David Wood Talks About Beyond The Battlefield On NPR's Fresh Air

"It's so tragic to see these young men and women struggling not only to master prosthetic legs, for example, but to try to fight their way through the fog that descends into your brain when you have a brain injury like that."

--David Wood, speaking to Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air.

David Wood, the senior Military Correspondent for the Huffington Post, was interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air on October 13. Wood is the author o f "Beyond The Battlefield", a 10-part series on the Huffington Post exploring the challenges that severely wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan face after they return home, as well as what those struggles mean for those close to them.

Click the player below to listen to the interview or visit NPR's site to read excerpts from it.

See all of the Beyond The Battlefield articles, photos and videos

Below, a video in the series focusing on Tyler Southern, who lost both of his legs and his right arm because of an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. This video shows how he fell in love, made his father proud and is putting his body and life back together.

Comments

[Mark Nelson Alpine623]

09:21 PM on 11/11/2011

Excellent work on this series, David!

Great article on my bro, and the work they do for our troops as well.

[rockinrod]

01:13 PM on 10/18/2011

Thank you, David Wood, for so honoring the men and women portrayed here. For too long our country has acted as though these people, who gave so much to our country, simply don't exist. I look forward to seeing the entire series as it unfolds and will investigate what I, as one American, might do to serve these individuals.

[loglady2]

12:29 AM on 10/14/2011

I've never once listened to Fresh Air and been so compelled to know more after the interview. Hearing Tyler's story on NPR tonight had a profound impact on me, and even more so after watching this video and discovering that his accident occurred on my birthday. I know exactly where I was and exactly what I was doing on the day of his accident -- laying on a tropical beach. While I was tanning, Tyler was literally blown up. Recognizing and acknowledging that extreme contrast somehow made this reality of war, something that always felt so distant to me, more real. Thank you for sharing these incredibly important stories of our Veterans. This one will stay with me.