Ambulance arrives at landed C-17

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany--When soldiers are too badly injured in Afghanistan or Iraq to be treated in the war zone, they must be taken elsewhere to heal. The first stop for most is this Air Force Base, which is also the "gateway to Europe" for most soldiers.

The first step for wounded soldiers is to be sent to Ramstein. If they need a quick treatment, they can get it there, and then be sent back to the theater. But if they need further care, they are often first stabilized at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near here and then sent back to a hospital in the United States.

Some soldiers being sent back to the U.S. will heal fairly quickly, or at least do not face life-threatening injuries. But others face long recoveries, especially those who have suffered lost limbs or traumatic brain injury.

Crews at Ramstein are trained to handle the patients as they arrive on the plane from the war zone, to help them while in Germany, and then to put them back on the plane for home.

Here, an ambulance pulls up to a C-17 that has just arrived from Iraq carrying several severely wounded, as well as other less wounded, soldiers.