How Vets Recover After Losing Their Limbs In The Iraq And Afghanistan Wars

The Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) includes the Center for the Intrepid, the San Antonio Military Medical Center, the largest inpatient medical facility in the Department of Defense, and several outlying clinics.

The hospital is home to the DOD’s only burn center and Level 1 trauma center in the United States.

While there are thousands of soldiers that have lost their lives abroad, there are many more thousands of U.S. military war wounded, most suffering from amputations, burns and functional limb loss in Afghanistan and previously in Iraq, who spend months, if not years, in outpatient care at the center.

Getty photographer John Moore visited BAMC earlier this month and captured what the rehabilitation process is like at the center.

Occupational therapist Jennifer Tucker puts a skin compression glove onto the burned hand of Spc. Bobby Bernier, 26.

SAN ANTONIO, TX - AUGUST 08: Occupational therapist Jennifer Tucker puts a skin compression glove onto the burned hand of Spc. Bobby Bernier, 26, at the U.S. Army burn center on August 8, 2012 in San Antonio, Texas. Bernier, a U.S. Army artileryman, received severe burns on May 18, 2012 in Nangahar, Afghanistan when Taliban insurgents attacked his unit, wounding him and a comrade and killing two of his fellow soldiers. The facility, officially called the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center, has treated more than 930 military personel wounded during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2003 and is the only burn center under the U.S. Department of Defense. It has also treated some 2,500 civilian emergency burn patients from the South Texas region. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

A prosthesis liner is fitted onto the amputed leg of an U.S. Army soldier.

SAN ANTONIO, TX - AUGUST 07: A prosthesis liner is fitted onto the amputed leg of an U.S. Army soldier at the Center for the Intrepid rehabilitation center at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), on August 7, 2012 in San Antonio, Texas. BAMC comprises the Center for the Intrepid, the San Antonio Military Medical Center, the largest inpatient medical facility in the Department of Defense, and several outlying clinics. The hospital is home to the DOD’s only burn center and Level 1 trauma center in the United States. Thousands of U.S. military war wounded, most suffering from amputations, burns and functional limb loss in Afghanistan and previously in Iraq, spend months, if not years, in outpatient care at the center. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

U.S. Army Sgt. Ed Matayka, 34 and a double amputee, walks during a session with physical therapist Melisa Howard.

SAN ANTONIO, TX - AUGUST 07: U.S. Army Sgt. Ed Matayka, 34 and a double amputee, walks during a session with physical therapist Melisa Howard at the Center for the Intrepid rehabilitation gym at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), on August 7, 2012 in San Antonio, Texas. Matayka was serving as an Amy medic at Baghram, Afghanistan when an IED blew off his legs, severely injured his spinal chord and damaged his organs. BAMC comprises the Center for the Intrepid, the San Antonio Military Medical Center, the largest inpatient medical facility in the Department of Defense, and several outlying clinics. The hospital is home to the DOD’s only burn center and Level 1 trauma center in the United States. Thousands of U.S. military war wounded, most suffering from amputations, burns and functional limb loss in Afghanistan and previously in Iraq, spend months, if not years, in outpatient care at the center. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

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