Chris has one arm that doesn't work, a hand whose fingers won't cooperate and a pouch on his hip that delivers pain medication to his bloodstream 24 hours a day.
"I drink proper now," he jokes as he lifts his bottle with his one functioning hand, his crippled smaller fingers sticking out as if he were a tea-sipping aristocrat.
They are both survivors of insurgent attacks in Iraq and they both go for some fun and conversation to Fran O'Brien's, a steakhouse in the basement of a downtown Washington hotel, every Friday night, for a break from the hospital. As I wrote last week, the bar's lease is expiring this month for reasons that are disputed and the war vets are none too happy with the idea that the hotel wants to move them to some other, better-lit, less familiar site upstairs without their amiable hosts.
The decision to curtail O'Brien's lease by the bar's landlord, the Capital Hilton, has prompted an outcry from men and women in uniform. The fight by Marty O'Brien and Hal Koster, who treat the injured war vets like family, to stay on in their decade-old habitat has attracted widespread media attention here. On April 24, it won a more significant ally in the shape of Paul Wolfowitz, who runs the World Bank but was Donald Rumsfeld's deputy when the war began. Of the Friday night steak dinners at O'Brien's he told CBS News: "It's a living, breathing institution. It's not something you just transfer to some other room."
I joined the war vets for what was billed as their penultimate Friday night dinner, since the lease was ending at the end of this month. If you didn't look too closely, you could never tell it was anything other than a typical night in an Irish pub. Of course the older men were mostly veterans of other wars, including Mr Koster, who clearly doesn't want these young people to go through the same rough treatment Vietnam war vets endured when they came home, perhaps even him, though he's not the type to complain.
Nor is Staff Sergeant Chris Bain, 34, as he grins from beneath his baseball cap and reflects on how his life has turned out. "I believe things happen for a reason," he says. Too sick to return to the armed forces, where he was called from the Reserves to go to Iraq, he now plans to work for the Department of Veterans' Affairs advising his comrade-in-arms how to navigate the post-conflict bureaucracy, making sure they file for benefits and the like. He has a few good pieces of advice for injured soldiers like him, though frankly they hold for anyone. "I tell the guys not to look for sympathy because no one will want to hang out with you," he said. "You've got to learn to live with what you've got. I tell them we're still alive, and a lot of guys didn't make it back."
He's not bitter at the Hilton, but like all the regulars, can't understand why they curtailed the bar's lease at less than a month's notice, though many believe it was because the hotel didn't want the expense of installing an elevator to accommodate all the people who can't handle the stairs. They currently have to use a freight elevator at the back of the building. "Coming here is like being healed in your heart and in your mind," said Chris, who credits the survival of his marriage to Misty, with whom he has three children back home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to the advice he got from one of the owners. He struggled with the notion of not being able to do the man's jobs around the house, and with the nightmares, and the pain that had him back in hospital begging the doctors at Walter Reed hospital to cut his arm off. But now their marriage is stronger than ever, he says.
"You come here and you meet people who care about you not because you're handicapped but for being a soldier and sacrificing your body parts, literally."
Chris lost the use of his arm after a mortar attack on April 8, 2004 as he prepared to go out on patrol in Al-Taji.
His friend Wasim, who came to the United States from northern Pakistan in 1997 on a "diversity visa," was one of the first to start attending the Friday night dinners, two and a half years ago or so, after a rocket-propelled grenade that blew up in his vehicle as it stood at a checkpoint ended his service in Iraq. "I come here, and I feel at home," he says. "It's like family, the soldiers, the marines, the sailors, it's like a therapy clinic. People get depressed in hospital, even me.
"I've talked to a lot of the injured soldiers and they can't wait for Fridays. There are military people here who went through Korea and Nam and they are helping us."
His main injury was to his right leg. The blast broke his femur and tibia. He has endured 31 surgeries. The doctors ingenuously put a breast implant in his knee in an attempt to stretch the skin more so that he can bend his leg again. The sergeant wants to go back into the service and become an officer. His future rests on the success of an operation scheduled for next month. "I love the uniform. I want to keep it," he says.
Click here for last week's article An endangered tradition
I wholeheartedly applaud Elaine's article and the subsequent comments in support. As an ex-forces member myself, I am well aware of the importance that ex-service personnel place on the opportunities to meet up again with old comrades-in-arms in a social environment where they are made to feel both welcome, and that their past efforts on behalf of their nations are valued. It seems to me that the Hilton might do well to consider that many of us, like Elaine, hold those who have served their country and its people in the highest esteem, and that we have a great deal of choice when we book accommodation around the world. An organisation which seems ready to treat veterans welfare in such a cavalier manner would certainly not be on my list of places to stay. Fortune, it would seem, does not always favour the brave. Jim Devine, Glasgow
Elaine Monaghan's and The Times's interest in the fate of Fran O'Brien's touches my heart. My father's eldest cousin lost his life in WWII flying a B26 Marauder against Hitler out of a UK base, and my son serves in Iraq today, risking wounds and death to fight terrorists, alongside brave UK soldiers. When ordinary young men and women in large numbers from both our nations still volunteer to do their duty, it's shameful for others to shirk theirs. I salute your continuing concern for the recovery of those who have paid a high price to protect our liberties. May we always be allies. Mark White, Des Plaines, Illinois
One big way you can help is by donating to the Aleethia foundation. It was set up to pay for the meals, and will continue to do that, wherever they end up. www.aleethia.org. Will Harrison, Washington
Wasim Khan is living proof of the greatness of the immigrant tradition in the US. I salute my American brother, originally from Pakistan, and all of my other brothers and sisters who have made and are continue to make this country great. It is due to these incredible people that we are able to live the lives we live in the West. Many Thanks also to Elaine Monaghan for an article that, in its implications, honours the troops. Joe Vey, Philadelphia
I am a vet. I was not injured during my time, but I feel for these guys. It is such a nice gesture for Fran's to be open and serve these soldiers who are just trying to get back to normal. Kelsey Slocom, Portland, Oregon
Elaine thanks for the well-written article. Soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors alike fight for the freedom of this great nation and other nations too, so they can live in a free society without fear. If you like the president or not, if you like the war or not, do not allow these troops to be treated like this. Please open your eyes and give these great americans the respect and honor they have earned. Wasim Khan, Washington DC
I am in tears on four counts: 1. The kindness shown to these vets; 2. The predicament which may cause cessation of these dinners; 3. The courage of these vets; 4. I can't think of any way I can help. Henry Cowan, Linthicum, Maryland
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