North Arlington All Stars

This is one of those stories that would normally make steam come out of my ears except that nothing really surprises me anymore and so I now just chuckle and shake my head and turn to the business section to check stock quotes.

Sgt. David Thomas, a 42-year-old gunner with the Tennessee National Guard, spent his first three months at Walter Reed with no decent clothes; medics in Samarra had cut off his uniform.

Heavily drugged, missing one leg and suffering from traumatic brain injury, Thomas was finally told by a physical therapist to go to the Red Cross office, where he was given a T-shirt and sweat pants. He was awarded a Purple Heart but had no underwear.

David tangled with Walter Reed's image machine when he wanted to attend a ceremony for a fellow amputee, a Mexican national who was being granted U.S. citizenship by President Bush. A caseworker quizzed him about what he would wear. It was summer, so David said shorts. The case manager said the media would be there and shorts were not advisable because the amputees would be seated in the front row.

When the guest list came out for the ceremony, his name was not on it.