Cotton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an in-depth look into the lives of those soldiers (and journalists) who have been wounded at war. Weisskopf brings a unique perspective to his recovery at Walter Reed Medical Center--being the first non-military person to be treated there. This book is a great read--regardless of your opinion of the war.

[Mayet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a really great read. It was not depressing or preachy. It really showed how, despite enormous odds and struggles, the human spirit can survive and triumph over almost anything. I really liked it.

[Fariza · Rating 3 out of 5]

People think you've done a great job, but the truth is they never knew what made you've done it.. I think I learn something from the book.. I'm seeing war from different perspective now..

[Chance Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish this.