08-30-2008, 06:24 AM
Quote:I haven't seen the HBO series, but my brother served a tour in Iraq while in the Marine Reserves. He was a radio operator, and his unit was artillery, but over there served as a security detail. Given that they were reservists, and stationed in a US friendly portion of the country, its not surprising they didn't see a lot of faction.
The one incident they had though, his unit had a gunner hit by sniper fire their 2nd to last week of duty, while on a Humvee patrol. The shot got him in the stomach, which is a bad place to be hit. The medic in their unit managed to stitch him together enough to keep him from dieing on the spot, but he had alot of internal organ damage. The marines drove straight back to base, and his Humvee went right into the back of an already running C-130 and directly to a base in Germany for medical treatment. I think my bro said he was in a critical care unit within 4 hours of being hit. I am guessing not all situations allow that kind of care (front line battles and large scale attacks probably make things a little more hectic than single incidents), but in that case the issue was saving the injured soldier. They didn't waste time going for the sniper, or completing their patrol, they just did what they had to to save him.
My bro's tour was pretty recent though, just this past fall/spring, and he wasn't elite or front line. Also not seeing the show, I can't weigh in on it, I just thought I would at least share one sunshine & daisies story of the US properly caring for its troops.
My bro worked directly with the Iraqi forces in his time there though. I got some disturbing stories about the local police and government, but nothing of suicide missions or troops being used as fodder while he was there.
That story may have been a little exaggerated regarding the speed at which he was evacuated. I'm not entirely sure how the Navy's combat medical system is tiered, but it supposedly mirrors the Army one closely enough to make comparison.
Level III care (operating room, blood bank, pharmacy, X-ray) is provided by the combat support hospital in-theater. It's basically a modern incarnation of the famous MASH unit - tent hospital with select sections housed in ISO shelters. The major role of the CSH is to treat those who are lightly-enough wounded to return to duty; or stabilize the seriously hurt for evacuation. He may not have spent much time in a Level III facility but it's almost guaranteed he went through one. There are 2 CSH units in Iraq at any one time - one in Baghdad and one in the south. Afghanistan also has 1 CSH in-theater.
As a final note, the Air Force coordinates all casualty evacuations from the theater, and has the ability to refuse evac for patients who they don't feel are stable enough for the trip back to Europe. During training I've had to remind nurses (and surgeons, for that fact) that evacuating a patient is a considerable task in-and-of itself; not some silver-bullet to use on difficult patients. I'll refrain for mentioning the specifics of my last CSH unit-training exercise where I had to restrain myself from talking to a Doc (O-5).
Short version is, I'm glad your brother's buddy was treated expeditiously. The casualty evac system in-place in Iraq is truly an amazing piece of work, outside the imagination of someone who would have fought 50 years ago.
/68-W
P.S. Hey Occhi, good to see you're still around.