Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post has written an excellent piece about wounded soldiers recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and how they are using Video games to aid in the healing process.
These soldiers are laying their lives on the line to protect freedom, but they are serious about their games too.
Chuck Ziegenfuss, a major in the Army, was wounded in Iraq in 2005 and spent six months as an inpatient at the hospital. For soldiers who have just been hit with life-changing injuries, playing games helps reconnect with entertainment they enjoyed before they arrived at the military hospital, he said. When Ziegenfuss was in Iraq, he'd see guys come back in from a 20-hour mission and immediately pick up game controllers. Playing games again here "gives them back a sense that they're normal," he said.
Ziegenfuss, who has also been a peer counselor to wounded soldiers, said some soldiers with new prosthetic limbs have even retaught themselves how to drive with steering-wheel game controllers.
Army Spec. Juan Alcibar (pictured above) has parked his crutches to the side and tried to lure a friend into playing along with him before he rips into Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" on the guitar game. "Wanna try? Come on, you know you wanna be a rock star!"
This monthly gathering, designed to encourage some of the recovering soldiers at Walter Reed to socialize, is put on by a soldiers' aid group called Cause. Alcibar, who was hit by a sniper's bullet that shattered a femur in Baghdad in March, is a big fan of the event.
"When you're just sitting in your room thinking about what happened, it drives you crazy," he says. "This is something to get your mind off your sorrows. . . . I wish they had it every week."
These soldiers are laying their lives on the line to protect freedom, but they are serious about their games too.
Chuck Ziegenfuss, a major in the Army, was wounded in Iraq in 2005 and spent six months as an inpatient at the hospital. For soldiers who have just been hit with life-changing injuries, playing games helps reconnect with entertainment they enjoyed before they arrived at the military hospital, he said. When Ziegenfuss was in Iraq, he'd see guys come back in from a 20-hour mission and immediately pick up game controllers. Playing games again here "gives them back a sense that they're normal," he said.
Ziegenfuss, who has also been a peer counselor to wounded soldiers, said some soldiers with new prosthetic limbs have even retaught themselves how to drive with steering-wheel game controllers.
Army Spec. Juan Alcibar (pictured above) has parked his crutches to the side and tried to lure a friend into playing along with him before he rips into Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box" on the guitar game. "Wanna try? Come on, you know you wanna be a rock star!"
This monthly gathering, designed to encourage some of the recovering soldiers at Walter Reed to socialize, is put on by a soldiers' aid group called Cause. Alcibar, who was hit by a sniper's bullet that shattered a femur in Baghdad in March, is a big fan of the event.
"When you're just sitting in your room thinking about what happened, it drives you crazy," he says. "This is something to get your mind off your sorrows. . . . I wish they had it every week."
The rest of the story talks about some other people and groups that donate games and consoles to the hosital. It is a touching example of how games can truly enrich lives and ease suffering.
Next time you think about trading in some game you never play anymore for a less than fair trade-in value at a games store, instead consider donating it. You'll be helping someone else and making yourself feel good at the same time. A win win by any standard.
Read the full story here.
