In the Mortar Pit

Spec. Michael Ballou, 21, of Atlanta, after firing back at enemy positions from the mortar pit when his combat outpost was hit on the morning of Sept. 24. Ballou is with the 10th Mountain Division, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, Bravo Company. Photo by Stephanie Gaskell of the NY Daily News blog 'War Zone'.

Soldiers' Angels October Newsletter is up!

Lots of great stories this month. The newsletter can be found here.

He ain't heavy

In this photo of Monday, Sept. 28, 2009, U.S. Army K9 handler Sgt. Adrian Garcia, 24, from El Paso, Texas, carries (Military Working Dog) Staff Sgt. Kirby over a concertina wire fence during a patrol with 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division in the Jalrez Valley in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Wounded U.S. Soldiers Refused to Leave Taliban Fight

ABC News reporter Karen Russo spent a few minutes on the ground at the scene of Saturday's firefight in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan province when she flew in with a medevac crew (via Michelle Malkin):

Once on the ground, I hopped out of the chopper, but could see little other than smoke wafting through the moonlight, likely from a fire that was burning much of the base. Then I could make out the shadows of soldiers as they carried the wounded towards the helicopter.

Any noise of the conflict was drowned out by the propellers of the helicopter. The area smelled of burned out pine trees something one solider described as "death and hell."

Three wounded soldiers, one U.S. and two Afghan, were carried down the steep incline and quickly placed on the helicopter.

Some of the injured refused to be MEDEVACED out of the combat zone and continued to fight despite their wounds, according to soldiers at the base.

Soldiers told the MEDEVAC crew that troops were donating blood during the battle, so it could be transfused into wounded comrades.

Much more at the link. See also Bill Roggio's report on the battle.

I think we'll be hearing more stories like this in the days and weeks to come, and none of them will surprise me at all.

Please keep the families of our Fallen Heroes in your prayers.


Update: The Battle for COP Keating and how you can show your support here.

"Everybody has something to give", says surgeon just returned from volunteer stint at Landstuhl

Dr. Jay Cook, a vascular surgeon at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, returned Tuesday from a two-week volunteer stint at a hospital in Germany, where he treated military personnel injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Photo: Mark Mulligan / The Herald.

Everett surgeon gets vivid look at cost of war

By Sharon Salyer
Herald Writer

Five thousand miles from home, and working inside the unfamiliar, gray maze of the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, Dr. Jay Cook watched as an injured soldier was wheeled into the hospital's intensive care unit.

...
Cook, a vascular surgeon who works in Everett, [WA] had signed up for an unusual two-week volunteer stint, to operate on service members injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many had been in war zones just 48 hours before.

Cook's specialty — repairing veins and arteries in areas of the body other than the heart or inside the skull — is in high demand at the medical center. Many of the injuries treated there are to the hands, chest, pelvis, feet, legs and arms, often caused by roadside bombs.

Cook participated in a national volunteer program organized by the Society for Vascular Surgery. Nearly 50 surgeons have been sent to the German medical center since September 2007, said Emily Kalata, a spokeswoman for the organization.

Doctors from across the country have volunteered, but only one other surgeon from Washington has participated, she said.

Some surgeons have volunteered multiple times, Cook said, and the program is often booked out six months in advance.

...
Cook's duties included assisting in several spinal surgeries, including one to stabilize a crushed vertebra, and conducting two procedures to put a filter in a vein to the heart to prevent blood clots from going to the patient's lung.

“I was happy, proud and honored to be able to contribute something,” Cook said.

The experience underscored to him how important it is for people to volunteer for whatever cause they believe in.

...
“There are so many things that need to get done in the world that are so worthy, it's almost overwhelming,” he said.

“If everyone was able to just give a little bit — time, talent, financially — it would really help … Everybody has something to give.”

School Delivery

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Matthew Holzmann, with 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, patrols through the Nawa bazaar with a pack full of school supplies in Nawa district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Sept. 8, 2009. The school supplies will be given to the children at the Nawa schoolhouse. (U.S Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Jeremy Harris/Released) Date Posted: 9/11/2009.

Big weekend for Soldiers' Angels

Sale-abration this Saturday!

It's a nationwide garage/yard sale/Soldiers' Angels informational booth and one may be happening in your neighborhood! Over 80 communities have come together to support the troops through garage sales and yard sales. They’re not just raising money for holiday care packages, they’re raising awareness — getting people actively involved in supporting the troops. To find the Sale-abration near you, click here.


Maryland community gears up for fourth "Blankets of Hope Marathon"

This year's Marathon will be held again at Ascension Church Hall in Bowie, Maryland on Saturday October 3, 2009 from 8:00am to 4:00pm, or "until the fleece runs out". Last year 180 volunteers made 242 Blankets of Hope for wounded and ill service members medevaced to Landstuhl hospital in Germany from Iraq and Afghanistan. Let's see if they can break that record! Thanks to organizers Lisa Doson and Matt Dick.


Supply drive in Clovis, NM for medevaced service members

The 73rd SOS Wombat Wives Group is holding a supply drive for wounded servicemen and women starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, October 3 at Wal-Mart in Clovis, NM. Donated supplies will be part of Soldiers’ Angels First Response Backpacks for patients at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. Thank you Leslie Scott for putting together this huge fundraiser.


If you're near any of these events stop by and say hello to our stateside Angels and supporters!

Once the military's busiest trauma hospital in Iraq, 'Baghdad ER' closes down

A US soldier covers medical supplies in the Ibn Sina hospital also known as the "Baghdad ER" in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009. The U.S. military will hand over Ibn Sina hospital to the Iraqi government, closing down what was once the busiest military trauma center in Iraq at the height of the war. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

'Baghdad ER' turns off the lights
By CHELSEA J. CARTER (AP)

BAGHDAD — Army Capt. Amy Prichard took one last look around the room where thousands of war-ravaged soldiers and civilians were treated by U.S. medics in Baghdad's protected Green Zone. Before turning off the lights, she began to cry.

"This is the room where we saved lives on a routine basis, and sometimes we lost them," said Prichard, who earlier served as a morgue assistant. "There are a lot of ghosts for me in this room, in this hospital."

The U.S. military was scheduled Thursday to return Ibn Sina Hospital — dubbed the Baghdad ER — to the Iraqi government, ending the American role in what was once the busiest military trauma center in Iraq.

A US soldier walks through a surgery room in the Ibn Sina hospital also known as the "Baghdad ER" in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009. The U.S. military will hand over Ibn Sina hospital to the Iraqi government, closing down what was once the busiest military trauma center in Iraq at the height of the war. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

The closure has brought many of the soldiers of the 10th Mountain (sic) Combat Support Hospital full circle. [10th CSH is obviously meant here.] The unit was deployed at the hospital at the height of the war's carnage in 2005 and 2006. The 10th Mountain (sic) returned earlier this year and learned they would be shutting it down.

...
Maj. Adam Vanek, who worked as the head nurse at Ibn Sina, said he is keeping a card written by the daughter of a soldier badly wounded in the days before U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities at the end of June.

"It's a homemade card with a picture of her with her arm around her dad, and it says: Thank you for saving my daddy," said Vanek, 37, of Washington D.C. "That's the kind of thing I want to remember."

God bless all who served there and all who passed through its doors. We can never thank you enough.

Update: Mr. Wolf has more on this story at Blackfive. He's also asking readers to share their experiences at 'Bagdhad ER' in the comments there.

General Casey outlines new program, visits patients at Landstuhl

Spc. Ryan G. Christian meets Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, Sept. 25. Photo credit Myles Cullen.

General Casey was at Landstuhl to discuss the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program which officially beings this month. The program is designed to teach Soldiers to become more resilient in five aspects of total fitness: physical, emotional, social, spiritual and family strength.

During the visit to Landstuhl, Casey also spent time with Soldiers injured in battle and recovering from illnesses that occurred downrange.

"When I look at those remarkable Soldiers it reminds me of the cost of war and it's something none of us can ever forget," said Casey. "I'm always uplifted by their zeal to return to their unit -- that bond and camaraderie that comes through. And to the doctors, nurses and care providers, we can't thank them enough for what they do."

Story at Army.mil

"There is no patient more deserving, more humble, or more heroic"

Maj. Missy Steckler provides care to a patient during a flight to a location that can provide a higher level of medical care. Major Steckler is a flight nurse assigned to the 451st Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Flight at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Shawn Weismiller)

Another great story from AF.mil about Critical Care Air transport Teams - this time about the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing at Kandahar Airfield.

Throughout the world, CCATTs, like the one in Kandahar, are saving lives daily as part of Air Mobility Command's aeromedical evacuation mission, said Lt. Col. Don Tweedel, director of the Air Force CCATT program at the AMC Surgeon General Office at Scott AFB. The CCATT's mission is to "operate an intensive care unit in an aircraft during flight, helping enable America to follow through on its promise to the critically wounded warrior."

At a moment's notice, they need to be ready to mobilize and help save a service member's life, he said.

CCATT members, who wear body armor and carry weapons while on missions, work under circumstances such as helping the Marine every day. The teams are made up of three members: a critical care physician, a nurse and a respiratory therapist. They can care for up to three critically injured, monitored patients, or up to six less severely injured patients, for 72 hours.

A CCATT is a flying critical care unit responsible for caring for the most severely injured and ill patients while flying them from lower levels of medical care to higher levels of care, said Major Zagol. This includes flying patients from small forward operating base hospitals to larger medical facilities in theater, flying patients out of theater to Landstuhl, or flying patients from Landstuhl to the United States.

...
Once they arrive at the hospital where the patient is located, they'll receive medical updates and information directly from the hospital's critical care staff and then will prepare the patient for flight, said Maj. Colleen Treacy, a critical care nurse also with the 451st EAEF.

Preparation includes removing the patient from the hospital equipment and placing him or her on equipment approved for flight to include a ventilator, cardiac monitor, IV pump, suction machine, vacuum spinal board and intracranial, or brain, pressure monitor. The diagnosis of the patient determines which pieces of equipment are necessary, said Major Treacy.

"This process can be time consuming, so CCATTs must work with a sense of urgency, in cohort with the hospital, in order to get the patients to the aircraft in as short a period of time as possible," Major Treacy said.

Senior Airman Libby See cares for a patient during an aeromedical evacuation mission to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Airman Libby is an aeromedical technician with the 451st Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Flight at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Shawn Weismiller)

Though the CCATT mission involves long hours, as teams are sometimes sent immediately back to pick up another patient after finishing a mission, and involves lots of hard work, CCATT members agree that the hard work is worth it.

"It is an honor to take care of these wounded military members. There is no patient more deserving, more humble, or more heroic than our wounded men and women in the military," said Major Zagol. "No matter what medical interventions we might do on the plane, just telling these severely wounded individuals that we are going to get them home seems to have the greatest impact."

See a video of Critical Care Air Transport.