Bill Ardolino of INDC Journal filed his first report as an embed for the Examiner today. Bill reports on the medics that keep everyone alive in the Iraq theater, including many Iraqis:

Corpsman HN Jerad “Doc J” Jurgensmier bandaged the exit wound with an abdominal pressure dressing. HM3 Joshua “Scuba Steve” Watson located the pinhole-sized entrance wound in the man’s lower back — an unlucky inch below the body armor’s ceramic protection — and put gauze over it. He then wet the abdominal bandages to keep the exposed organs moist, tied back his legs with two green cravats and threw a bag of charcoal under them for elevation.

With the wound dressed and the patient stabilized, the Iraqi Police carried their wounded comrade down to an Iraqi Police patrol truck (ambulances are juicy targets for insurgents) and transport to Camp Fallujah Surgical. It’s likely that the Iraqi policeman will live.

Navy corpsmen are a key component of a Marine Police Transition Team, an elite advisory unit responsible for equipping and training local Iraqis to take back the city from the confusing alliance of foreign terrorists and local insurgents currently sowing havoc.

In addition to the medical treatment they provide their Marines, also critical is the lifesaving care given to the Iraqi Police, who are subject to murderous intimidation outside of police headquarters, and who take traumatic injuries at an exponentially higher rate than their advisors. The professional care and personal concern shown by the corpsman go a long way towards forging trust and rapport between the Fallujan cops and their American advisors.

Be sure to read the entire article, and if you can, drop a few dollars into Bill's tip jar to help fund his mission.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is