thedrifter
11-19-06, 06:31 PM
Marines help Iraqi toddler recover from insurgent RPG attack
by Cpl. Ray Lewis
Third-degree burns now scar the face of a two-year-old Iraqi girl.
When insurgents shot a rocket-propelled grenade, initially aimed at a combat outpost occupied by the Marines of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, it veered off and struck a wall where the child was playing.
"She was at her house, which is behind our house, and when the blast hit the wall she was burned by the heat of the blast," said Lance Cpl. Jon Wier, a team leader with K Company.
The girl screamed in agony, said the 22-year-old machine gunner from Orange County, Calif.
Her parents ran to their front yard to get her, Wier said.
Since the Iraqis there live in a rural area that is full of palm trees and rocky roads acres away from any kind of medical facility, the parents didn't know what to do, he said.
Marines at the outpost were the girl's only hope, Wier added.
The parents sent their daughter over to the Marines with two Iraqi men, he said.
The Marines' corpsman was one of the first people to see the child.
"When I got back from patrol, I found that the little girl was here," said Navy Seaman Nicholas A. Jackson, a hospital corpsman attached to K Company.
The 26 year old from Littleton, Colo., found her bundled in blankets cradled in the arms of the two men.
The men were requesting that the girl be seen by the Marines' "doc," he said.
"Everybody knows who I am and that I help with colds and sniffles," Jackson said.
Jackson proved he walks the walk. He rushed the girl inside to assess her injury. He found the girl's wounds were bad.
"She had third-degree burns from her fingers to the left side of her face," Jackson said.
The Marines gasped at the sight of the girl's burns.
"It was crippling," Wier said. "When you saw the little girl you can see that she was in pain. You could almost feel her pain."
He wasn't the only one who felt sympathy for the child.
"I got a little emotional," said Cpl. John F. Parina Jr., a squad leader with K Company.
"I have nieces about the same age, and I just imagined one of them in the same position."
The 22-year-old machine gunner from Cleveland, Ohio, said seeing the girl's position only made him more vigilant.
"It increased my compassion for the Iraqi children and increased my hatred for the insurgents," Wier said.
They'd get the bad guys later, but now the Marines focus' was shifted on the suffering small child.
"I made sure she had dressed wounds," Jackson said. "She was comfortable around me."
He then gave her liquids to prevent her from dehydration.
She was able to drink water and get fluid through an intravenous needle, but Jackson would have to keep a close eye and redress the wounds daily.
"The girl hated seeing me for the first time because she knew that I had to redress her wounds," Jackson said.
Before Jackson and the Marines even got halfway through the field, the girl was heard screaming from the pain of the wounds being cleaned, Parina said.
"She was crying and holding her mom," he said. "We had to kind of pull her back from her mom so we could get the 'doc' to wrap her up."
After time and a few visits from Jackson and the Marines, the girl would smile and reach for candy the Marines brought, he said.
Parina was compelled to see the child.
"I brought a bag with juice boxes, candy and chocolate that my dad sent me," he said.
Jackson gave a bean-bag animal that someone sent him in the mail.
The group didn't mind giving up their gifts. They were just happy to the girl was recovering.
"Every time we left her house, I would have a warm feeling like, 'Yeah we're doing a good thing here,'" Parina said.
Even the parents began to be more comfortable around the Marines.
"They were pretty open but still skittish," Wier said. "After a while the father, then the whole family, opened up."
The girl's parents were thankful that the troops and their 'doc' restored their daughter to how she was before, he said.
"One day I heard, 'mister, mister,' and it was her," Jackson said. "She blew me a kiss and was acting like a regular kid again. It was good to see that she was out and about again."
The once-injured Iraqi girl will forever be etched in the minds of the Marines and the corpsman, Parina said.
"This is something that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life," Parina said.
Ellie
by Cpl. Ray Lewis
Third-degree burns now scar the face of a two-year-old Iraqi girl.
When insurgents shot a rocket-propelled grenade, initially aimed at a combat outpost occupied by the Marines of K Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, it veered off and struck a wall where the child was playing.
"She was at her house, which is behind our house, and when the blast hit the wall she was burned by the heat of the blast," said Lance Cpl. Jon Wier, a team leader with K Company.
The girl screamed in agony, said the 22-year-old machine gunner from Orange County, Calif.
Her parents ran to their front yard to get her, Wier said.
Since the Iraqis there live in a rural area that is full of palm trees and rocky roads acres away from any kind of medical facility, the parents didn't know what to do, he said.
Marines at the outpost were the girl's only hope, Wier added.
The parents sent their daughter over to the Marines with two Iraqi men, he said.
The Marines' corpsman was one of the first people to see the child.
"When I got back from patrol, I found that the little girl was here," said Navy Seaman Nicholas A. Jackson, a hospital corpsman attached to K Company.
The 26 year old from Littleton, Colo., found her bundled in blankets cradled in the arms of the two men.
The men were requesting that the girl be seen by the Marines' "doc," he said.
"Everybody knows who I am and that I help with colds and sniffles," Jackson said.
Jackson proved he walks the walk. He rushed the girl inside to assess her injury. He found the girl's wounds were bad.
"She had third-degree burns from her fingers to the left side of her face," Jackson said.
The Marines gasped at the sight of the girl's burns.
"It was crippling," Wier said. "When you saw the little girl you can see that she was in pain. You could almost feel her pain."
He wasn't the only one who felt sympathy for the child.
"I got a little emotional," said Cpl. John F. Parina Jr., a squad leader with K Company.
"I have nieces about the same age, and I just imagined one of them in the same position."
The 22-year-old machine gunner from Cleveland, Ohio, said seeing the girl's position only made him more vigilant.
"It increased my compassion for the Iraqi children and increased my hatred for the insurgents," Wier said.
They'd get the bad guys later, but now the Marines focus' was shifted on the suffering small child.
"I made sure she had dressed wounds," Jackson said. "She was comfortable around me."
He then gave her liquids to prevent her from dehydration.
She was able to drink water and get fluid through an intravenous needle, but Jackson would have to keep a close eye and redress the wounds daily.
"The girl hated seeing me for the first time because she knew that I had to redress her wounds," Jackson said.
Before Jackson and the Marines even got halfway through the field, the girl was heard screaming from the pain of the wounds being cleaned, Parina said.
"She was crying and holding her mom," he said. "We had to kind of pull her back from her mom so we could get the 'doc' to wrap her up."
After time and a few visits from Jackson and the Marines, the girl would smile and reach for candy the Marines brought, he said.
Parina was compelled to see the child.
"I brought a bag with juice boxes, candy and chocolate that my dad sent me," he said.
Jackson gave a bean-bag animal that someone sent him in the mail.
The group didn't mind giving up their gifts. They were just happy to the girl was recovering.
"Every time we left her house, I would have a warm feeling like, 'Yeah we're doing a good thing here,'" Parina said.
Even the parents began to be more comfortable around the Marines.
"They were pretty open but still skittish," Wier said. "After a while the father, then the whole family, opened up."
The girl's parents were thankful that the troops and their 'doc' restored their daughter to how she was before, he said.
"One day I heard, 'mister, mister,' and it was her," Jackson said. "She blew me a kiss and was acting like a regular kid again. It was good to see that she was out and about again."
The once-injured Iraqi girl will forever be etched in the minds of the Marines and the corpsman, Parina said.
"This is something that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life," Parina said.
Ellie