Trying To Keep U.S. Soldiers Bodies Fit And Able

Captain Odom, left, rested in a helicopter after treating 13 soldiers. Kuni Takahashi for The New York Times

Tending To Bodies Near The Breaking Point -- New York Times

COMBAT OUTPOST RAHMAN KHEL, Afghanistan — Each week, Capt. Rachel Odom takes off in a helicopter to fly to yet another distant military outpost of this mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan to patch the troops in her care back together.

One recent morning, 13 soldiers came to visit her in the small wooden medical hut of a 100-man camp near the village of Rahman Khel, cradled by the snow-tipped mountains of Paktia Province near the Pakistani border. One after another, the soldiers told her of their twisted knees, back pains or shoulder strains — the increasingly familiar-sounding toll of a long war.

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My Comment: Her work is more prevention than treatment .... making sure that stretched muscles do not become torn and ripped Either way .... I suspect that her services and care are deeply appreciated and another indication on how much the U.S. military has changed after 10 years of constant warfare.