Posted on 11/17/2005 9:36:47 PM PST by SandRat
MOSUL, Iraq — The Soldier medics of Company A, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, play a dual role in the Army.
They are on the front lines of the war on terror, stacking up on houses with Infantry Soldiers, providing overwatch in the air-guard hatches of Strykers, living with the line platoons, and performing numerous Soldier tasks required by their chosen profession.
Over the past months, Sgt. Eric Syfrett, Spc. Derek Bartholomew, Spc. Micheal Bosch, Spc. James Johns, Spc. John Teale, Spc. William Trevathan and Pfc. Jesse Garcia have treated casualties under enemy fire, treated gunshot wounds, performed preventative medicine duties and treated local nationals for a variety of medical needs.
Being a medical professional, especially on the line, not relegated to duty in the aid station or Combat Service Hospital, is a lesson in opposites. These men have to behave as Soldiers and medics, but they must also treat civilians and enemy casualties, an ultimate lesson in duality.
Here’s this guy who was just trying to kill us, and we him. He’s been shot, and, unable to fight on, he surrenders. It now falls to the Soldier medic to drop his weapon and treat the enemy.
Our Soldiers do not have the luxury of a sterile place in which to conduct business. Their operating room is the streets of western Mosul.
Bartholomew, the medic for 2nd Platoon, has treated children and adults for conjunctivitis, lacerations and abdominal trauma.
After an intense motor vehicle accident, he responded to a seriously injured Iraqi.
Bartholomew ran to the man’s assistance and was able to stabilize and get him evacuated to the CSH.
Bartholomew treated the man for severe chest trauma resulting in a collapsed lung, which required a needle to be stuck into the lung to allow it to decompress.
He performed this task in a moving Stryker on its way to the CSH.
“The basic wound care that I’ve done to sterilize and treat injuries and give out bandages is highly appreciated by Iraqi nationals, stuff that we take for granted,” said Bartholomew regarding the day-to-day health care he provides.
Johns, 4th Platoon’s medic, has been under fire the most in Alpha Company.
On the morning of Sept. 21, he was the first responder to a gunshot wound at the Ma’ash Market as 4th Platoon was conducting a combat patrol in west central Mosul.
Ma’ash Market is not to be confused with the American definition of market. It is an open-air Kasbah that sells everything from alcohol and black market items to the heads of freshly killed cows.
Johns was in the neighborhood known as “Bedrock,” next to the market, so called for its houses that resemble stone-age dwellings.
“The platoon was split into two groups,” he recalled. “My group was searching one house, while the rest of the platoon was at another house.
“I heard on the radio ‘shots fired, shots fired,’ so I ran with the mortar section out of the house and heard Staff Sgt. (Richard) Boone say that there was an injured (Iraqi) kid two houses down,” Johns said. “I went into the yard of the house the kid was in, and I could see the bullet wound on his right calf.
“I took my shears and cut off the leg of his pants, immediately applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, looked over the rest of the body for other injuries, and found a bullet wound in his opposite thigh,” he continued. “I treated that injury, then called the ICV (Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle) on-scene for immediate evac.”
While they were waiting for the ICV, Johns managed to contact the child’s father on a cell phone, and by the time the child was being loaded into the vehicle, the father was on scene.
Both father and son were evacuated to the CSH where the boy was treated.
The child’s wounds were serious enough he would have died from an arterial bleed-out had Johns not kept a cool head and drawn on his years of training to save the boy’s life.
Teale, of 3rd Platoon, performed his duties under fire in West Mosul on Oct. 4.
His platoon was dismounted conducting a neighborhood search when an insurgent popped around a corner from a block away and took a potshot at the radio telephone operator, Spc. David Werner.
“I was standing in the middle of the street, heard the shot, looked towards the RTO and platoon leader, and heard Spc. Werner say ‘I think I’m shot.’ Then his leg gave out and he fell to the ground,” Teale said. “I heard no other shots, so I went straight for the patient.
“I looked at him, saw that there was a small amount of blood on his right buttock, so I grabbed his IBA (Interceptor Ballistic Armor) and along with two other Soldiers dragged him 20 meters to the closest Stryker.”
The Stryker evacuated Werner to the CSH with Teale treating his injury along the way.
“I told him he was going to be OK,” Teale recalled. “I assessed the wounds, grabbed gauze and pushed it into the exit wound. I wrapped more gauze around the wounds to provide pressure and help with clotting.”
The medics are off to a running start as they assess, apply pressure, stabilize, and take necessary action.
Notice that these terms could be applied to any of their jobs, whether it be as a grunt, a nation-builder, or a Soldier-medic.
The task of turning off the battle and treating a casualty is a difficult one.
Doing it while treating someone who wishes you grievous bodily harm is more so.
The ability to do both and remain level-headed to perform the job is hardest of all.
ALASKA Guard MEDICS
As a former 91A Medic, I can tell you that it is NO easy ride.
Dirty, dangerous; but incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.
Thanks for the post Sand Rat. Prayers up for 'em always.
Being a medical professional, especially on the line, not relegated to duty in the aid station or Combat Service Hospital, is a lesson in opposites. These men have to behave as Soldiers and medics, but they must also treat civilians and enemy casualties, an ultimate lesson in duality.
Thanks for the ping!
BTTT
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