CAMP TAJI — The doors opened up early at the Iraqi Army Troop Medical and Dental Clinic, but not until the clinic workers completed the daily task of picking up around the facility and conducting vehicle maintenance.
By then, Iraqi Army Soldiers stationed on Taji start to trickle in - sick call slips in hand - to be seen by one of the military nurses for various medical reasons.
“On average they see 60 to 70 patients a day,” said 1st Sgt. Timothy Baker, logistics training advisory team member, 152nd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Sustainment Brigade. “They have a very nice facility here and they do very good work.”
Like any other military medical treatment facility, Iraqi Soldiers enter, check-in and take a seat in the waiting room. One by one they are called in to get their vital signs read and have their names entered into the medical database. Then they are either treated on the spot or referred to the emergency department on the other side of the building.
When you enter the emergency department, you see the Iraqi Army nurses treating fellow Soldiers, doing everything from an intravenous injection, to reading an electrocardiogram, to administering an X-ray.
These soldiers within the facility possess very critical and much needed skills that the Iraqi Army is in short supply of.
For example, 1st Lt. Bahaa, is just the second dentist in the Iraqi Army, and sees approximately 10 to 15 Soldiers a day. Their needs range from fillings, tooth reconstruction, cleaning and sometimes emergency cases.
“I am very proud to serve in the Iraqi Army,” said Bahaa.
Another part of the clinic, the mortuary affairs department, just moved into a newly built facility next door where they also can facilitate up to 56 bodies, if needed, on any given day. What makes this so significant is that this specific department is the first one to be built in Iraq and serves the entire region. Their mortuary affairs department also operates a “Wounded Warriors” program that takes care of Iraqi Soldiers wounded or injured in combat.
These Iraqi Army Soldiers of the Troop Medical and Dental Clinic prove on a daily basis that they are committed and ready for the challenges that lie ahead. They do their jobs and they do them very well.