Dorrie Carskadon, One of Wisconsin's Fort Hood Wounded, Is Without Her Partner at This Time

Dorrie Carskadon, one of the wounded from Major Nidal Hasan’s shooting spree on Thursday at Fort Hood has sustained several wounds, including the Army not allowing her partner to speak for her or to see her. This is part of an e-mail I received today from a friend in Buddhism (complete with misspellings–sorry):

She was in critical condition all of thursday and now has been listed in stable condition. But she got shot in her hip, her stomach, and one bullet grazed her forhead. She has a broken hip and will have a long recovery time. She is gay and that is also being held against her and her partner in the Army Hospital there so needless to say she is undergoing serious situation now. This has been a very hard week for me and my friends. Dorry is a sweet and loving woman and always smiles and for her to be inocently shot out of the clear blue is a lot to handle. We love her she is my advad Euchre buddy here in Madison. We just threw her a going away party as she was going to be deployed to Iraq, in the next week or so. She is a Social Worker who works with other troops with PTSD. after serving time overseas and she gets shot before she even leaves the US.

The official story, from the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel:

Dorothy “Dorrie” Carskadon, 47, of Madison remains in the intensive care unit at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood after undergoing surgery, said her brother, Trey Carskadon.

“She’s lucid and in good spirits and talking. She’s expected to make a full recovery,” he said.

She was in a staging area with other soldiers getting medical shots before going overseas when the shooting erupted. She told her brother she thought it was a drill.

“A bullet grazed her head. Her first reaction was, ‘It sure seemed awful real for a field exercise,’ ” said Trey Carskadon, who lives in Portland, Ore., and traveled to Texas to be with his sister in the hospital. Another shot hit her hip and a third bullet hit her in the stomach as she was assisting another soldier.

Dorrie Carskadon is a clinical social worker with the U.S. Army Reserve and an expert in post-traumatic stress disorder.

She and other wounded soldiers got a visit Friday from former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, Trey Carskadon said.

“She doesn’t understand what all the hubbub is about,” Trey Carskadon said.

But he added, “On several levels, she is a hero. She’s dedicated her life for no other purpose but to help others.”

“She’s a daughter of Portland, Ore., but calls Wisconsin home,” Trey Carskadon said. “You can be proud of her courage. She did not run away from what was going on; she ran into harm’s way to help other soldiers.”

I think Ms. Carskadon needs more than just our prayers, she needs her companion with her.

Call whoever you know big and complain. This sh*t has got to stop.