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Stryker brigade medics strive to be a healing force

Jun- 8-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune

RAMADANIYAH, Iraq – The villagers entered the sitting room of the local muqtar’s house a few at a time, the youngest an infant and the oldest a 73-year-old man.

They lined up to see the Fort Lewis soldiers for free medical help, maybe even a plush toy to take home.

A sobbing 5-year-old girl with a chronic kidney infection was dragged in by her mother, herself struggling to recover from typhoid fever. A 10-year-old boy showed a dog-bite puncture on his leg. A 12-year-old boy stepped forward with head lice.

One young child, who didn’t know his age but looked to be around 5, said he hurt his back playing soccer. A 10-year-old girl left with a new asthma inhaler and a unicorn Beanie Baby.

A 6-year-old boy with a cold walked away with a stuffed monkey. Stryker brigade Sgt. Joel Mattingly, 32, contributed some simian sound effects that made the child smile.

Animal noises, it seems, are a universal language that require no interpreter. [...]

Capt. Jon Christensen is in charge of the seven-person battalion aid station. They call themselves the “Automedics,” a twist on the field artillery unit’s nickname, “Automatic.”

Christensen is trained as a physician’s assistant, which makes the 2-8 Field Artillery the only battalion without a doctor in the entire 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. It is a point of pride for his team.

“No doc, half the staff and we still get the job done,” said Staff Sgt. Brady Love, 35, of Lakewood.

Their main job is tending to the aches and pains of the 1,500 people who live at Q-West, the coalition base in Qayyarah about 40 miles south of Mosul, Their first priority is providing care for U.S. troops, but they also respond to sick calls from three Iraqi Army battalions on base and about 60 prisoners currently held at the detainee center. [...]

“You should be a kindergarten teacher. Seriously,” Spc. Jennifer Guay said to her fellow medic with the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment.


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