Posted on 09/09/2003 4:51:54 AM PDT by Ex-Dem
This is the second of a series of stories detailing events and people who served in Iraq. The series continues next Tuesday.
CHERRY POINT -- Despite the temperature extremes, dust storms and the underlying threat of nuclear, biological or chemical attacks posed by the war in Iraq, medical staff members from Halyburton Naval Hospital brought back stories of a warm welcome by the Iraqi people, and a sense of pride in the humanitarian aid they were able to provide during their three-month deployment.
"From what we saw, the Iraqi people were very glad to have us there," said Senior Chief Chuck Dwyer. "We got the thumbs-up, the waves and the smiles. It gave you a very good feeling that you were actually doing something good for the people over there."
Dwyer, whose assignment was to ensure total coverage for medical evacuations, treatment and administrative supplies, described Iraqi living conditions as "horrible."
"To know that there was such wealth in that country that wasn't shared amongst those people -- I think the majority of the people over there would definitely cherish a better way of life than they have right now," he said.
Chief (select) Kathleen Michalski, a primary care provider and independent duty corpsman, worked with Fleet Marines who were setting up refueling points for helicopters, as the Marines moved north.
"We advanced right along with the tanks through Iraq," she said. "Then we set up an airfield about 80 miles south of Baghdad. We went from a complete desert setting to a functioning facility serving 5,000 with running water, food and a medical facility."
Michalski said she does not believe the American people have gotten a true sense of how much U.S. intervention has meant to the Iraqi people.
"An interesting aspect was the women," she said. "They were amazed that we were able to stand side by side with our fellow soldiers and sailors and do jobs independently. They can only do what their husbands allow them to do. They looked at us as if they were proud of us."
According to Michalski, the medical teams saw malnourished children, infections and a lack of clean water.
"As a small group, we were utilizing their water facility, so we set up a large bladder of clean water for them right in their town," she said. "We treated them with what medications we had and if we had extra supplies, like baby wipes or soaps or food products that we had been sent, we gave it to the people out in the community."
Hospitalman 2 Willie McDonald, who also helped with the humanitarian aid, said interacting with the Iraqis served as a powerful reminder of so many things that are taken for granted in the United States.
"There are lots of people over here that think they have it hard," he said. "They don't know hard until they see how some of these people have to live day-to-day."
Dwyer said people who appeared to be in their 60s and 70s were actually in their 40s.
"I would think if you really did check the overall life expectancy, if somebody lived to 50, they were pretty old," he said. "They were so beat down."
While members of the medical staff talked about the more positive aspects of their tour of duty in Iraq, the fact that they were there to fight a war was never far from their minds.
"There were terrifying aspects of it," Michalski said. "There was fire in the sky every night."
Weather extremes were also a challenge.
"Hurricanes are bad, but I think I'd rather deal with a hurricane than a sandstorm, especially when you have no escape from them," Dwyer said.
Admiring the sunset in a clear sky over the desert as he walked from his tent to the one that housed the medical facility, Dwyer said he would never have imagined the rapid weather change he was about to experience.
"As I walked into the tent, I could feel the wind picking up just a little bit," he said. "Within 15 minutes, I thought the tent was going to blow away."
He said he also thought the storm would only last a short while, but it raged on throughout the night. When the dust inside the medical tent became nearly impossible to breathe, he struggled to make his way back to his own tent.
"I had no goggles on, so I was counting tents as I was going along," he said.
Sleeping under those conditions also proved to be a challenge.
"You had to get inside your sleeping bag and cover your face so you could filter the sand," Dwyer said. "By the time you got up in the morning, everything inside the tent had an inch of sand on it. Tents were blown away, or torn up."
A primary health inspector, Hospitalman 1 Gina Cox said the time she spent training in Iraq with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit in 2000 helped prepare her for the extreme conditions there.
"I knew what I was getting into before I left," she said. "If I ever have to go back, I'd probably want to bring more creature comforts, like pillows and blankets."
Hospitalman 2 Stephen Martin was assigned to a forward ammunition and refueling point.
"We would set up these points where helicopters could land, rearm and refuel," he said. "Sometimes we were less than 10 minutes away from where the battle was actually occurring."
Martin said he was involved in a casualty evacuation one night near an-Nasiriya, when an ambush occurred just ahead of them.
"When that was happening, there was a B-52 strike about 5,000 meters off to our left flank," he said. "It got pretty exciting."
Martin's assessment of the overall experience in Iraq was echoed, in a variety of ways, by the rest of the medical team.
"Everyone got to know each other a whole lot better than we did," he said. "We experienced things we will never forget for the rest of our lives. We were able to trust each other and trust that each would take care of the other, because we had to."
Pat Coleman can be reached at 638-8101 ext. 260, or pat_coleman@link.freedom.com.
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