thedrifter
11-29-05, 09:21 AM
Posted on Tue, Nov. 29, 2005
Congressmen experience military care, up close
The U.S. lawmakers were hurt in a traffic accident in Iraq on Saturday. They were treated and evacuated to Germany.
By Tom Infield
Inquirer Staff Writer
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq - It was in 1:30 a.m. blackness that the two members of Congress landed in a Black Hawk helicopter outside the most advanced military hospital in Iraq.
Rep. Ike Skelton, a powerful Democrat from Missouri, and Rep. Tim Murphy, a relatively junior Republican from Western Pennsylvania, were learning the hard way how American soldiers and Marines are treated when they get hurt.
Within a few hours of being injured in a Baghdad-area traffic accident on Saturday, they and a third congressman had been treated at two U.S. military facilities and were on a C-17 Globemaster cargo jet bound for further care in Germany.
In a phone interview from a military hospital in Germany, Murphy said he expected to arrive in Pittsburgh last night wearing a neck brace.
"I don't have serious permanent neck injuries, but just bruised nerves and so on - some symptoms I've got to take care of," Murphy said.
Bob Hagedorn, Skelton's chief of staff, said his 73-year-old boss complained of neck pain after the wreck. "We have no reason to believe it's serious," Hagedorn said.
Col. Eli Powell, commander of the Air Force Theater Hospital at Balad Air Base, said he was roused from his bed with news that the two "high visibility" patients were on their way.
But other than that, "I treated them no different than I treat the soldiers," Powell said.
Skelton, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and Murphy, a two-termer from the Pittsburgh area, were led from the helicopter pad along a sidewalk, through a plywood door and into the emergency room of the hospital, which consists of a warren of vinyl tents.
"They had already been given diagnostic tests" at the Army Combat Surgical Hospital in Baghdad, Powell said. "We repeated a few of the diagnostic X-rays."
Powell, 44, spoke about the incident last night from a hospital corridor while wearing a khaki flight suit and a shoulder harness containing a 9mm Beretta. At home in San Antonio, Texas, he is chief surgeon of Wilford Hall Medical Center.
He said Skelton and Murphy had seemed in relatively good spirits in the four hours they were here, accompanied by a military liaison officer.
He said Murphy had joked with Maj. Alan Murdock, the chief trauma surgeon, who he said happened to be on duty. He said that both are Pittsburgh Steelers fans and that Murdock had shown Murphy his football regalia, including a Steeler hat and Terrible Towel.
The congressmen just happened to get a break in another way, Powell said. A transfer flight to Germany had already been set up for early that morning for two critically injured soldiers.
The two dignitaries, wearing the same casual clothes they had arrived in, boarded a bus with a number of soldiers and rode to the Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, a medical airlift terminal at the base. An intensive-care team was on the plane to look out for the soldiers.
The hospital seldom sees high-ranking American visitors as patients. But perhaps because these had come and gone so quickly and in the night, there was almost no talk about them yesterday in long white-vinyl corridors.
Powell said he hoped Skelton and Murphy had gotten a good impression of the hospital.
Murphy said he was extremely impressed with the military's ability to treat the wounded.
"I'm lying next to these guys - I'm watching the kind of care they get and it's just amazing to watch our medical teams go to work," Murphy said. "It's the best of the best."
Contact staff writer Tom Infield at 610-313-8205 or tinfield@phillynews.com. This article contains information from the Associated Press.
Ellie
Congressmen experience military care, up close
The U.S. lawmakers were hurt in a traffic accident in Iraq on Saturday. They were treated and evacuated to Germany.
By Tom Infield
Inquirer Staff Writer
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq - It was in 1:30 a.m. blackness that the two members of Congress landed in a Black Hawk helicopter outside the most advanced military hospital in Iraq.
Rep. Ike Skelton, a powerful Democrat from Missouri, and Rep. Tim Murphy, a relatively junior Republican from Western Pennsylvania, were learning the hard way how American soldiers and Marines are treated when they get hurt.
Within a few hours of being injured in a Baghdad-area traffic accident on Saturday, they and a third congressman had been treated at two U.S. military facilities and were on a C-17 Globemaster cargo jet bound for further care in Germany.
In a phone interview from a military hospital in Germany, Murphy said he expected to arrive in Pittsburgh last night wearing a neck brace.
"I don't have serious permanent neck injuries, but just bruised nerves and so on - some symptoms I've got to take care of," Murphy said.
Bob Hagedorn, Skelton's chief of staff, said his 73-year-old boss complained of neck pain after the wreck. "We have no reason to believe it's serious," Hagedorn said.
Col. Eli Powell, commander of the Air Force Theater Hospital at Balad Air Base, said he was roused from his bed with news that the two "high visibility" patients were on their way.
But other than that, "I treated them no different than I treat the soldiers," Powell said.
Skelton, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and Murphy, a two-termer from the Pittsburgh area, were led from the helicopter pad along a sidewalk, through a plywood door and into the emergency room of the hospital, which consists of a warren of vinyl tents.
"They had already been given diagnostic tests" at the Army Combat Surgical Hospital in Baghdad, Powell said. "We repeated a few of the diagnostic X-rays."
Powell, 44, spoke about the incident last night from a hospital corridor while wearing a khaki flight suit and a shoulder harness containing a 9mm Beretta. At home in San Antonio, Texas, he is chief surgeon of Wilford Hall Medical Center.
He said Skelton and Murphy had seemed in relatively good spirits in the four hours they were here, accompanied by a military liaison officer.
He said Murphy had joked with Maj. Alan Murdock, the chief trauma surgeon, who he said happened to be on duty. He said that both are Pittsburgh Steelers fans and that Murdock had shown Murphy his football regalia, including a Steeler hat and Terrible Towel.
The congressmen just happened to get a break in another way, Powell said. A transfer flight to Germany had already been set up for early that morning for two critically injured soldiers.
The two dignitaries, wearing the same casual clothes they had arrived in, boarded a bus with a number of soldiers and rode to the Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility, a medical airlift terminal at the base. An intensive-care team was on the plane to look out for the soldiers.
The hospital seldom sees high-ranking American visitors as patients. But perhaps because these had come and gone so quickly and in the night, there was almost no talk about them yesterday in long white-vinyl corridors.
Powell said he hoped Skelton and Murphy had gotten a good impression of the hospital.
Murphy said he was extremely impressed with the military's ability to treat the wounded.
"I'm lying next to these guys - I'm watching the kind of care they get and it's just amazing to watch our medical teams go to work," Murphy said. "It's the best of the best."
Contact staff writer Tom Infield at 610-313-8205 or tinfield@phillynews.com. This article contains information from the Associated Press.
Ellie