Posted on 04/30/2007 6:07:35 PM PDT by SandRat
KHATAD VILLAGE — U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers teamed up April 20 to provide Iraqi citizens with basic medical care during a medical operation in Khatad Village, Iraq.
Members of the 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), conducted a medical operation in Khatad Village, Iraq. April 20. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeffrey Ledesma, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs.
“The MEDOP allows us to see a perspective very foreign from the battlefield,” said U.S. Army Maj. Dimitri Cassimatis, a surgeon with the 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), “We see mothers and fathers bringing in their children – (they are) worried about their health.”
While most of the people had routine health complaints some were sent to the Civil Military Operations Center where they could receive continual care.
“Today we are treating and giving out medication for common illnesses,” said Sgt. William Bradshaw, a 1-89th military transition team medical trainer. “The CMOC is staffed with doctors that can do more for the Iraqis.”
While the main goal was to provide basic medical care for the Iraqi people, there was an opportunity for both the Soldiers and the Iraqi people to get to know each other better.
“In addition to providing free medical care (the medical operation) is giving us the opportunity to befriend and earn the trusts of our local national neighbors,” Bradshaw commented.
“This MEDOP might have been the swing vote for some of the people
treated here on whose side they should be on,” said Iraqi Army 1st Lt. Arkan, a personal security detachment platoon leader with 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division.
Both Iraqi and American Soldiers were happy to provide assistance to the villagers.
“Although we are only able to provide basic medical treatment to the local
Iraqis, you can tell by the expressions on the people’s faces how grateful they
are for any assistance,” said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Max Smith, a 1-89th platoon leader.
At the end of the operation American Soldiers realized that while separated by thousands of miles, and hundreds of years of tradition, they were very similar.
“Most Iraqis want what (the Americans) have - health and comfort for themselves and their families,” Cassimatis added.
The squadron is planning to conduct more MEDOPs in the future to continue providing the Iraqis with basic medical care needs.
(U.S. Army story by Staff Sgt. Angela Mckinzie 2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs)
In other developments throughout Iraq:
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