Navy’s top doc leaves ‘world class’ legacy

[thedrifter]

Navy’s top doc leaves ‘world class’ legacy


By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, July 28, 2004


WASHINGTON — When Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Michael Cowan leaves his post Aug. 4, he’ll leave knowing he helped place small teams of surgeons right on the battlefield, put prenatal care in the forefront of Navy obstetrics and helped slim down sailors, who make up the largest group of obese active members.

But after three years as the surgeon general of the Navy at the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Cowan, who retires next week, calls the Navy’s Force Health Protection strategy his most important accomplishment.

“Military medicine, and Navy medicine … really transformed from a huge emphasis on periodic, episodic reactive care to an emphasis on what we call ‘Force Health Protection,’” Cowan, 59, said.

“Force Health Protection says it’s not enough to take the sick or injured person, make them well, and put them back. That’s what we really do is build a really healthy and fit soldier so they can go and be persistent on the battlefield.”

And for Cowan, that means preventive medicine and well-being clinics, “world class” health care for families left at home, anti-smoking campaigns and exercise programs.

On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Navy has Forward Resuscitative Surgical Systems, surgeons who operate out the back of souped-up Humvees, providing treatment in what emergency medical professionals call the “golden hour,” the first hour after a traumatic injury when immediate medical attention dramatically increases the chances of survival, he said.

And the Navy also has deployed the Expeditionary Medical Unit, a new treatment facility that can be tailor-made to fit myriad missions.

Cowan started programs to get sailors and their families in better shape. “Percentage-wise, we have more active-duty sailors who are overweight than the other services, but not by a lot.”

He has accepted a job as senior vice president for health care for Redwood Shores, Calif.-based contractor Oracle Corp. Rear Adm. Donald Arthur, who comes from National Naval Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., will replace him.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=23475


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Navy corpsmen to the rescue when injured Marines need aid




By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 29, 2004

FALLUJAH, Iraq – Almost every day, the cry "corpsman up!" rings across a battlefield somewhere in Iraq, sending a crouching figure with a medical bag dashing – often into enemy gunfire – to treat a wounded Marine.

There have been many such adrenaline-pumping sprints since 25,000 Marines and sailors arrived this year, including 19,000 from San Diego County. More than 100 Marines have been killed in action and 1,137 wounded.

But the death toll could have been much higher, as the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment Marines from Camp Pendleton well knows.

While 10 Marines have died in and around Fallujah alone since March, corpsmen – who are Navy sailors – have saved the lives of 30 to 40 troops, according to commanders and the medical staff at Camp Baharia, where the battalion is based for its seven-month tour of duty.

"They have saved a number of my boys," said 31-year-old Albuquerque native Capt. D.A. Zembiec, a company commander whose Marines saw fierce fighting in Fallujah in spring and random fighting since. "The Marines know that if they are wounded, a corpsman will ignore the firefight and just patch them up."

Marines venerate their devoted corpsmen.

"A good corpsman knows how to calm the situation so that the Marine being treated and those around him don't freak out," said Golf Company's Sgt. David Jones, 27, of Washington, D.C. "He knows medicine, but he also knows his Marines and how to keep them from panicking."

Corpsmen are an anomaly on the battlefield. They carry a 9-mm pistol to protect themselves and their patients, but they are considered noncombatants. Yet their status as healers has done little to protect them.

Of the estimated 50 corpsmen in the battalion, seven have been wounded, two of them seriously. (Marines don't disclose numbers, but an average-sized battalion is about 900 troops.)

This month a corpsman riding in a convoy nearly lost his arm to a roadside bomb. His military career might be over, and he might never regain the full use of his limb.

Several have had close calls.

A mortar hit at the feet of one corpsman and failed to explode. Another had a dud hand grenade bounce off his vehicle while he was loading wounded troops. Another was saved when shrapnel from a mortar destroyed his medical bag but spared him.

In another instance, a mortar round landed in the foxhole a corpsman had just left.

"Almost every single line corpsman has a story like that," said Petty Officer 1st Class William Janic, a medical section chief at the aid station at Camp Baharia.

"They've done some awesome things," said Janic, of West Virginia.

Hospitalman Everett Watt, 25, was with Echo Company Marines when they entered Fallujah in April and engaged in street-to-street fighting.

In the city, Watt and other corpsmen routinely braved machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire to attend to wounded Marines.

Despite the extreme dangers, Watt said corpsmen cannot hesitate.

"You hear 'corpsman up!' and all you want to know is where they need help," said Watt, from the Bronx. "It's an instinct thing. When I am running to a Marine, I never think about anything except getting there. You don't think about what you did until later. And then you say, 'What the hell did I just do?' It can get crazy."

"You just hope (the injury) isn't as bad as it always is," Watt added quietly.

He names the Marines he's treated and saved. There is a special place in his soul for the three he couldn't, and when he tries to talk about it, he grows silent in mid-sentence.

"There are at least six Marines who are alive because of him," said Lt. Ben Wagner, 27, an Echo platoon leader who grew up in Chula Vista. "He'll never tell you that."

Fear is something that every corpsman has to master to do his job.

"I am always scared, there is no denying that," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Reginald Demapelis, 31, a senior corpsman for Golf Company who said his corpsmen have saved about seven Marines.

"But to be good a corpsman, you have to overcome your fear and concentrate on your job," said Demapelis, who lives in Chula Vista. He immigrated to the United States from Manila, Philippines, in 1992 and was an Army medic before joining the Navy less than two years ago.

"Always concentrate on the welfare of all the people out there," he said. "It's our job to run out there when the mortars are still dropping and the bullets are still flying. You cannot hesitate."

Corpsmen said the death of a Marine is a crushing blow from which they can never truly recover. But they know they must put it behind them.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20040729-9999-1n29corpsman.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Navy Corpsmen keep Marines Healthy
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 2004859219
Story by Staff Sgt. Demetrio J. Espinosa



FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq (Aug. 4, 2004) -- In a hostile combat environment Marines are taught to keep an eye out for suspicious activity or people who could harm them. The enemy you fight is always a threat. What most don't know is that there is a threat among them that can be just as dangerous-insects and disease.

For Marines and sailors here, the Preventive Medicine Technicians of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit's medical team are on the lookout for anything on the camp that could endanger the unit's mission.

"Our responsibilities in the camp are to control the insect population, whether it's scorpions, mosquitoes, sand flies and the rodent population," said Petty Officer 1st Class Benny M. Satterfield, PMT for the Command Element, 24th MEU. "Also, we have to do environmental health stuff, like make sure water is chlorinated to the proper level."

Reducing the insect and pest population requires identifying the threat, then developing a treatment that will get rid of them while also keeping Marines and sailors safe.
"One of the biggest health threats we have is being bit by sand flies, which transmit leishmaniasis and sand fly fever to a lesser degree," said Satterfield, an Ardmore, Ala., native. "But the control method we use for mosquitoes, spraying with a truck, doesn't work for sand flies. They don't fly as far. So I always take [DEET] along when walking around to give out to people because it is the only real prevention measure we have for sand flies."

In addition to controlling the pest population PMTs ensure hygiene facilities are clean and don't pose a health threat to Marines, sailors, and soldiers in camp. Everything is checked daily, from the showers and portable toilets to the new dining facility scheduled to open soon.

"Water in the showers, even though it is not potable and you are not supposed to drink it, it should still be [chlorinated] 2 to 5 parts per million," said Satterfield. "To reduce the risk of getting any skin conditions."

Their duties have them on the move constantly. As the camp here grows, so do their responsibilities to keep their Marines, sailors and soldiers healthy and mission-ready.

"We're walking from place to place all the time," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Erick L. English, PMT for MEU Service Support Group 24. "There is a lot of back tracking and double checking to make sure everything stays up to standards."

Thanks to their efforts, the PMTs have done a good job keeping their fellow service members healthy.
"So far we think [preventive measures] have been very effective," said Lt. Commander James M. Harris, MEU surgeon, 24th MEU. "We have more dermatology and respiratory problems than we would expect above the norm back home, but not unexpected at this point on our deployment."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004859117/$file/040805-M-2361E-001low.jpg

Petty Officer 2nd Class Erick L. English, Preventive Medicine Technician for Marine Expeditionary Unit Service Support Group 24, 24th MEU, measures off two ounces of chlorine that he will add to the water at a shower facility aboard Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq.
Preventive Medicine technician must ensure water used on camp for bathing is within healthy standards.
English is a member of the 24th MEU currently conducting security and stabilization operations in the Northern Babil province of Iraq.
Photo by: Staff Sgt. Demetrio J. Espinosa

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/5B2B5146692E736085256EE700479FC8?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Lejeune corpsman adds color to camp's chapel in Iraq
Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20048113118
Story by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes



CAMP MAHUDIYAH, Iraq (Aug. 9, 2004) -- Navy Seaman Robert J. Sterling is making life at the camp's chapel here a little more colorful.

The 26-year-old hospital corpsman from Anniston, Ala. Is in the middle of painting a mural depicting St. Michael, known as a patrol saint of warriors. It's a Sterling's labor of love.

"I was basically raised inside of a church," Sterling said. "I was active every Sunday and I've been painting since kindergarten so this just fits together for me. This is the third mural I've done while in the military and I'm excited about it."

Getting the art supplies was difficult for Sterling. The local market sold only chickens and engine parts. That's where the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment's battalion chaplain, Navy Lt. Eric Verhulst, stepped in. While on emergency leave, the Grand Rapids, Mich. preacher picked up some brushes and returned to find the supply Marines had scrounged high-quality brushes for the chapel mural.

"I want this to be a quiet place where troops can come and meditate or pray or just be by themselves, Verhulst said. "The mural will hopefully offer some comfort and inspiration.

"It's been an idea we've had for a while but with our moving around we never really got to see it through," he added. "We wanted to make the place look like a chapel instead of a white-walled padded room."

The depiction of St. Michael is also a tribute to the Army units who served here prior to the Marine battalion.

"Saint Michael was the name of one of the villages the 82nd Airborne landed in during World War II," Verhulst explained. "The Army named many of their bases by cities they fought in during their history and ours was named Forward Operating Base St. Michael when they were here earlier this year."

The name changed but the spirit invoked did not. In keeping with the former base name, the mural depicting the angel-warrior is gracing the main wall of the chapel.

Sterling expects to spend four hours a day on the mural, which he said would take him a week and a half to complete. The mural comes from a picture depicting the angel culled from images in the Bible.

"Whatever type of work I do I like to research it a much as I can. I read some books and got some ideas for the picture before I started," said Sterling, who holds a degree in commercial advertising. "Being in a chapel, painting a scene from the bible, you can't help but put some religion into what you're doing."

Marines who have seen the unfinished mural like what is being created inside their sacred space.

"It gives the whole chapel more personality. Marines like to individualize whatever they have and that it what the mural does," said Cpl. Aaron D. Kiracofe, a 21 year-old rifleman from Denton, Texas. "If nothing else it will give something for the next unit that relieves us to build upon and make their own."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200481131253/$file/Mural4lr.jpg

Navy Seamen Robert J. Sterling, a 26 year-old hospital corpsman with 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, is bringing to life the biblical story of Michael. The artist from Anniston, Ala. is painting the patron saint of warriors onto the chapel wall so Marines can draw inspiration from the biblical war where Michael casts Satan out of Heaven.
(USMC photo by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes) Photo by: Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/70F8DB1597CFF66885256EED00269278?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines saved during battle at An Nasiriyah
August 12,2004
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

The fight lasted two hours.

On March 23, 2003 Marines from 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment came under heavy fire near the Iraqi city of An Nasiriyah. Gaining control of the Saddam Canal Bridge would be integral to the successful push for Baghdad.

One of the Marines' Amphibious Assault Vehicles was ablaze - five troops were still inside.

Navy Seaman Louis Fonseca Jr. got them out.

In fact, the young corpsman is credited with saving numerous lives that day. For his bravery and heroism, Fonseca, 23, was presented with the Navy Cross - the Navy's highest recognition next to the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Navy Secretary Gordon R. England made the presentation Wednesday outside the Naval Hospital aboard Camp Lejeune.

"It's a terrific day - a great day to serve and honor somebody who exhibited extreme valor and courage," England said. "Corpsmen have a long tradition, and (it is one of the) most valuable ratings in our service.

"You are the finest of the finest," England told Fonseca.

As grenades detonated and bullets whizzed through the air, Fonseca moved the injured Marines to a safer vehicle. He applied tourniquets to at least two amputees and dosed them with morphine to dull the pain.

Later, when his own AAV was immobilized by enemy fire, Fonseca braved "a wall of enemy machine gun fire," organizing and directing teams with stretchers to rescue four other wounded troops. He personally carried one to safety.

A humble Fonseca said he didn't think about what he was doing at the time.

Hospital commander Capt. Richard C. Welton wore a broad, proud smile Wednesday, but it was a small group of Marines - some in dress blues, others in camouflage - who knew first-hand of Fonseca's actions.

"Our track got hit - blew up - and I was knocked unconscious," said Cpl. Noel Trevino, who suffered a head wound in the battle near An Nasiriyah. "I saw a big flash, and the vision in my right side was gone.

"I was pulled to safety, but I blanked in and out. First I was in a house, then on a tank and then put into a helo."

Sgt. Nick Elliot, 23, from New Castle, Del., suffered severe injuries to his neck and arm. He lost much of the back of one leg. Still, he vividly remembers hearing reports of Fonseca's actions.

"I heard over the radio that he was going here and there," Elliot said.

"Even though he's in the Navy, I consider him a Marine."


Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.


http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=24729&Section=News


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Trauma kits can help save lives
Submitted by: 24th MEU
Story Identification #: 2004815135651
Story by Lance Cpl. Caleb J. Smith



FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq (Aug. 12, 2004) -- To quicken the response time to medical emergencies here, corpsmen from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit have strategically placed self-help medical supplies at key locations throughout the base.

These medical supplies, known as trauma kits, allow Marines to apply “buddy aid� to their wounded brethren immediately after any endangering incident.

“There are seven kits around the camp so far … 16 more will be made,� said Senior Chief Petty Officer David W. Short, the MEU’s senior navy enlisted leader and a native of Raleigh, N.C. “Its similar to battle dressing stations on a ship.�

“We’ve had to change our medical tactics since many people are concentrated in one place,� said Lt. Cmdr. Jim Harris, the MEU’s surgeon and a native of Baton Rouge, La.

Both Harris and Short suggested that the idea for the trauma kits is similar to the strategy used on Navy ships, where medical supplies are set up equally, one after another, on each side and level, in proportion to the ship. These stations are called Battle Dressing Stations, or BDS’s. They serve as emergency medical kits for immediate first aid, as well as casualty staging points for injured sailors or Marines awaiting transportation to the main staging point, or the Main BDS.

The kits contain battle dressings, cravats (for making slings), burn dressings, chemical lights, splints, a stretcher, and other necessary medical supplies.

Since indirect fire is the biggest threat to personnel inside the base, the kits are placed in areas where large numbers of Marines live and work.

“Immediate response to trauma is critical,� said Harris, who explained that the Marines have all been trained to apply first aid immediately, thus increasing the chance of the wounded Marine’s survival.

“It’s called the golden hour,� added Short. “Definitive care in that first hour. It’s a force multiplier; there are a large number of Marines and a small number of [navy] corpsman. This way every Marine becomes a junior corpsman.�

“The [trauma] kits are mostly geared for mass casualties, not for small injuries,� said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jerry W. Fahm, a hospital corpsman with the Command Element and New Orleans native. He added that the kits were for major injuries, not wounds that could be treated by regular means.

The medical staff here continues to find proactive ways to keep their Marines and sailors healthy and safe. They are also encouraging other Forward Operating Bases in the area to follow suit.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200481622939/$file/040811-M-5121S-001lores.jpg

Petty Officer 3rd Class James Cody Vanderlois of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit sifts through medical supplies used in emergency medical kits called Trauma Kits which have been strategically placed around Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq, to quicken the response to medical emergencies.
Vanerlois, 26, is a hospital corpsman with the MEU's Command Element, and a Laramie, Wy., native.
The 24th MEU is currently conducting security and stability operations in the Northern Babil province of Iraq.
Photo by: Lance Cpl. Caleb J. Smith

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/7D5AEBCB3A079CC585256EF1006296EF?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Issue Date: August 23, 2004

‘Finest of the finest’
Corpsman awarded Navy Cross for Nasiriyah valor

By C. Mark Brinkley
Times staff writer


CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Soaking wet and holding a cinderblock, Hospitalman Luis Fonseca Jr. wouldn’t weigh a buck-sixty.
But the thin, wiry sailor — a career soldier’s son, who grew up near Fort Bragg, N.C., after his father retired from the Army — swelled with pride Aug. 11, becoming a giant among mere mortals as Navy Secretary Gordon England pinned the Navy Cross to his chest. In the past decade, only a handful Marines and sailors have stood in his shoes, recipients of the nation’s second-highest combat award.

“You are the finest of the finest,� England said. “On behalf of everyone who loves freedom and liberty, thank you.�

A soft-spoken husband and father, the 23-year-old Fonseca is far too modest to blow his own horn about the events that led to his award. He lost friends on the road to Baghdad, and has painful memories still buried in his mind that he can’t force his brain to cough up.

He admits that he’s in good company — among such greats as John Bradley, the World War II-era corpsman forever immortalized in the flag-raising over Iwo Jima — but he doesn’t brag. Real heroes rarely do.

The citation for Fonseca’s award makes it brutally clear that courage under fire comes at a heavy price.

“When you hear it read, you can’t get the kind of person he was over there,� said Sgt. Nick Elliott, 23, an Amphibious Assault Vehicle crewman from New Castle, Del., who served with Fonseca in Iraq. “It sounds good on paper, but you had to be there to know how amazing he was.�

Inside ‘Ambush Alley’

Elliott was there that day, March 23, 2003, one of the deadliest days of the ground war in Iraq. His AAV platoon was attached to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines and heading north, with orders to assault and seize a bridge over the Euphrates River near Nasiriyah, roughly 200 miles southeast of Baghdad.

To say that the assault went all to hell would be an understatement, survivors say. The ensuing firefight the Marines of Charlie Company found themselves waging on that tiny stretch of Iraqi highway that has become known as “Ambush Alley.�

Rocket-propelled grenades, machine-gun fire and mortar rounds rained down onto the Marine position, pinning Elliott, Fonseca and their comrades into a perilous situation. Then an explosion vaulted one of the unit’s 26-ton AAVs into the air, as an enemy rocket-propelled grenade finally found a fat sweet spot.

“Without concern for his own safety, Hospitalman Apprentice Fonseca braved small arms, machine gun and intense rocket-propelled grenade fire to evacuate the wounded Marines from the burning amphibious assault vehicle,� reads the recap of the fight on Fonseca’s award citation. It goes on to say that he stabilized two wounded Marines whose limbs had been severed in the battle, applying tourniquets and administering morphine.

After his medevac vehicle was disabled by enemy fire, Fonseca organized litter teams and directed the evacuation of four wounded Marines from his AAV. “He personally carried one critically wounded Marine over open ground to another vehicle,� the award says. “Following a deadly artillery barrage, he again exposed himself to enemy fire to treat wounded Marines along the perimeter.�

His award citation says all of those things. What it doesn’t say is that Fonseca had never actually seen a leg blown off before that day, yet he remained calm and poised, despite the chaos and horror around him. Or that he tossed a 6-foot, 200-pound bear of a Marine across his shoulders and hauled him through 50 yards of flying bullets.

It doesn’t say that he dragged another huge Marine to safety, all while directing medical evacuations. By the end of the day, 18 men from the company were dead and 15 more were wounded, and Fonseca had a hand in treating more than half of them.

“He’s a stand-up guy,� said Elliott, who took two hits of shrapnel to the neck and chin during the battle, one missing his carotid artery by only an inch. “Even though he’s in the Navy, I consider him a Marine.�

Other Marines from the unit — more than a dozen turned out for the event, waiting for an hour just to say hello as photographers and reporters swarmed the young sailor — agreed with Elliott’s assessment.

“The way he acted — he did watches with us, he manned a machine gun — he was just a Marine in an amtrac platoon, as far as I’m concerned,� said Staff Sgt. John Lefebvre, 31, an AAV section leader that day now assigned to Charlie Company, 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion. “We didn’t need the medal to know what kind of guy he was.�

Back home

Despite all the carnage, Fonseca emerged with only a scratch — a shrapnel cut that didn’t even need stitches. He calls himself lucky. He arrived home three months after the ambush into the arms of a relieved and happy family.

“You don’t worry about them until it happens,� said his father, retired Sgt. 1st Class Luis Fonseca Sr., a career military man who maintained HAWK surface-to-air missile systems. “You don’t worry about it. I knew he was going to do well, because this is what he loves.

“But I’m just glad to have him home in one piece.�

The sailor’s wife, Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Maria Crisostomo Fonseca — the couple met during a hospital course school — admits that she hasn’t seen her husband much in the four years they’ve been married. Four months after he returned from Iraq, Fonseca was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, and deployed to Afghanistan for six months, returning home in May.

“He loves his job, though,� she said. “He wants to go back again. It scares me, but I can’t stop him from doing what he wants to do. So, I just want to be there to support him.�

Fonseca has volunteered for combat assignments “anytime I hear anyone going out,� he said, but is now preparing for duties at the Caron Branch Medical Clinic on base, where he’ll soon be assigned to a medical unit away from the Marines.

“It’s hard just sitting here, when all of your brothers are over there,� Fonseca said. “You might not know them, but they’re still your brothers. ... I was in a Marine unit for four years and two months of my first five years in the Navy. If the Navy would let me do 20 years at a Marine unit, I would happily do it.�

And 20 years or more is exactly what he hopes to do, following in his father’s footsteps. Whether his new award will help him do that has been the subject of much speculation among his friends.

“Some people say, ‘Oh, you’ll get anything you want now,’� Fonseca said, smiling and shaking his head in disagreement. “But I make my career because I want to make it. I rely solely on myself.�

But does he think the corpsmen of the future will be forced to learn about him and the things he had to do under fire? “I don’t know … I guess,� he said, laughing, embarrassed by all of the posing for pictures and prodding questions. “They touch on that at school. But I don’t do it for that.�

C. Mark Brinkley is the Jacksonville, N.C., bureau chief for Marine Corps Times. E-mail him at cmark@marinecorpstimes.com.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-302349.php


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Navy Surgeon Awarded Bronze Star
Story Number: NNS040819-05
Release Date: 8/19/2004 10:54:00 AM



By Marine Lance Cpl. Jonathan K. Teslevich, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler Public Affairs

OKINAWA, Japan (NNS) -- A 3rd Force Service Support Group Sailor was awarded the Bronze Star Medal in a ceremony here Aug. 13 for his life-saving actions in support of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom.

Capt. Stephen F. McCartney, group surgeon, 3rd Force Service Support Group (FSSG), was recognized for his achievements as the 1st FSSG surgeon, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF), from January to June 2003.

During his tour, McCartney established Surgical Company A, Health Services Battalion, as the I MEF medical referral center. He also personally performed 1,500 patient visits, 130 admissions and 23 surgeries, and he coordinated 85 medical evacuations.

“The hardest part was witnessing the severity of the injuries we treated, McCartney said. “That is why I feel a sense of pride in the capabilities of Alpha Surgical Company. The expert staff and our patients showed amazing strengths of character when faced with tough situations.�

As an experienced vascular surgeon, he recognized two cases of limb-compromising arterial injuries and performed vascular reconstructive surgery on both, in each case saving the leg of the injured service member.

“Vascular injuries are the most dangerous, because a person can quickly succumb to the loss of blood,� McCartney explained. “It is essential that a surgical team goes in rapidly to repair and reconstruct the damaged parts of the vascular system.�

McCartney’s actions continued outside of surgery as well, working with fellow naval medical colleagues to collate data and closely analyze medical operations.
The information, findings and suggestions for improvement will greatly enhance medical care on future deployments, according to McCartney.

Receiving this award while serving with operating forces is important to McCartney, because he said he has always respected Marines and taken great pride as a member of the Navy/Marine Corps team.

“I’m humbled by this and most honored by being a recipient of a Marine Corps award,� McCartney said to Marines, Sailors, friends and family after receiving the medal.

For more news from around the fleet, visit the Navy NewsStand at www.news.navy.mil.

http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=14812


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Navy medic headed for Iraq able to see his son born
September 6, 2004, 1:58 PM


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- Military officials agreed to grant Navy medic Ed McKinney leave if he and his pregnant wife could induce labor a week before the due date.

"I didn't want to miss it. That was the only way I could be there for the birth," said McKinney, 30, a 1993 graduate of Northview High School in Grand Rapids.

Sean, the pink-cheeked son of McKinney and wife Jennifer, 29, was born Saturday evening, weighing 9 pounds, 2 ounces and stretching 22 inches.

"It was great. It was worth everything," McKinney told The Grand Rapids Press.

Doctors at Saint Mary's Mercy Medical Center in Grand Rapids began the inducing process Wednesday, then tried again Friday, before Sean was born Saturday.

"He was stubborn," Jennifer joked about her son. "I had this feeling that I had to have this baby. But it worked out."

McKinney, who scheduled to ship out to Iraq from California later this month, said he realizes he is lucky.

"I had pretty much written off seeing him until after I get back from Iraq. People are dying over there, and you never know what might happen," he said.

McKinney joined the reserves in 1999 and was mobilized in 2003 for 11 months in Okinawa, Japan. He and Jennifer were married two days before he shipped out, and he later came home for six months. When in Grand Rapids, he works as an ER patient care technician.

McKinney is attached to the 2nd battalion 24th Marines, which will be assigned to patrol duty and training the Iraqi police force.

------

Information from: The Grand Rapids Press, http://www.gr-press.com

http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw103800_20040906.htm


Ellie

[thedrifter]

1st FSSG's shock trauma unit prepare replacements with mass casualty exercise
Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group
Story Identification #: 200491391946
Story by Sgt. Luis R. Agostini



CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Sept. 13, 2004) -- The surgeons, nurses and corpsmen of 1st Force Service Support Group's Surgical Shock Trauma Platoon tested the skills of their replacements during a mass casualty exercise here Sept. 9, 2004.

The exercise is designed to test the replacement team's ability to evacuate, receive, prioritize, and treat wounded personnel while using blood and medical supplies resourcefully.

''We’re getting them to think through all the types of different things that can occur, so when it happens for real, they don’t encounter this for the first time,'' said Navy Capt. Harold Bohman, S/STP's commanding officer.

The S/STP provides immediate, lifesaving medical treatment for patients, including servicemembers, Iraqi Security Forces and enemy combatants in the Al Anbar province of Iraq.

A mass casualty is defined as treating multiple shock trauma patients who require multiple medical resources, such as resuscitation and surgery. In S/STP's environment, hordes of patients do not equate to a mass casualty classification.

The severity of the injuries, not the number of patients, determines if they're classified as a mass casualty, said Bohman, a Galesburg, Ill., native.

Using patient records and digital photos, the veteran team trained and evaluated the new platoon on how to react to any casualty situation.

The new S/STP members went through several mass casualty scenarios. Each scenario began with a radio call warning that a patient is inbound. Upon arrival, patients are taken to the emergency room where corpsmen, nurses and doctors determine which patients require immediate care. Some are treated and returned to their units, while others must be stabilized, then flown to more advanced medical facilities in Iraq for further treatment.

During the exercise, the medical unit unexpectedly received three live patients – two service members and one Iraqi. This provided the oncoming crew an opportunity to apply their lifesaving skills in a real-world scenario.

''It didn't matter whether the patients were real or not. We got them into the operating rooms they needed to be in,'' said Petty Officer 2nd Class Timothy D. Harvey, an operating room technician with S/STP.

Members of the oncoming crew watched intently as the OIF-veteran doctors removed shrapnel and inserted intravenous fluid tubes into patients.

The outbound medical team has dealt with numerous mass casualties. Since May, S/STP's veteran crew, called the ''Alpha'' team, have treated an injured Iraqi family of eight, 12 sailors injured in Ramadi by mortars and a busload of released Iraqi prisoners struck by an IED.

Many members of the new medical staff, from naval hospitals in San Diego, Camp Pendleton, Calif., and Great Lakes, Ill., have never practiced medicine in the field. Many corpsmen, like Harvey, have been trained as Fleet Marine Force corpsmen, but have little to no experience working in a combat environment. They're forced to rely on the training they received at field medical service schools, the training of their predecessors and the experience of their senior staff members.

''I learned a lot, especially with the real patients,'' said Harvey, a 28-year-old, Wellston, Ohio, native.

Last year, U.S. forces relied on a mobile shock trauma unit for immediate medical treatment during the push to Baghdad, allowing for easier evacuation of patients.

With the current phase of OIF lasting longer than the three-week Baghdad invasion, 1st FSSG has set up shock trauma facilities throughout I Marine Expeditionary Force area of operations. The S/STP medical personnel here are on call 24 hours a day, ready to support more than 25,000 I MEF Marines and sailors.

Although mobile shock trauma units proved effective last year, the same concept would not work now because casualties don't come from a centralized battlefield. Instead, they come from a much larger area and are more sporadic, said Bohman.

The platoon receives patients from hotspots like Ramadi and Fallujah, as well as various other locations where anti-Iraqi forces have mounted attacks against coalition troops.

The patients aren't the only ones who feel the effects of their injuries. Long hours and a fast-paced work environment coupled with the exposure to severe, sometimes fatal, wounds can be emotionally traumatizing and stressful for the platoon’s staff.

The best defense against the fatigue and stress associated with S/STP staff is on-the-job experience, said Bohman.

''We know how to compartmentalize emotions, at least for the moment, to get the job done,'' he said.

By the end of the six-hour exercise, the evaluators were satisfied with the newcomers' performance.

''The Marines are in good hands with the new crew,'' said Navy Lt. Kathryn J. Lacher, 36, an Alpha team critical care nurse and native of Lakeland, Fla.

The new team of shock trauma specialists will have to conduct this exercise again in seven months, when II MEF, from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., replaces I MEF next spring.

Until then, the platoon's new staff can only hope the casualties they receive are few.

''I’d rather be bored than busy, because boredom means that no one is hurt,'' said Harvey.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/200491393424/$file/MassCasualtyLearning2040909_low.jpg

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class William T. McMillan, right, a corpsman with 1st Force Service Support Group's Surgical Shock Trauma Platoon, watches as Navy Cdr. David A. Tanen, a physician with S/STP, removes shrapnel from an injured soldier during a mass casualty exercise Sept. 9, 2004, at Camp Taqaddum, Iraq. During the exercise, the medical unit unexpectedly received three live patients – two service members and one Iraqi. This provided the oncoming crew an opportunity to apply their lifesaving skills in a real-world scenario. Tanen is a 40-year-old Long Island, N.Y., native, and McMillan is a 20-year-old Knoxville, Tenn., native. Photo by: Sgt. Luis R. Agostini

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/5A7B67C362833ABB85256F0E00493892?opendocument

Ellie