Operation Rhma: Final Mission (Michael Yon)

MichaelYonBlogSpot ^ | 09-29-05 | Michael Yon

[FlashBack]

Thursday, September 29, 2005 Operation Rhma: Final Mission

Much world travel has convinced me that the “average American” is a good person. But even a good person needs information in order to act effectively on their best impulses. Oftentimes, good things do not happen simply because information does not make it to the right people.

I believe this was the case for a sick little Iraqi girl named Rhma. American “Deuce Four” soldiers found Rhma one night in Mosul. She needed serious medical attention. Doctors, nurses and others back in America, along with the soldiers in Mosul, worked diligently on behalf of this child, and eventually they generated the support required to get Rhma the treatment she desperately needed. But it wasn’t just Americans: I also saw offers come in from the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, among others.

These efforts helped recruit a team of good doctors and nurses in New Mexico willing to help Rhma free of charge. But even this required funding and arranging for travel and lodging for her and her mother. Quietly, Deuce Four soldiers mustered the money and time from their own busy lives to help this timid little Iraqi girl. On one level, the gesture was deeply symbolic. On another level, for Rhma, the matter was life and death. A soldier told me that when they informed Rhma’s mother of the good news, and she in turn told her daughter, Rhma said in response: “The Americans are going to take care of me.”

But as much as so many people wanted to care for Rhma, her case got caught up in one jam after another. She got stuck for about one month in Jordan. As they prepared to leave Iraq, knowing Rhma was still stuck in limbo that only delayed critical treatment, some Deuce Four soldiers brought up her plight again to me. As it happened, however, the US Embassy staff in Jordan had actually been quietly but persistently putting a great deal of work into getting Rhma to New Mexico.

The confusion and glitches were caused by “little gremlins” such as Rhma’s parents incorrectly filling out paperwork. Computers are computers; there were delays caused not by the staff, but rather resulting from misunderstandings about what needed to happen and when it needed to happen. These gremlins caused the delays, but the moment the Embassy staff realized these issues resulted from communication gremlins, they rectified them and got Rhma on her way.

I wrote about it, knowing that if Americans knew that Rhma was stuck in Jordan, our good people would not let that stand. Once again, the good and generous nature of average Americans glimmered the moment they found the problem. People all over the United States took it upon themselves to call their congressmen and senators, many of whom interceded on behalf of a sick little girl who had faith that Americans would take care of her.

I received a message this morning from Major Brown—the Deuce Four surgeon—that Rhma is finally on her way to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Once there, Rhma will have a home to stay in, and doctors waiting to treat her heart condition. The Deuce Four soldiers who started this mission with Rhma, and who organized the organizers, and who brought her case to my attention when they had problems in Jordan, have, in a sense, completed their final mission. “Operation Rhma” is a success.

Perhaps a local journalist in New Mexico will pick up the thread of this story. Many of us would greatly like to follow Rhma’s journey to better health.

posted by Michael Yon @ 4:19 AM

[FlashBack]

Spread the word on this if you would.

[FlashBack]

Please "ping" your list on this one.

[PatriotGirl827]

Wow - another great story about our brave heroes. I hope we can somehow find out how this little girl does.

[PatriotGirl827]

Ping!

[FlashBack]

I was just mentioning that to "hiredhand"...anyone have any ideas how we can lend some "freeper assistance"?

[FlashBack]

<<<>>>>

[potlatch]

Sending this wonderful letter out in emails would get a lot of attention.

[bitt]

thanks, Potlatch!

ping for Michael Yon

[sono]

Pulitzer for Michael Yon ...

[Zacs Mom]

A little background on this from Michael Yon's archives


Sandra Jontz / S&S
Dr. (Maj.) Dave Brown, with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), 25th Infantry Division, listens to heart and lung sounds of 5-year-old Rhma Taha Ahmed in June'05 in Mosul.

Days 11-16
(June 2005) Heading into the middle of the month, B Company conducts joint US-Iraqi operations targeting a dangerous section of town called Isla Zeral. An objective of the operation is to show that the insurgents don't own that real estate; the Iraqi government, and by extension, its people, control what happens on those streets. The increased contact with residents allows informants to emerge and share actionable intelligence about the leadership and structure of the insurgency.

During one late-night sweep in Isla Zeral, Lt. Dan Kearney entered a house where a man asked for help with his five-year-old daughter. She is five years old and her name is Rhma Taha Ahmed and she is afraid of the soldiers, but the father asks the Americans to slow down and look at his daughter. Rhma hid her face while her dad showed her fingers and toes to Lt. Kearney. Her nails were receded and there was blood-blistering, her fingers and toes were tones of red and purple. SFC Joel Lundak called a medic who checked Rhma's vital signs and said she seemed to have a heart condition.

SFC Joel Lundak during raid in Mosul

Her father produced papers from a doctor, medical records of a sort, and the interpreter said the documents reported that Rhma has an inoperable congenital heart defect. She will die slowly and painfully. Lt. Kearney calls for Captain Paul Carron, the B company commander, who looks at Rhma and decides to do something. As it happens, a journalist named Sandra Jontz was riding along with Deuce-Four on this mission, and Sandra decides to do something, too. She snaps pictures and takes notes.

Read Sandra Jontz's Stars and Stripes article here:
Ailing Iraqi girl one step closer to operation

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[aculeus]

Excellent post.

[Valin]

I received a message this morning from Major Brown—the Deuce Four surgeon—that Rhma is finally on her way to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Once there, Rhma will have a home to stay in, and doctors waiting to treat her heart condition. The Deuce Four soldiers who started this mission with Rhma, and who organized the organizers, and who brought her case to my attention when they had problems in Jordan, have, in a sense, completed their final mission. “Operation Rhma” is a success.

And THIS is why we are winning. I know some people here don't want too hear it but, winning this war really is about Hearts & Minds.

[Marine_Uncle]

Yet another story of how our men and women in uniform go out of their way to put out their hands in a time of need. This story could be repeated many many times over the past few years. The L/MSM continue to refuse to show the many stories of success and downright acts of kindness our troops perform
on a dialy basis. But the Iraqi and Afghan peoples know the hearts of the American military. More acts of kindness have been performed in these two wars and follow up SASO's then Ali Babba being killed. And these peoples know, because they see with their own eyes, how American troops operate. No better friend, and no worse enemy, as Marine General Matis put it two years back.

[HKMk23]

Thanks for the ping, bitt, it's been a rather long week and I needed the good story to finish it out on a high note.

It oughta be a crime that the LBMSM (Lame-Braind Main Stream Media) are not giving airtime to this story and others like it. It's a treasonous undermining of our mission in Iraq as surely as if they were all armed with AK-47's and shooting at our troops.

[dighton]

Bump for a deserving and underloved post.

[potlatch]

Thanks for that link ZM. It's a sad situation when we have illegals flooding the country, yet it is so hard to get a child, needing urgent care, here quickly!

[FlashBack]

I agree with the posts that the HasBeenMedia's coverage of this war is horrendous...it's up to all of us to try and spread the Good News!!