Free Republic

BAGHDAD — U.S. Soldiers of the 6th Iraqi Army (IA) Division’s Military Transition Team (MiTT) recently hosted a combat lifesaver class intended to help the IA to shoulder more of the load as Coalition forces responsibly withdraw. MiTT members taught a variety of first aid techniques including treatment of head trauma, fractures, impaled objects and controlling bleeding. “Basically [the goal of the] training that we conducted is…to combine the experience of the Iraqi medics along with the American medics,” said Sgt. 1st Class Gary Petty, medical advisor, 6th IA Div. MiTT. “We’re trying to get them trained on trauma-type situations;...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, March 23, 2009 – Combat medics serve double-duty when deployed overseas. They must not only be ready at a moment’s notice to provide lifesaving medical care, but they also have to be prepared to battle alongside their comrades. Army Spc. Timothy Currie, combat medic with 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, said he is prepared to take on either role. “Until there is a need for a medic on missions, I am basically a rifleman,” Currie said. “In order to gain the respect of your soldiers, you must help do their job alongside them and still find...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2009 – The Army, Navy and Air Force nurse corps are highly trained, capable and critical to the wartime mission of each service, the corps’ leaders told a congressional committee this week. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee heard testimony March 18 from the services’ nursing chiefs. Each reported a healthy force that plays a vital role in maintaining the health of America’s servicemembers and saving lives on the battlefield. Despite a nationwide nursing shortage, all three services have had success in recruiting and retaining nurses, the leaders said. New incentive and training programs will help boost...

Story Highlights Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr. convicted of killing four Iraqi detainees Two other soldiers also face charges in the case Leahy acquitted of murder in the death of another Iraqi (CNN) -- A U.S. Army medic was sentenced Friday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after being convicted of murdering four detainees in Iraq, a U.S. military spokesman in Germany said. Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr., 28, was convicted on two counts of murder and premeditated murder for his role in the 2007 Baghdad area killings. Leahy was downgraded to private, his pay will be forfeited and...

(photo) The number of civilians killed in the recent Gaza conflict is dropping almost as fast as Hamas’ credibility. During the conflict, the Palestinian Authority wailed that Israel was slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians. One of them was supposedly an “innocent” medic named Naim. And the international press dutifully reported every word as truth. “Following the clashes,” the Israel Defense Force announced, “the Palestinian press reported that Naim was killed and that he was a medic with the Palestinian Red Crescent. The Gaza CLA, however, produced photographs of Naim posing holding a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and ...

An Iraqi Army medic, assigned to the 10th IA Division, administers intravenous fluids to a fellow Soldier during advanced combat medical skills training at Camp Mittica, near Tallil Air Base, in southern Iraq, Dec. 31, 2008. U.S. Army photo. CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER — Approximately 15 Iraqi Army medics completed advanced combat medical skills training at Camp Mittica, near Tallil Air Base, in southern Iraq, Dec 31, 2008. Soldiers of the 10th IA Division attended the class offered through a continued partnership with the 27th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Staff Sgt. Junior St. Hilaire...

Funeral honors Moorestown surgeon killed in Iraq by The Associated Press A funeral service will be held this morning for a prominent New Jersey surgeon from who was killed in Iraq.The funeral for Army Maj. John P. Pryor is scheduled for 10 a.m. in Philadelphia's Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Pryor died Christmas Day when a mortar round hit near his living quarters in Iraq. John Pryor, center, at work at the University of Pennsylvania trauma center in Philadelphia in 2007. The 42-year-old married father of three was a trauma surgeon at the Hospital of the University of...

John P. Pryor, 42, of Moorestown, the dedicated leader of the University of Pennsylvania's trauma team and a decorated major in the Army Reserve who wrote eloquently about the painful parallels between battlefield deaths and urban homicides, was killed on Christmas by enemy fire in Iraq while serving as a combat surgeon.

John P. Pryor, 42, of Moorestown, the dedicated leader of the University of Pennsylvania's trauma team and a decorated major in the Army Reserve who wrote eloquently about the painful parallels between battlefield deaths and urban homicides, was killed on Christmas by enemy fire in Iraq while serving as a combat surgeon. Dr. Pryor deployed Dec. 6 and was with a risky frontline surgical unit when he was killed by shrapnel from a mortar round. It was his second tour of duty in Iraq. Dr. Pryor, who was experienced and cool under pressure, was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., and...

12/8/2008 - NEW AL-MUTHANA AIR BASE, Iraq (AFNS) -- Instructors from the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine in San Antonio graduated 14 Iraqi air force medics from an aeromedical evacuation basics course here Dec. 4. The graduation ceremony was the culmination of 12 days of training that ended with a patient movement exercise requiring the students to prepare a C-130 Hercules for in-flight patient care. "We had them do everything from reconfiguring the inside of the C-130 and setting up all its internal components for movement to creating a load plan that tells how and where to...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2008 – If Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Sims was a cat, he’d have only six lives left after his yearlong deployment to Iraq with the 1st Armored Division’s Company B, 270th Armor Battalion, out of Fort Riley, Kan. Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Sims, a medic who was wounded three times during his last deployment to Iraq, is preparing to deploy again. Courtesy photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “I was wounded three times in Iraq the last time I was there,” Sims said of the deployment that began in January 2005. Sims, a medic,...

SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 18, 2008 – One day before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Army senior leaders put into place a plan to overhaul the service’s combat medic training. Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Haney delivers a review of the combat medics’ performance in the “blood lab” at the Department of Combat Medic Training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The medics must work through the lab using a combination of soldier and medic skills administering aid, but watching for hidden dangers such as homemade bombs and enemy weapons. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III  (Click photo for screen-resolution...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, Oct. 2, 2008 – Pfc. Serena Norman took some ribbing from her father and three older brothers -- all combat-arms Army veterans -- when she decided to follow their footsteps into the military. Army Pfc. Serena Norman, a medic with Company C, 589th Brigade Support Battalion, 41st Fires Brigade, tends to Iraqi children during a mission in Kut, Iraq, Sept. 19, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel Bishop  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Her family expected her to be the one to go straight to college in pursuit of a medical...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — During a recent air assault operation in the Diyala province, the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division medical team once again demonstrated its excellence. The group, which consisted of one physician, three physician assistants, one mental health provider, a preventive medicine officer and numerous skilled combat medics, delivered seamless and exceptional medical care, despite harsh conditions. Several of the team members flew by helicopter, carrying everything needed to set up a rapid aid station with them. A rapid aid station is able to provide immediate treatment for any injuries sustained during the early phase of an...

Kandahar tourniquet developed to save livesMonday, August 18, 2008Project Number:08-0556Kandahar, Afghanistan – Afghan soldiers can now save lives thanks to a medical prototype developed by Coalition forces. The Kandahar tourniquet, created for the Afghan National Army (ANA), will improve the survival rate of soldiers suffering serious injuries and massive hemorrhage. Imagine a dismounted infantry company mentoring team moving through a village in the Zhari District of Afghanistan. The team is weighed down with weapons, ammunition, radios, night vision devices and personal protective equipment. Every soldier is trained to deliver tactical combat casualty care and is equipped with advanced wound dressings,...

A US army medic who became a symbol of American heroism and integrity in the Iraq war has died of an apparent drugs overdose.

Today it was announced that in keeping with honoring the wounded and ill of our Armed Forces, the Silver Star Families of America will begin issuing certificates of appreciation to military medical personnel.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Cristina Williams, the medical officer for Marine Wing Support Squadron 274, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), checks the vital signs of an Iraqi schoolboy here May 15, 2008. Photo by Lance Cpl. Jessica Aranda. AL ANBAR PROVINCE — Medical personnel attached to Marine Wing Support Squadrons 172 and 274 visited a local village to participate in a cooperative medical engagement here recently. CME missions are dedicated to providing health care to local nationals who lack adequate facilities while simultaneously raising awareness on the people’s health conditions to the Iraqi government.“The Marine Corps is often involved in special...

/29/2008 - ALI BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- A single doctor, a retired Air Force colonel, arrived here without much fanfare May 18 and left four days later. He left in his wake improved sight for many Iraqis and priceless training for Nasiriyah General Hospital physicians in Nasiriyah, Iraq. He traveled with a few bags and a 50-pound box containing a microscope. A specialized, portable, eye-surgery microscope he used to treat people who may not have otherwise afforded it. He also carried 200 prescription glasses and 300 sunglasses to hand out freely to those in need. He performed his wonders at...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, May 5, 2008 – Coalition forces conducted a medical assistance mission in Byda village, near Kut, Iraq, May 2. Capt. (Dr.) Frederico Gomez, a dentist with the Salvadoran Cuscatlan Battalion, extracts a tooth during a medical assistance mission in Byda village near Kut, Iraq, May 2, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Daniel T. West  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The mission is part of an outreach program to provide for outlying villages in Iraq’s Wasit province that have seen little or no coalition presence, said Army Lt. Col. Rob Jones, deputy team...