Re: [OT] I need a reality check

--- Beth.Fulton@csiro.au wrote:

> "Bigger breasts offered as perk to US soldiers

That's an exaggeration.  It is not being used as a
pull to recruit nor is it advertised widely.  However,
if a soldier asks, there are a variety of medical
services available.  I was, before I came down on PCS
orders, on the waiting list for one of those
"unnecessary" surgeries, laser eye surgery.

> The United States Army has long lured recruits with
> the slogan "Be All You Can Be" but now soldiers and
> their families can receive plastic surgery,
> including breast enlargements, on taxpayers' money.

"On tax payer's money"???

BS.  The money is already spent.  The cost of a
medical procedure is almost entirely invented--you are
paying for the surgeon's time and hospital fees. 
You're paying for med school loans and malpractice
insurance and a part of the purchase price of the MRI
machine and so forth.  Well, the surgeon is on salary
and the hospital is already purchased, as well as the
equipment.  It costs the government more or less the
same whether it is being used or sitting idle in a
corner.
 
> "Anyone wearing a uniform is eligible," Dr Bob
> Lyons, chief of plastic surgery at the Brooke Army
> Medical Centre in San Antonio told the magazine,
> which said soldiers needed the approval of their
> commanding officers to get the time off.

BAMC has one of the best burn wards on the planet. 
Right now, that's where they send most serious burns
from Iraq once they are stable enough to move.	Now,
I'm pretty sure that you've seen a good burn victim or
pictures--say 90%+ of the skin destroyed.  Or you can
imagine it.  

The Army has an explicit obligation to treat
casualties and return them to as close an
approximation of "normal" as is possible.  Part of the
treatment is extensive reconstructive surgery.	Little
things like building a face for these guys.  Hardly
"frivolous" in my mind, but then again I'm pretty damn
biased on the subject.

Now, the cosmetic surgeons aren't needed full time for
this.  Thankfully we don't have that many casualties. 
So why not let them use their skills for the benefit
of the military?

One wonders how many of those "breast enlargements"
were battle damage repair.  Wonder what an IED does to
boobs?	Probably isn't fun.

John

		
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