As Myanmar emerges from junta's shadow, war veterans left behind

Khin Naing, 50, a former soldier who lost his leg during the war in Kayah state after he stepped on a landmine in 2009, sits near his home in Yangon, Myanmar June 3, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Disabled and collecting fees to use a public toilet in a busy Yangon market was not how Kyaw Kyaw Oo imagined the life of a soldier when he lied about his age to join the Myanmar army at 16.

Four years later, a landmine blast tore through his legs during fighting in the country's east. He nearly died from an infection after an eight-day journey to hospital and lost both his legs.