Tech Topics - Winter 2007 - (Page 29) Burdell&Friends A Doctor’s Diary Septuagenarian soldier writes from his 31st Combat Support Hospital post Retired Lt. Col. John Burson, a 73-yearold doctor, returned to Iraq in August for a second tour of duty treating wounded soldiers, as well as insurgents and civilians. Since his deployment, Burson, ChE 55, MS Met 63, PhD ChE 64, has been keeping in touch with an e-mail journal, some of which has been published in the BUZZwords epublication. He delivered his final installment in October, on the day he was set to begin his journey home. By John Burson is awfully hot and heavy in 130-degree heat. Since my unit is not yet officially here, there are no regulations as to what I wear to work, and there is wide variation among units. So, I wear my ACUs, a soft cap and my weapon. The natural question arises: Are you adequately protected with what you are wearing? I think so. We get a mortar round or two most every day, but getting hit by one is about the same risk as getting run over when you cross the street. The 31st Combat Support Hospital is a relatively small hospital, much smaller than the one I was dutied to on my previous tour. Since I am a board-certified surgeon with previous trauma experience at the 10th CSH, one would naturally expect me to be attached to the surgery staff. Not so. Instead, my battle buddy was assigned to the ER and I was assigned to the detainee medical center. The hospital side of the CSH takes care of both Americans and Iraqis, but the DMC takes care of only detainees, the proper term for prisoners. I take care of detainees and operate on occasion when they need me. The DMC has two main functions. On one day, there is a wound-care clinic where all the shot-up detainees are brought in and their wounds evaluated with dressing changes, etc. After this, rounds are made in the security holding unit. This is a series of solitary confinement cells for bad actors with a small subunit for those with tuberculosis. Medics screen the individual cells for medical problems and the MDs evaluate those with complaints. Every morning on my way to work, I see about four to six full-size buses roll in with new captures from the night before. When there is a sweep through a village with suspected or actual insurgent W hat began as a series of personal commentaries to my family and a few close friends has gone a little beyond that, and I thank all of you who have indulged me and read them. In putting these little essays together, I realize that the input of other eyes will be necessary to challenge my interpretations and correct my inevitable gaffes. I apologize to any of the principals whom I may have slandered or accused unfairly. I also thank my scholarly friends who have tried to keep me on the straight and narrow. At the North Avenue Trade School, we were not taught a lot of the finer points about prosaic writing; usually just getting the subject and predicate to agree was a major accomplishment. September 1 — Adopting a Mother Teresa Attitude Both my battle buddy and I are attached to the 31st Combat Support Hospital for our duty assignment, but the 535th is responsible for our administrative stuff. This is potentially a very good situation because neither unit really knows where you always are nor what regulations apply to you, and this can sometimes be an advantage. Most of the soldiers here wear individual body armor, a backpack, a weapon and a soft cap and usually carry their Kevlar helmet as well. All this stuff activity, usually all the adult males are gathered up and brought in for questioning. About 90 percent are Sunnis and the majority are 20 to 30 years old, with a fair number of older guys (the oldest so far being 77) and a sprinkling of juveniles. If there is a fire fight, we bring in the ones we shot the night before and expend a lot of resources in getting them well so they can fight us again. Such are the contradictions of war. I am trying to adopt the Mother Teresa attitude — that is, they are all God’s children and I don’t do anything as an act of commission or omission that would harm them (even though they may have set off an IED and killed fellow GIs the night before). Not being judgmental is not always easy. October 1 — On Mortars and Morale There is a definite command structure among the detainees, in much the same way any POW group organizes itself. Apparently, the sheiks and the Imams are the usual authority figures. The guards are now segregating the juveniles from the rest and special schools are being set up where these kids are taught to read and write and are given instruction in the Quran. Many of the older detainees shout across to the juvenile camps not to pay any attention to the infidel propaganda. Maybe 10 percent of the detainees are juveniles, usually 13 to 17 years old. Most of the juveniles have been caught setting off IEDs and reporting on troop activities. An 8-year-old recently was brought in missing his right forearm. He was dropping mortar rounds down the tube of his dad’s mortar and didn’t get his arm out of the way in time. He asked if his father was dead and when told that he was, he stoically said he was now in charge. As far as I can tell, the prime motivation for the detainees is money, not Jihad. Certainly, there are some hardliners but most of these people are unemployed and will do most anything for money. The insurgents pay well and seem to have a very large labor pool to draw from. I detect very little overt hostility from these detainees. TECHTOPICS | WINTER 2007 29
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