Story by Spc. Brian Briseno
1st Platoon, A Battery, 3rd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, has always excelled at adapting to change. This was particularly evident when the platoon moved from Forward Operating Base Wolverine in Zabul Province, Afghanistan to FOB Price in Helmand Province to support the brigade’s new mission; providing freedom of movement for the Afghan people along major highways. An advance party of approximately 15 soldiers arrived at FOB Price at the beginning of January.
Danish and British troops were already at FOB Price, so Stryker soldiers occupied an area outside of the existing infrastructure and had to establish living facilities. Until they were able to develop their own life support, they borrowed heavily from the Danish and British contingents. Soldiers slept in the British transient tents and were only allowed to eat at the British dining facility once every three days. Conditions weren’t perfect but 1st Platoon made do.
The first thing they did was build a firing point and Fire Direction Center (FDC). 1st Platoon has always tried to set the standard whenever possible, so they made the choice to go above and beyond in establishing the position with limited resources and supplies. Four carpenters from the platoon erected the FDC shelter with scavenged wood and built a well-constructed, professional looking structure. The rest of the advance party filled sandbags and stood up seven-foot Hesco barriers around the firing point perimeter. In about a week they had two outstanding firing positions and a fully functional FDC before they were at full strength as a platoon. They were in position, ready to provide indirect fire support with an established firing point infrastructure before they had their own sleep tents or dining facility.
Once the rest of the platoon arrived and were able to function as an artillery unit I was able to determine what medical resources were available to us. There was a Danish medical center already at FOB Price and I took the opportunity to introduce myself. I was apparently the first American to make the attempt of working with them. After getting to know them they taught me their procedures, which included my first experience with an IO (an IV done through the bone). 
The time I worked with them was on an ANA Soldier who was shot in the leg. I was partnered with a Danish soldier named Jakab while they were treating the injury. Together they exposed the leg, replaced the tourniquet, packed the wound and stabilized the leg. The treatment was very similar to the live tissue training I had done in Fort Lewis which made the procedure incredibly easy. Everything went so smoothly that it wasn’t until they moved the patient from the trauma bed to the litter that I noticed they hadn’t spoken English throughout the procedure. In the After Action Review, an Army standard assessment of experiences, one of the Dutch medics mentioned he was impressed that I had been able to become part of their team so quickly.
After I had shown I was a capable medic Danish doctors invited me to help them treat local Afghans at the Lindenau clinic. The clinic is run by Special Forces Soldiers and their Civil Affairs team. It was a little odd being a guest of the Danish at an American-run clinic. The clinic is open to local Afghans every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10 p.m. to noon. The first time I went I had no idea what to expect. I met up with the Danes at 9:30 a.m. to get a quick briefing on how to act and then immediately started treatments. That day there were almost 50 people being treated by only eight providers including myself. Since this was the first time there I didn’t know I had to provide my own interpreter so I mainly just assisted the Danish doctors.
After my orientation day the Danish doctors told me if I was able to get my own interpreter that they were comfortable having me treat patients myself. I coordinated with 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5/2 ID (SBCT) to see if they could spare an interpreter for a few hours every other day. The first interpreter I had didn’t last very long. His first day there a local child was admitted who had been bitten by a dog. The treatment was straightforward but there was a fair amount of blood, enough to make the interpreter almost faint. The next day he didn’t show and I went back to assisting the doctors.
Treating local Afghans is an interesting experience. The majority of adults assert that they suffer from what sounds like life-threatening diseases, but once examined don’t seemed to have anything wrong with them. The Danish taught me that Tylenol often cures them in a matter of minutes. But they all need to be examined thoroughly to find the ones that are truly sick. The children, however, are a completely different story.
Most of the children suffer from malnourishment, so every child gets a bottle of vitamins and enriched oatmeal or formula, depending on age. I’ve had the opportunity to see and treat many different pediatric cases. Because the mission is only to treat the injuries and assist in gaining confidence of the local populace, we have to ignore the child abuse. I do have to commend these kids; they are extremely tough. A nine-year-old kid originally had 3rd degree burns covering his hands and after the initial treatment he had to come back every few days to be treated and reexamined. Part of that involved pulling off the dead skin, something that’s done with heavy painkillers in the U.S. The child had no painkillers and barely even winced.
On days I’m not practicing my medical skills with the Danish or at the gun line while we’re shooting, I’m in the FDC ready to treat my soldiers. One such day the Special Forces Team Sergeant came into the FDC to find out about the possibility of shooting for his team on a mission that night. While he was there I asked if he wanted an extra medic to come along, and he agreed to it. I got a quick tour of their compound, talked to their medic about procedures and my role in this mission, and was told to get the approval from my chain of command while he did the same. Once we both got approval I was told to meet back up at 10:30 p.m. so that we could leave the compound at midnight.
The mission was to eliminate a Taliban group that had been harassing a British patrol. To do this the main team was going to drive to a nearby village with 20 Afghan National Police that they had trained, then foot march six kilometers to the target. The British were going to move out and draw fire. The team sergeant, another member of his team, a few ANP and I would pull over-watch in case the team needed heavy weapons reinforcements. I spent the night rotating with one of the support soldiers as gunner on the Common Remotely Operated Weapon station mounted with a Mk 19 Grenade Launcher until the mission kicked off. I can’t talk about what happened during the mission but I can say that no one died.
What 1st Platoon achieved demonstrates the capability to adapt and overcome. And by applying that same platoon work ethic to my own job I was able to contribute not only to our mission success but also to the efforts of our U.S. and Coalition counterparts.