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Saving Lives in a War Zone

Feb- 8-2005 » Filed Under: TF Freedom

An interesting article that follows a soldier injured in Mosul through his journey to Germany.

Link to Full Article
By JEFFREY KOFMAN

BALAD, Iraq, Feb. 8, 2005 — Army National Guard Sgt. Chris Chilles lies on a gurney, wincing in pain. His voice is weak, his words sometimes slurred.

"I was on patrol," he says, "and my truck was hit by an IED [a roadside bomb], and shrapnel came through my back. A couple of pieces were lodged in. Some tore through my abdomen."

Chilles, 28, of Modesto, Calif., is in the emergency ward of the Air Force Theater Hospital on the U.S. base in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. It is one of the two most sophisticated U.S. hospitals in the war zone.

Just 10 hours before, Chilles was riding the gunner's position on his task force commander's Humvee as they headed for a small base in northern Mosul. He remembers the sensation as the bomb went off:

"I could see the shockwave, everything kind of rumbles. You see the dust flying off everywhere, and you can see the wind pushing through the bushes. I felt something hit me in the back. It felt like somebody took a 2-by-4 and just took a swing and hit me in the back with it."

Chilles remembers tumbling into the Humvee, blood pouring from the wounds just below the line of his body armor. In the minutes that followed, he was rushed to a nearby base, where the lone doctor performed emergency surgery. He was then rushed to a larger base in Mosul for more surgery, and later flown to Balad.

The sergeant's odyssey is typical of the treatment the military tries to offer. They talk in terms of a "golden hour": getting care and treatment to the wounded in that critical first hour. Once stabilized, the wounded soldier is quickly transported to more sophisticated medical facilities. The objective is to get patients out of the field hospitals and out of the war zone fast.

Chilles was lucky. The shrapnel stopped short of his spinal column. His back hurts, but he can still move his feet. He'll need further surgery, but he should — in time — recover fully.

Journey Out of Iraq

Balad is where most of the sick and seriously wounded soldiers are brought to be prepared for the journey out of Iraq. At least four times a week, the U.S. Air Force operates a "Medevac" flight from the base. The destination: Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany. It is the largest American hospital outside of the United States, offering more specialized care in safer and more sanitary surroundings.

That was page one of a four page article.


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