Leadership Demands Honor

Dick Meadows leads the BLUEBOY assault team inside the Son Tay prison compound, 21 Nov 1970

Major Richard J. Meadows a legend in the Special Forces Community lived by a personal Code of Honor. For those of you who do not know him here is a quick bio.

While assigned to the 8th Special Forces Group in Panama, MSG Meadows volunteered for a tour in Vietnam. At the end of his first tour, serving in the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group, Meadows received a direct commission as a captain on April 14, 1967.

BLUEBOY Assault Element: Dick Meadows (lower left)

Capt. Dick Meadows, Leader Assault Element BLUEBOY

In the mid-1970s, Meadows was a key figure in the founding of the US Delta Force special operations and hostage rescue force.

The statue of Major Meadows at Ft Bragg and the Dick Meadows award for Heroism record his legacy to Special Forces and should inspire us all.

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Back Up Heating during an Emergency

Now that winter is here, most of us have done all we wanted to do or were able to afford to do preparing for the cold weather. Now, we just sit back and see what happens. Did you however prepare for a worst case scenario? More than likely you're answer is "no". I understand it's hard enough just to get through the winter utility bills and for those on wood heat; it's a large enough task to go cut or purchase your wood for the season. But I found a pretty handy and fairly inexpensive way to really heat a large portion of your home in an emergency. Let's say an ice storm hits, knocks out your power for a week. This means no electric heat or cooking abilities. For those on wood this may mean using more wood than you planned on which may lead to a shortage if you didn't buy enough extra... Whatever the case, you need some heat.

You can pick up a Propane Wall Heater at your local hardware and online for under $200, I've even seen them at Goodwill from time to time (By the way if you don't look at Goodwill for survival stuff you're missing out!). These simple machines do not require electricity unless you get one with a blower and some heat up to 2000 sq. ft. But remember, this is a back up heating plan, so plan on something less than half that size, plus you don't want to buy a 500 gallon propane tank to heat your entire home. For those already on gas/propane heat this is a perfect backup option for you since you already have the tank.

For everyone else, just rig up your full gas grill cylinder and you'll get up to 3 days of heat if on a low setting leading to an average temperature of around 65 degrees F. It costs me $12 to fill a standard 20# propane gas cylinder and I normally have several sitting around for various reasons. If I just made sure they were filled up before winter, I personally would have a couple weeks worth of propane. You can typically purchase extra filled cylinders for around $25-$30. The connections for this system are very easy to obtain at any local hardware and should cost less than $20.  

I can't take credit for this system, I was shown it from a fellow firefighter and this has been his primary system for almost ten years. He's a single guy that works long hours so he only uses it when he's at the house which is why it's more practical for him. So, just add this plan to your toolbox and maybe it will be of use sometime down the line. A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. (Prov. 22:3)

About the Author

Jason Hunt is the president of Frontier Christian University and Chief Instructor at the Kentucky River Outdoor & Survival School. You can sign up for their free magazine featuring more articles like this one at www.thewildernessvoice.com 

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  "IF free enterprise really works, why the Great Depression"

XF2Y-1/YF2Y-1 Sea Dart: A Jet Fighter on Water Skis   

Convair's Sea Dart waterborne jet fighter was a brilliant mistake whose time never came

"From the sea..." was a strategic doctrine that might have included jet fighters if the Convair F2Y Sea Dart had succeeded.

The Sea Dart began as Convair's entry to a 1948 U.S. Navy competition for a supersonic interceptor. It was a product of the same design team that produced the delta-winged XF-92A testbed and the F-102 Delta Dagger interceptor for the Air Force.

In the 1950s, a few Navy engineers and planners began to pursue a delta-winged supersonic fighter that could take off from and land on water. Some Navy leaders had doubts about employing supersonic fighters aboard aircraft carriers because of their long takeoff rolls, high-speed approaches and general instability.

It was a time when jet engines were thoroughly unreliable and jet aircraft had not yet fully replaced propeller-driven warplanes. Using open water to takeoff and land was an idea that appeared to offer great flexibility.

"The Sea Dart had a watertight hull and was the only flying boat fighter ever tested in the United States."

In 1951, the Navy awarded a contract to

The XF2Y-1 Sea Dart pictured during a take-off run in the waters off San Diego, Calif. U.S. Naval Aviation Museum photo

Eventually, the Navy placed firm orders for no fewer than 22 of the planes, including two XF2Y-1 "experimental" versions, four YF2Y-1 "service test" aircraft and sixteen F2Y-1 production aircraft, or, roughly, enough for a squadron.

Fanciful artists' concepts from the period showed squadrons of Sea Darts operating in the open ocean, being fueled and loaded with ammunition by accompanying fleets of warships. A Washington, D.C., newspaper published a drawing of a Sea Dart operating from the Tidal Basin to defend the capital from Soviet bombers. The basin is about three feet deep and in no way suitable for any seaplane, but the image was captivating.

The Sea Dart was not without aesthetic appeal, but in engineering terms it left something to be desired. When Convair test pilot E. D. "Sam" Shannon took the first plane, designated XF2Y-1, aloft at San Diego on its first official flight on April 9, 1953, the Sea Dart was already in trouble.

The Sea Dart arrived full-blown in an era when jet engines were unreliable and Navy Westinghouse jet engines, especially the J40 and J46, had more problems than others. The Sea Dart was to be powered by twin 6,000-pound thrust Westinghouse XJ46-WE-02 turbojet engines. However, the XF2Y-1 prototype was finished before the XJ46 was available, so it was fitted with twin 3,400-pound thrust Westinghouse J34-WE-32s. The Sea Dart was badly underpowered with J34s (although they were more reliable than other powerplants of the era) and could not attain its intended supersonic speed. The aircraft made use of hydro-skis, which, as it turned out, provided a rough ride on takeoff and landing and were less effective than expected. When stationary or taxiing slowly in the water, the Sea Dart moved along the surface with the trailing edge of its wings brushing the water. The skis were extended when the aircraft reached about 10 miles per hour during its takeoff run.

A Navy plan for mobile bases for water-borne aircraft began to lag and, in the end, never became reality.

The lone YF2Y-1 Sea Dart prototype that featured twin skis. U.S. Navy photo

The Sea Dart program went through several changes on paper and in fact as the Navy changed the number of planes it wanted from seven to 22 to, finally, just five. Several engines were considered for a production version of the Sea Dart.

For the most part, the aircraft performed well in tests, but the Navy seemed to be unable to decide what to do with it.

The program took a tragic turn on Nov. 4, 1954, when Convair test pilot Charles E. "Chuck" Richbourg was killed in the no. 2 Sea Dart, called a YF2Y-1, as it disintegrated during a low-level, high-speed fly-past with the press watching and television cameras running. Some Americans saw this happen on live television. The crash was the lead item in the day's television and print news.

As a result of the tragedy, the Navy canceled all the production F2Y-1s but stayed with its plan to build one more XF2Y-1 prototype and the three remaining YF2Y-1 service test aircraft.

Tests resumed after its makers redesigned the lone prototype XF2Y-1 with a single hydro ski replacing dual skis. An unhappy compromise, the new hydro ski was not fully retractable. Moreover, the wells for the old twin skis had not been faired over. The new single ski had a pair of retractable beaching wheels at the end, intended to permit the aircraft to beach itself. Another aircraft, a YF2Y-1, flew with a new version of twin skis - bringing to three the number of Sea Darts that actually made it into the air.

While the two surviving Sea Darts resumed the flight test program, two more were built but never flown. They were eventually scrapped.

"The sole XF2Y-1 and YF2Y-1, with their differing ski configurations, both demonstrated an ability to operate in waves up to 10 feet high and to fly faster than sound in a shallow dive. It is questionable whether a Sea Dart would have been able to prevail in a dogfight or to maintain supersonic speed in level flight as had been hoped."

XF2Y-1 Sea Dart takes off from waters around San Diego, Calif., during an early test flight of the aircraft. The aircraft pictured is the first prototype of the Sea Dart. U.S. Naval Aviation Museum photo

Documents preserved at the San Diego Aerospace Museum show that Convair and Navy experts solved one technical problem after another. By 1957, they had a Sea Dart design that would have worked perfectly well in service, although its air-to-air capability remained open to question. By that time, in any event, interest in sea bases and sea-borne combat planes had waned. Moreover, the Air Force F-100 Super Sabre and the Navy F8U Crusader were now pushing the envelope farther than the Sea Dart could ever go.

According to General Dynamics Aircraft and Their Predecessors, by John Wegg, the Sea Dart logged over 300 flights in 46 months before the Navy discontinued the program in 1957.

The Navy abandoned plans to produce an F2Y-2 version incorporating area rule to enhance supersonic flight and powered by two 15,000-pound thrust Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojets.

Five years later, when the Pentagon's system for naming aircraft was overhauled on Oct. 1, 1962, the F2Y was re-named the F-7A. It was the only naval aircraft to be given a new name five years after it ceased flying. All four surviving Sea Darts are in the hands of various museums around the country.

The Abandoned Relief of
Wake Island

When Adm. William S. Pye took counsel of his fears

Wrecked U.S. Marine Corps Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters of Marine Fighting Squadron 211 (VMF-211), photographed by by the Wake Island airstrip sometime after the Japanese captured the island on Dec. 23, 1941. The plane in the foreground, "211-F-11" was flown by Capt. Henry T. Elrod during the Dec. 11 attacks that sank the Japanese destroyer Kisaragi. Damaged beyond repair at that time, "211-F-11" was subsequently used as a source of parts to keep other planes operational. National Archives

"Where oh where, is the United States Navy?"

-Tokyo Rose

Within the long list of bad war news coming out of the Pacific in December 1941, one item of good news stood out for the American public. On Dec. 11, 1941, the small Marine and Navy force on the strategic American outpost of Wake Island had repulsed an attempted Japanese amphibious assault, sinking two Japanese destroyers. The gallant success and temporary victory electrified the nation. But that force needed reinforcements fast, or it would be overwhelmed.

In one of his last acts as commander in chief of the United States Pacific Fleet, Adm. Husband E. Kimmel ordered Task Force 14, containing the aircraft carrier Saratoga and under the command of Rear Adm. Frank Jack Fletcher, to ferry supplies and a relief force to reinforce the defenders on Wake. On Dec. 15, Task Force 14 left Pearl Harbor. Three days later, Kimmel was relieved.

"The responsibility of prosecuting the U.S. Navy's war in the Pacific now belonged to Vice Adm. William S. Pye, who would hold the position until Kimmel's permanent replacement, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, arrived. The fate of the Wake garrison was now in the hands of the Pacific Fleet's former Battle Force commander, whose flagship California, and almost all of that command, was resting on the bottom of Pearl Harbor."

Pye's naval career began in 1901 when he graduated from Annapolis. During World War I he was on the staff of the Atlantic Fleet's commander in chief, where he was awarded the Navy Cross for "exceptionally distinguished" staff work (the Navy Cross did not become a combat valor-only decoration until 1942). With a stocky and pugnacious appearance that made him look more like a beat cop than an admiral, Pye was considered one of the Navy's best strategic minds. The question now was would Pye act as tough as he looked?

The Japanese destroyer Kisaragi, destroyed by Marine Wildcats in the successful first defense of Wake Island. Kure Maritime Museum photo

Vice Adm. William S. Pye. National Archives

Pye's appointment as temporary CINCPAC shocked Layton, who vividly recalled the admiral's Dec. 6 prediction. Others noticed that Pye, after having dismissed the Imperial Japanese Fleet threat out of hand, had now done a complete about face and seemed to be particularly gun-shy about engaging it, especially when he read any intelligence report containing the words "Japanese carrier." Even so, Pye did not countermand Task Force 14's mission. He also allowed a diversionary attack on the Japanese-held Marshall Islands by the carrier Lexington to continue.

On Dec. 20 (Dec. 21, Wake time), Pye received a report that the Japanese had renewed their assault on Wake, and that one, possibly two, big Japanese carriers were providing support. Two days later, Pye received from Cmdr. Winfield Scott Cunningham, the overall commander on Wake, the message: enemy on island - issue in doubt. Delayed by fueling problems, Task Force 14 was more than 500 miles from Wake. At about the same time, Pye was handed a message from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Harold Stark that read, in part, "Wake is now and will continue to be a liability." He was authorized to evacuate the island. But by then evacuation was impossible.

Fletcher was on the bridge of the Saratogawhen he received his latest order from Pye.

The Japanese destroyer Hayate, sunk by Marine Corps gun batteries during the initial defense of Wake Island. Photo from History of Japanese Destroyers, Kaigunsha Press

After he read it, he said to the staff, "We're called

After Nimitz assumed command, Pye was transferred to the States and made commander of Task Force One based in San Francisco, a surface fleet containing the Pacific Fleet's remaining operational battleships. In October 1942, he was appointed president of the Naval War College. He retired in 1944, having never received another operational command.

When President Franklin Roosevelt received word of the fall of Wake Island he called the news "worse than Pearl Harbor" and never quite forgave Pye for his decision to abandon its defenders.

As for the Marine Corps, it never forgave him.

Prosthetics: State of the Art and Beyond

The prosthetic legs of a Paralympic Military Sports Camp participant frame U.S. Navy volunteers at Balboa Naval Medical Center in San Diego, Calif., Oct. 5, 2010. Prosthetics today have progressed far beyond the state of the art a decade ago. DoD photo by Mass Communications Specialist 3rd Class Travis K. Mendoza, U.S. Navy

In the past few years, increased funding and effort have gone into pushing the boundaries of the possible, of going beyond even the most advanced traditional prosthetics to technologies that have long been the staple of science fiction, not clinical reality. These include bone and tissue regeneration, hand and face transplants, biomechanical interfaces (which could provide brain control of prosthetic arms and hands, being able to "feel" objects, etc.), cloning replacement parts using the recipient's own DNA to avoid rejection, and more.

 

It all began with a change in attitude and perspective among doctors, both those in the battlespace dealing with wounded warfighters in the "golden hour" after injury and those at advanced treatment and rehabilitation facilities in the United States and at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the first stop between combat and CONUS for most severely wounded warriors.

"Early in the war there were issues related to the salvaging of limbs. When we discovered better ways to do that, we got that information to the field to ensure all limbs that can be saved are saved," Dr. Jonathan Woodson, the assistant secretary of Defense-Health Affairs, said. "So the system has done a good job of being a learning organization and improving strategies for care."

Like Woodson (an Army Reserve brigadier general), Air Force Lt. Col. Michael R. Davis, chief of Reconstructive Surgery & Regenerative Medicine at the Army Institute of Surgical Research (ISR) - has served as a combat surgeon. His experiences in theater and at USAF hospitals in the United States led him to focus on finding faster and less painful ways to improve both functionality and aesthetics for warfighters with extremities loss or severe damage.

 

"As a surgeon stationed in Afghanistan, I witnessed firsthand the impact of that on our troops and, back here, I have seen an increasing capability in being able to care for these injured soldiers," he said. "We have a great responsibility to develop techniques and technologies for those in need. And with the conflicts drawing to a close, there will be a heavy emphasis within the military medical community to further those advances.

 

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jordan Pierson climbs a 30-foot rock-climbing wall during a therapy session in the new Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care (C5) facility. C5 is a program of care that manages severely injured or ill patients from medical evacuation through inpatient care, outpatient rehabilitation, and their return to active duty or transition from the military. Prosthetics today must be designed with active-duty personnel in mind, because many amputees are choosing to remain in the armed forces. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Greg Mitchell

"In the past, the standard was to reconstruct everyone,

salvage every possible limb. But over time, as prosthetics have become more advanced and the benefit of a prosthesis has gone up, we have seen many cases where patients are more debilitated than they would have been with primary amputation. That has caused a paradigm shift in the orthopedic and reconstruction communities about how they feel about reconstruction versus primary amputation and prosthesis."

 

The new prosthetics provide more than just better functionality, added Lt. Col. John M. Scherer, director of the Army's Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Research Program (CRMRP), they offer the prospect of a return to duty or a far more "normal" civilian life.

 

"Most prosthetics before were not designed with a highly active 20-year-old amputee in mind. In addition, we now are looking at them from a combat environment requirement, because we have deployed people back into the combat zone with lower extremity prostheses," he explained.

 

"Outside the military, they normally don't have to be waterproof or sandproof because, if the weather is bad in the U.S. and you have a powered prosthetic limb, you either don't go out or make sure it is protected from the weather. You can't do that in combat, so there have been changes to make the batteries last longer and function in harsh environments - sand, heat, water, exposure - as well as giving them additional functions, such as the ability to go backwards."

 

CRMRP is working with the Military Amputee Research Program to capitalize on advancements in neural interfaces, nanotechnology, and prosthetic design to improve foot and knee prosthetics, knee prosthetic control, and haptic [touch] feedback. Their coordinated research is designed to improve prosthetic performance through advanced clinical practices and strategies, but also will contribute to the overall advancement beyond prosthetics.

 

The vast majority of advances during the current conflict have involved replacing amputated feet and legs.

"Microprocessors in the knee have replaced control by the physics of the prosthetic movement. Basically, that makes you fall less and your gait is closer to normal, so you don't injure the healthy limb. From that perspective, there has been a huge improvement in the ability to walk in a normal way compared to how you would have moved prior to these advancements," Scherer said.

"There really has not been a lot of effort in changing the current state of the art for upper extremities - which includes the 'hook' that has been used for quite a while. There are lots of reasons for that, but DARPA's [the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's] prosthetics program has brought a lot of robotic improvements to upper extremity devices and we hope to go into clinical trials soon. Most of the biomechanical neural interfaces to prosthetic limbs also are being done by DARPA. And that is the holy grail - making the prosthetic work with a neural interface, with feedback, so you can actually feel in your 'fingertips' what you are touching and do direct movement."

 

Advancements in lower limb prosthetics that have enabled many amputees to regain a more normal life also have resulted in a new development that concerns many in military medicine: Warfighters whose damaged feet or legs were saved by advances in battlefield and follow-up surgery asking to have the limb amputated anyway because they believe a prosthetic would give them greater functionality than their reduced capability real foot or leg. Those advances also give warfighters other "positive" arguments for amputation.

 

"Someone who undergoes primary amputation will heal and get through the process of rehab much faster. Someone who undergoes limb salvage could face 10 or more operations over a period of years before they see adequate healing and rehabilitation - if they ever get to a point of full functionality. So it requires very careful patient selection for complex reconstruction and who we recommend for primary amputation and fitting of an advanced prosthesis," Davis said, but added new options are becoming available. "You can't compare a prosthesis to a natural limb, but you can compare it to a reconstructed limb using techniques such as free tissue transfers and bone grafting."

Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry salutes former Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. with his prosthetic hand at the Center for the Intrepid on Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Nov. 17, 2008. Prety received the Medal of Honor on July 12, 2011. U.S. Army photo by D. Myles Cullen

Historically, medical research has been an isolated pursuit, both in terms of competition in academia and industry and in a single-issue or application focus, such as brain injuries, orthopaedics, dentistry, etc. In recent years, however, the U.S. Military Health System has sought to bring multiple university and commercial researchers and disciplines together to pursue specific issues but also to share knowledge and find new applications for what works in one area to the needs of another.

 

Col. Robert G. Hale, commander of the Army Dental Corps' Dental and Trauma Research Detachment (DTRD), spends the majority of his time on issues related to regenerating bone, tissue, muscle, and nerves, including face transplants, and ways to block or kill biofilm, which causes plaque and gum disease in the mouth but also keeps open wounds from healing. Tapping into DoD-sponsored multidiscipline research has brought new solutions to his concerns, while DTRD advances are finding applications in amputation and prosthetics - and moving beyond both.

 

"Advanced bone regeneration biomaterials, better than our most recent capabilities, could improve patient outcomes with fewer and less invasive surgeries, both for craniofacial and limb salvage. Another advance is adipose fat, which regenerates very quickly. If we can tap into the regenerative abilities we know exist in fat and place that into a wound, it can heal with less scarring and improve mobility anywhere on the body there is movement," he said.

"A follow-on, perhaps starting next year, will be a stem cell-enriched fat. We may not be able to regenerate an arm muscle in the next 10 years, but maybe in 15 or 20 years we can slide a scaffold under the skin, then inject stem cells that will homein on that scaffold and help patients recover better."

"Tissue scaffolds are considered the medical implants of the future. Made of fully degradable biomaterials, they support cells at the site of injury and assist the body in growing new, functional tissue. Once that new tissue has successfully replaced damaged or lost tissue, the body's natural systems will dissolve and recycle the scaffold."

Currently, the cells used in that process are either produced synthetically or taken from the patient's body and processed for application to the wound or transplant area. That process is expected to become substantially more successful with the use of stem cells - unspecialized cells with the ability to transform into specialized cells in the body. Adult stem cells, recently found to be both more plentiful and more adaptable than previously thought, are at the center of many medical research programs.

 

While those efforts cannot regenerate entire limbs - yet - in combination with bioactive factors and biomaterials, stem cells can form new bone, nerves, and soft tissue (skin, tendons, muscles, blood vessels) to replace damaged tissues and speed recovery. Even if salamander-like limb regrowth does become possible, however, growing a new hand, arm, foot, or leg that would be a true part of the patient's body may have more drawbacks than advantages.

 

"There are studies under way to figure out how other organisms can regenerate body tissues and hopefully translate that into a human ability to do the same. The answer probably will lie with stem cells, but to regenerate something as complex as a hand is still science fiction," Davis said.

"In another hundred years, will we be further along in terms of that kind of capability? Yes. The problem is, when someone needs a functionalized limb, growing one can cause substantial delay. So even if that becomes possible in the future, the time involved to complete the process may be prohibitive."

 

Continued advances in limb salvage that return the damaged hand or leg to an acceptable level of function and appearance are seen as the best hope to avoid future amputations. For those who already have lost a limb or future wounded warriors whose limbs cannot be saved, if full regeneration is not a viable option, the ultimate answer may lie in improved biomechanical interfaces and - for hands, at least - transplants, from human donors or using hands cloned from the patient's DNA.

 

Rear Adm. Elaine Wagner, director of Medical Resources Plans and Policy Division and chief of the Navy Dental Corps, is shown the advanced features of various prosthetics by Dr. Joanne Smith, president and chief executive officer of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, during a Chicago Navy Week 2011 event. U.S. Navy photo by Valerie A. Kremer

Because a cloned limb would take as long to grow into adult size and appearance as the original, that source for a hand transplant would be a long-term solution, requiring some other approach immediately after amputation. While using a donated hand for transplant appears to offer the best choice, as with any surgical procedure, it has drawbacks, including an average 16-hour operation - twice that of a heart transplant. Finding a match also is more difficult than with a heart - in addition to all the usual blood and tissue match requirements, it also has to match the recipient's age, sex, hand size, and skin color.

 

"There is a debate over what would make a hand transplant standard care. For a bilateral hand amputee, there is no better way to rehabilitate someone than through a transplant. But what if it is a single hand - either dominant or non-dominant? Those questions are still subject to determination, and whether they are still experimental or part of standard care is still a great debate within the military and civilian medical communities," Davis explained.

 

"There needs to be great collaboration among the facilities doing these procedures to answer those questions and advance the field. And we are seeing that, with centers coming together and forming groups to answer these questions. We really need to go forth responsibly, not just doing transplants because we can, but because we should. Ultimately, those are patient decisions, but we need to be in the best position to recommend a course of care."

 

One of those facilities is the Atlanta VA Medical Center and its affiliate, Emory University, where Dr.  Linda Cendales performs hand transplants and is conducting a new VA study tracking transplant patients.

"In my experience, patients report the new hand has been better for them than the prostheses they were wearing," she said. "It's a human hand, not a device. The hand recovers sensation and patients are able to perform activities such as turning doorknobs, holding the newspaper, tying their shoes. It's not a life-saving organ - it's a quality-of-life transplant.

"We have a multidisciplinary team that is patient-centered. Our program aims to provide another option for a selected group of patients and to provide the best options overall for our amputees. If it's a prosthesis, the best prosthesis; if it's a hand, the best-matched human hand."

 

The other leading option for the future is a greatly improved biomechanical interface - linking the amputee's living tissue to a prosthesis. Some elements of that already are available, some are in or close to beginning clinical trials, some are still in the lab, and, for a few, science and technology have not yet advanced far enough to move them from science fiction to science fact.

One that recently did make that transition is 3-D bio-printing - similar to industrial fast prototyping, where a solid object is built, layer by layer, from special plastics or other materials. In this case, researchers at Wake Forest University have successfully "printed" human skin. While a revolutionary leap in current technology, it may be years from wide-scale clinical use for other body parts.

 

"Being able to print biological materials, such as skin, will greatly advance our ability to create functionalized synthetic reconstructive tissues. It holds a lot of promise, but bio tissues are complex and much more difficult to synthesize and print than industrial materials," Davis noted. "So I think that capability will come, but not in the near term."

 

In the meantime, tissue regeneration in vitro, using processed body cells or adult stem cells, may be combined with new titanium bone implants to resolve a number of problems with the interface of prosthetics and human bodies. First on that list is bacteria entering the space where the prosthetic connects to the body; second is the body's tendency to reject the prosthetic as a "foreign body."

Both are being addressed by VA-sponsored research led by Thomas Webster, associate professor of engineering and orthopaedics at Brown University. Webster's team has developed two techniques, which may work together: first, modifying the surface of titanium leg implants to promote cell growth and create a natural skin layer to seal the gap; second, covering the implant connection point with a molecular chain of proteins to hasten skin growth.

"You definitely have a complete layer of skin," Webster said of the process. "There's no more gap for the bacteria to go through."

 

Improving prosthetics and how they connect to and work with the body, and developing new techniques to replace prosthetics or even avoid the need for amputation are subjects of active and intense research across the DoD, VA, academia, and industry. While spurred by a modern record number of severe combat limb injuries and amputations, it is an effort that will continue long after the last U.S. warfighter leaves Afghanistan.

 

"The biggest point to all this is we have a responsibility to get the best possible outcome for our wounded service members, who risk their lives every day and many suffer devastating injuries. I've seen these injuries firsthand while stationed in Bagram [Air Base, Afghanistan] and, knowing our current capabilities, realized the long-term outcome was not nearly as good as we could achieve. And they deserve the best outcome possible," Davis concluded.

 

"Many within the military have the capability to advance these techniques, which in combination with top-level support and funding for this research, creates an environment where we can help them. What this does is create hope for our warfighters, which is one of the most positive outcomes of what we do, that a wounded service member can regain functionality they lost to injury."

 

This article first appeared in The Year in Veterans Affairs & Military Medicine: 2011-2012 Edition.

 

(AP) DENVER - A commercial U.S. satellite company said it has captured a photo of China's first aircraft carrier in the Yellow Sea off the Chinese coast.

DigitalGlobe Inc. said Wednesday one of its satellites photographed the carrier Dec. 8. A DigitalGlobe analyst found the image Tuesday while searching through photos.

Stephen Wood, director of DigitalGlobe's analysis center, said he's confident the ship is the Chinese carrier because of the location and date of the photo. The carrier was on a sea trial at the time.

DigitalGlobe, based in Longmont, Colorado, sells satellite imagery and analysis to clients that include the U.S. military, emergency response agencies and private companies. DigitalGlobe has three orbiting satellites and a fourth is under construction.

The aircraft carrier has generated intense international interest because of what it might portend about China's intentions as a military power.

The former Soviet Union started building the carrier, which it called the Varyag, but never finished it. When the Soviet Union collapsed, it ended up in the hands of Ukraine, a former Soviet republic.

China bought the ship from Ukraine in 1998 and spent years refurbishing it. It had no engines, weaponry or navigation systems when China acquired it.

China has said the carrier is intended for research and training, which has led to speculation that it plans to build future copies.

China initially said little about its plans for the carrier but has been more open in recent years, said Bonnie S. Glaser, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It wasn't until the Chinese actually announced they were sending it out on a trial run they admitted, `Yes, we are actually launching a carrier,"' she said.

China publicly announced two sea trials for the carrier that occurred this year, she said.

The carrier's progress is in line with the U.S. military's expectations, said Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Defense Department spokeswoman.

A Defense Department report to Congress this year said the carrier could become operationally available to the Chinese navy by the end of next year but without aircraft.

"From that point, it will take several additional years before the carrier has an operationally viable air group," Hull-Ryde said in an email.

She declined to comment on the DigitalGlobe photo, saying it was an intelligence matter.

Osama Bin Laden was killed within 90 seconds of the US Navy Seals landing in his compound and not after a protracted gun battle, according to the first account by the men who carried out the raid. The operation was so clinical that only 12 bullets were fired. 

The Seals have spoken out because they were angered at the version given by politicians, which they see as portraying them as cold-blooded murderers on a "kill mission". They were also shocked that President Barack Obama announced Bin Laden's death on television the same evening, rendering useless much of the intelligence they had seized. 

Chuck Pfarrer, a former commander of Seal Team 6, which conducted the operation, has interviewed many of those who took part for a book, Seal Target Geronimo, to be published in the US this week. 

The Seals' own accounts differ from the White House version, which gave the impression that Bin Laden was killed at the end of the operation rather than in its opening seconds. Pfarrer insists Bin Laden would have been captured had he surrendered. 

"There isn't a politician in the world who could resist trying to take credit for getting Bin Laden but it devalued the 'intel' and gave time for every other Al-Qaeda leader to scurry to another bolthole," said Pfarrer. "The men who did this and their valorous act deserve better. It's a pretty shabby way to treat these guys." 

The first hint of the mission came in January last year when the team's commanding officer was called to a meeting at the headquarters of joint special operations command. The meeting was held in a soundproof bunker three story's below ground with his boss, Admiral William McRaven, and a CIA officer. 

They told him a walled compound in Pakistan had been under surveillance for a couple of weeks. They were certain a high-value individual was inside and needed a plan to present to the president. 

It had to be someone important. "So is this Bert or Ernie?" he asked. The Seals' nicknames for Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are a reference to two Muppets in Sesame Street, one tall and thin and the other short and fat. "We have a voice print," said the CIA officer, "and we're 60% or 70% certain it's our guy." McRaven added that a reconnaissance satellite had measured the target's shadow. "Over 6ft tall." 

When McRaven added they would use Ghost Hawk helicopters, the team leader had no doubt. "These are the most classified, sophisticated stealth helicopters ever developed," said Pfarrer. "They are kept in locked hangars and fly so quiet we call it 'whisper mode'." 

Over the next couple of months a plan was hatched. A mock-up of the compound was built at Tall Pines, an army facility in a national forest somewhere in the eastern US. 

Four reconnaissance satellites were placed in orbit over the compound, sending back video and communications intercepts. A tall figure seen walking up and down was named "the Pacer". 

Obama gave the go-ahead and Seal Team 6, known as the Jedi, was deployed to Afghanistan. The White House cancelled plans to provide air cover using jet fighters, fearing this might endanger relations with Pakistan. 

Sending in the Ghost Hawks without air cover was considered too risky so the Seals had to use older Stealth Hawks. A Prowler electronic warfare aircraft from the carrier USS Carl Vinson was used to jam Pakistan's radar and create decoy targets. 

Operation Neptune's Spear was initially planned for April 30 but bad weather delayed it until May 1, a moonless night. The commandos flew on two Stealth Hawks, codenamed Razor 1 and 2, followed by two Chinooks five minutes behind, known as "Command Bird" and the "gun platform". On board, each Seal was clad in body armour and night vision goggles and equipped with laser targets, radios and sawn-off M4 rifles. They were expecting up to 30 people in the main house, including Bin Laden and three of his wives, two sons, Khalid and Hamza, his courier, Abu Ahmed al- Kuwaiti, four bodyguards and a number of children. At 56 minutes past midnight the compound came into sight and the code "Palm Beach" signaled three minutes to landing. 

Razor 1 hovered above the main house, a three-storey building where Bin Laden lived on the top floor. Twelve Seals abseiled the 5ft-6ft down onto the roof and then jumped to a third-floor patio, where they kicked in the windows and entered. 

The first person the Seals encountered was a terrified woman, Bin Laden's third wife, Khaira, who ran into the hall. Blinded by a searing white strobe light they shone at her, she stumbled back. A Seal grabbed her by the arm and threw her to the floor. 

Bin Laden's bedroom was along a short hall. The door opened; he popped out and then slammed the door shut. "Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo," radioed one Seal, meaning "eyes on target". 

At the same time lights came on from the floor below and Bin Laden's son Khalid came running up the stairs towards the Seals. He was shot dead. 

Two Seals kicked in Bin Laden's door. The room, they later recalled, "smelt like old clothing, like a guest bedroom in a grandmother's house". Inside was the Al-Qaeda leader and his youngest wife, Amal, who was screaming as he pushed her in front of him. 

"No, no, don't do this!" she shouted as her husband reached across the king-size bed for his AK-47 assault rifle. The Seals reacted instantly, firing in the same second. One round thudded into the mattress. The other, aimed at Bin Laden's head, grazed Amal in the calf. As his hand reached for the gun, they each fired again: one shot hit his breastbone, the other his skull, killing him instantly and blowing out the back of his head. 

Meanwhile Razor 2 was heading for the guesthouse, a low, shoebox-like building, where Bin Laden's courier, Kuwaiti, and his brother lived. 

As the helicopter neared, a door opened and two figures appeared, one waving an AK-47. This was Kuwaiti. In the moonless night he could see nothing and lifted his rifle, spraying bullets wildly. 

He did not see the Stealth Hawk. On board someone shouted, "Bust him!", and a sniper fired two shots. Kuwaiti was killed, as was the person behind him, who turned out to be his wife. Also on board were a CIA agent, a Pakistani- American who would act as interpreter, and a sniffer dog called Karo, wearing dog body armour and goggles. 

Within two minutes the Seals from Razor 2 had cleared the guesthouse and removed the women and children. 

They then ran to the main house and entered from the ground floor, checking the rooms. One of Bin Laden's bodyguards was waiting with his AK-47. The Seals shot him twice and he toppled over.

Five minutes into the operation the command Chinook landed outside the compound, disgorging the commanding officer and more men. They blasted through the compound wall and rushed in.

The commander made his way to the third floor, where Bin Laden's body lay on the floor face up. Photographs were taken, and the commander called on his satellite phone to headquarters with the words: "Geronimo Echo KIA" - Bin Laden enemy killed in action. 

"This was the first time the White House knew he was dead and it was probably 20 minutes into the raid," said Pfarrer. 

A sample of Bin Laden's DNA was taken and the body was bagged. They kept his rifle. It is now mounted on the wall of their team room at their headquarters in Virginia Beach, Virginia, alongside photographs of a dozen colleagues killed in action in the past 20 years. 

At this point things started to go wrong. Razor 1 took off but the top secret "green unit" that controls the electronics failed. The aircraft went into a spin and crashed tail-first into the compound. 

The Seals were alarmed, thinking it had been shot down, and several rushed to the wreckage. The crew climbed out, shaken but unharmed.

The commanding officer ordered them to destroy Razor 2, to remove the green unit, and to smash the avionics. They then laid explosive charges. 

They loaded Bin Laden's body onto the Chinook along with the cache of intelligence in plastic bin bags and headed toward the USS Carl Vinson. As they flew off they blew up Razor 2. The whole operation had taken 38 minutes. 

The following morning White House officials announced that the helicopter had crashed as it arrived, forcing the Seals to abandon plans to enter from the roof. A photograph of the situation room showed a shocked Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, with her hand to her mouth. 

Why did they get it so wrong? What they were watching was live video but it was shot from 20,000ft by a drone circling overhead and relayed in real time to the White House and Leon Panetta, the CIA director, in Langley. The Seals were not wearing helmet cameras, and those watching in Washington had no idea what was happening inside the buildings. 

"They don't understand our terminology, so when someone said the 'insertion helicopter' has crashed, they assumed it meant on entry," said Pfarrer. 

What infuriated the Seals, according to Pfarrer, was the description of the raid as a kill mission. "I've been a Seal for 30 years and I never heard the words 'kill mission'," he said. "It's a Beltway [Washington insider's] ]fantasy word. If it was a kill mission you don't need Seal Team 6; you need a box of hand grenades."

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Hooah!

Dave Thomas