The one thing that keeps resurfacing for me when I think about mental health as something I can relate to is my boots on the ground experience during Operation Iraqi Freedom .
The one thing that keeps resurfacing for me when I think about mental health as something I can relate to is my boots on the ground experience during Operation Iraqi Freedom .
I was in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard State Area Command in 2005 , and I deployed as an individual deployer , not with an army unit . I was transferred to Company C Medical 228th Support Battalion Forward Support , headquartered out of Allentown , Pa ., once I arrived in Iraq .
After training at Fort Bliss in El Paso , Texas , we were whisked off in planes to Kuwait . The temperature in Kuwait was 112 degrees Fahrenheit . When the wind blew , it felt like a hair dryer . We made every effort to get a military plane ride to Iraq as soon as possible because time did not start clicking on your clock until you reached the duty station .
I flew out of Kuwait on an Arkansas Air National Guard transport plane , “ The Rock .” The plane made a tactical landing at Al Taqaddum air base in Falahat , Iraq , in the middle of the night .
At Al Taqaddum , I had to beg for a ride from the Marine Corps Aviation . After several days , I flew off in the middle of the night in a Boeing Vertical CH-46 Seaflight twin blade helicopter with a marine on each side manning a . 50 caliber machine gun and wearing night vision goggles .
We landed in total darkness with no directions . We had no idea where we were . Within 10 minutes , several Humvee ambulances with blacked out lights bounced our way and took us to camp Ar Ramadi , a forward marine military base west of Fallujah in central Iraq . There , I joined the 228th Medical Company .
The fifth day I was there , I was walking to the base gym about one mile from the medical clinic . I had met another person walking that way and she said she was a driver with the triple deuce trucking company . At that moment , we both heard a whistle and seeing no aircraft , fell to the ground on the road instinctually and simultaneously . The blast was to my left with a flash , and dirt was flying everywhere . We were in the kill zone , but miraculously we were not hurt and got up and ran to the nearest bomb shelter .
As we ran to the bomb shelter , we came across soldiers who were in a Humvee but they had taken off . The woman soldier from triple deuce yelled at them , asking why they did not pick us up , and they replied , “ because it looked like you were dead .” At that time , an unarmored Chevy Blazer flew up to my position and asked if I was okay . It was two women soldiers who had vowed not to leave their fortified station but within moments came for me . I was astonished and grateful . I was taken back to the one dentist dental clinic . When I walked into the dental clinic , the dentist , Col . John Horn , looked at me like he was seeing a ghost and said I thought I would be picking pieces of you up . His wife had told me that John had to help pick up body parts of another medical soldier a few weeks earlier and was very affected by it .
I replaced Col . Horn , and the days were : voluntary early morning PT , dental clinic 8-5 treating both U . S . soldiers and Iraqis on our side ; dinner , gym , nap ; get up at 10 p . m . to midnight when called and help treat injured soldiers ( U . S ., British , Australian , other foreign friendly and other foreign unfriendly ). All were treated the same . There were many serious injuries , amputations , evacuations and deaths . The camaraderie was very high . Everyone put forth their very best .
Some soldiers were defiant and came to treat patients in their nighttime sleeping clothes . Nobody had time to scold or punish the ununiformed . They did their jobs well and we needed them all .
MAY / JUNE 2024 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL 31