Is sex over? Wounded vets and sexual intimacy

B.J. Jackson, a double amputee from the Iraq war and his wife Abby talk about about the issue of Iraq vets and sexual intimacy May 21 in Washington.


Is sex over? Wounded vets and sexual intimacy
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday May 21, 2008 18:42:27 EDT

WASHINGTON — When B.J. Jackson lost both his legs to an Iraq war injury, his doctors talked about a lot of things, but they didn’t mention how it might affect his sex life.

Jackson’s less-bashful wife brought it up. But even then the couple didn’t get the answers they sought.

Jackson and his wife, Abby, say it’s time to get the issue out in the open in both military medical settings and at home. And they got a lot of agreement at a conference Wednesday, billed as the first of its kind, that focused on wounded troops and intimacy with their partners — in the bedroom and outside it.

This is no minor matter.

About 3,000 of the 30,000 troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered major physical impairment, said former Sen. Bob Dole, who served last year on a presidential commission that examined the treatment of wounded war veterans. Dole, who lost full use of his right arm to a combat injury during World War II, was among the speakers at the conference.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_veterans_sex_052108/