The Battle At Sea from Sunday Times
British servicemen seriously wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq are on the mend
in a pioneering underwater healing programme in Florida
Twelve divers are suspended in a semicircle over pale sand, a few yards from the ribs of a wrecked sailing ship.
Six of them are younger than the others. The one next to me is the only diver not wearing a wetsuit. He is a bigfellow who looks like an athlete gone to seed. His legs, chest and his left shoulder are webbed with scars. I had seen them before the dive, as we sat on the rocking boat in the early morning sun, but now the refracting underwater light has turned the scar tissue a startling white. All six of the younger men have scarred limbs. One has a prosthetic leg; the diving fin attached to it bends down at an awkward angle.
The man next to me has tattoos where there are no scars, and they too stand out clearly in the water.
On his left calf is the “soldier’s cross” — a helmet, rifle and boots — above the legend “Al Anbar 06-07”.
Read full article here : (PDF) The battle at sea | The Sunday Times