Free Republic

BILOXI, Miss. (NNS) -- Sailors and Project HOPE volunteers from USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) reconstructed a Hurricane Katrina-damaged garage here and made it into a fully operational primary care clinic Sept. 17. The group used donated supplies as well as scattered debris to rebuild the roof and walls of the facility and then separated the room into sections to promote patient privacy. “We came to the area because we learned there was a great need for medical care here,” said Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Dorrance, Comfort's assistant H-1 division head. “We were lucky enough to locate this garage and literally rebuild...

By Journalist Seaman Erica Mater, USNS Comfort Public Affairs ABOARD USNS COMFORT, At Sea (NNS) -- Since March 20, Comfort has performed more than 450 surgical procedures during Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom. That's nearly 130 more than the number of surgical procedures Comfort performed during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. While those numbers might not be staggering, they should be kept in perspective. During Operation Desert Shield/Storm, Comfort was deployed to the region for a total of nine months, performing a total of 337 surgical procedures. This time, more than 450 surgeries have been performed in four weeks.

Wounded girl moves Fort Benning soldier BY S. THORNE HARPER Staff Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq -Staff Sgt. James Mattwig has seen too many children wounded by war, but there was one little girl he couldn't shake from his mind, and he couldn't sleep Saturday night.Mattwig, 31, a D-Troop scout with the 3rd Infantry's 3rd Brigade from Fort Benning, had escorted civil affairs officers earlier that day to conduct war-damage assessments inside Baghdad.That's when he saw 3-year-old Aya.She could see him with only her right eye; an oversized patch covered her other one. Her parents explained that an artillery round about two...