Posted on 06/24/2004 9:48:14 PM PDT by Angry Republican
Earlier this year I traveled to Iraq and met with countless troops. One of those I interviewed was Lieutenant David Brickhouse, a physician's assistant.
Each week he would lead a team of U.S. military medical personnel and Iraqi doctors. The mission was simple. They'd see as many as 350 children and adults handing out clothing and toys and tending to ailments ranging from runny noses to treating diseases. Sometimes they provided medical equipment.
"A little boy we came across one time, he would drag himself on the ground because his legs were paralyzed and we happened to just be able to give him a wheelchair."
Lieutenant Brickhouse called me recently from Germany where he had returned with his unit. He told me that soldiers were being demoralized from the unrelenting media attacks against our troops. He was saddened by the blackout of positive news stories.
Lieutenant Brickhouse put together a short slide show - a rock video of sorts which tells a compelling story -- a story that isn't reaching the American public. But today it has. Click here and you can bypass the network news filters and watch the video of some of the many great things our troops have been doing in Iraq.
And that's the Point.
I watched the video. It's quite uplifting.
I think these are called MEDDENCAP trips. I worked with some guys who retired from the Medical Service Corp from 1 MEF out at Camp Pendelton. We supported training excercises in Thailand with the medical folks. They would do these MEDDENCAPs out into the remote villages and I was told it was the most successful part of the campaign to win the hearts and minds of the indigenous population.
If a guy's got a bullet wound it's hard to fix them up in one visit, but a guy with a bum tooth gets it fixed in ten minutes and boom the pain's gone and the U.S. has a new friend. I was also told the veterinarians were also great since they could fix up the family goat or cow and save the whole family.
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