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CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- "You're going to be
all right. We're going to take care of you."
These were the consoling words echoed repeatedly as
the sailors of Bravo Surgical Company, 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Force Service Support Group tended to wounded Marines
from Operation Vigilant Resolve April 5.
The sailors, poised on the outskirts of the restive
town of Fallujah, are providing "good
medicine in a bad place."
"It's different this year," said Navy Lt.
Kevin R. Poole, a physician assistant with the surgical company. "Last
year we were removed from the sounds of war. This year we are trying to take
care of these guys while the mortars are coming in."
Despite the persistent distraction of indirect fire,
the surgical company remained poised - even as ambulances sped down the road
to the medical facility, carrying wounded Marines.
"I call it organized chaos," said Poole, 36, a Southfield, Mich., native.
Sporting flak jackets rigged with surgical scissors,
latex gloves, stethoscopes and syringes, the sailors of Bravo Company lined
the road ready to respond once a tactical vehicle's tires stopped.
Tan and green tents marked triage quickly filled with
the wounded. The medical staff resembled bees in a hive as they hovered
around each cot, assessed injuries and busily tended to the patients.
While doctors and assistants diagnosed patients, corpsmen
checked vital signs, administered medications, took X-rays, filled out field
medical charts and kept track of each Marine's personal belongings. All the
while, the sporadic sounds of incoming mortar fire could be heard in the
background.
Inside the tents, voices were hushed except for an
occasional yell of "X-ray!" as a corpsman alerted the other members
of the team to shield their eyes momentarily. The docs paused, took a step
back and looked away, their hands still on their patients.
One patient drew odd looks from doctors as he
answered questions with a raspy voice. Upon questioning from Lt. Cmdr. Inzune
K. Hwang, a surgical company doctor, Sgt. Kevin M. Smith, a combat engineer
with Combat Service Support Battalion 1, 1st FSSG responded light-heartedly,
"Yes, sir, I'm waiting for puberty to hit."
The 26-year-old Toccoa, Ga., native managed to bring
smiles to otherwise tension-wrought faces and muted laughter filled the room.
Even as the docs and corpsman took in the moment, they continued their work -
bandaging wounds and tending to their patients.
Once patients had been treated in the triage tents,
on this day the next step was either the emergency room or the operating
room.
Two Marines were flown to another hospital to receive
additional care. The rest remained with surgical company, recuperated for a
few days and then returned to their unit.
Smith later attested to the skills of the surgical
company.
"They did a real good job of keeping us
calm," he said. "It was kind of like being on a conveyor belt - I
saw so many faces."
Smith, an avid power-lifter, has gained a bit of
weight with pieces of embedded shrapnel now part of his body, but said he
will have no problem carrying it around.
"I want to get back to my unit so I can start working
out again," he said.
Most of the service members treated at Bravo Surgical
are patched up and returned to their units in days.
However, for the sailors of Bravo Surgical Company
this cycle will be repeated while Marines and sailors remain engaged in the
Al Anbar Province.
Poole's goal is simple: to
continue to be known simply as the "cheaters of death."
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