AFGHAN JOURNAL

June 16:

"We saved a life today...

It was glorious."

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We saved a life today.

Early this morning, there was a commotion at the front gate. A man had brought his wife to our FOB for medical treatment - his small son had accidentally shot his pregnant wife in the abdomen with an AK-47 from their home. The bullet had ripped through her stomach, leaving an exit wound with her intestines spilling out of her side. The husband had wrapped his wife in a blanket and immediately rushed to our base for help.

Our combat medic is a young man in his early 20s. He has been trained to care for gunshot wounds, trauma, even delivering babies. He was not prepared for this emotionally. Hands shaking, he tended to the woman.

Language and cultural norms were a huge problem - whenever our medic uncovered part of the woman's body, her husband fought to cover it back up. Even when "Doc" rolled up the woman's sleeve to insert an IV in her arm, her husband put the blanket on her arm, so her skin was not exposed. "Doc" had to bandage the abdominal wound behind the blanket.

The 508th's Platoon Sergeant immediately sent up a MEDEVAC request for helicopter airlift to a hospital. But the clock was ticking - the woman was nine months pregnant, and both her life and the baby's were in critical condition, waiting for more advanced medical facilities and support.

Meanwhile, an argument broke out with some family members who had come along. The woman's parents did not want the woman to leave the area, going so far as to say they would prefer that she die there, near their home, rather than leave in our helicopter. The woman's husband disagreed, and eventually they gave in. We resumed our wait for the MEDEVAC.

"Doc" decided the woman needed morphine to prevent her from shock. This would normally be against medical advice for a pregnant woman, but "Doc" was concerned he could lose them both - so he administered enough morphine to "take the edge off" her pain and calm her a bit. (It's amazing what the Army will train and allow young men to do in a medical emergency - all Army combat medics carry morphine, which would never be allowed to be given by anyone other than a licensed physician in the US.)

The ABP were with us the whole time, maintaining crowd control, and generally helping maintain calm. Meanwhile, we waited.

The helicopter arrived a little over an hour later, swooped down and landed in a rush, and then took off after the US Soldiers took the woman to the chopper on a litter. Off they went, along with many prayers and hopes that our efforts wouldn't be in vain.

Later than afternoon, we got an update over our radio net: Mother and baby were both fine, and the baby had been delivered - in good health. We were overjoyed, as were the ABP. The ABP Commander thanked us, saying how this proved to the local villagers that "America is good!"

The young medic is being put up for a medal, as well he should be. I saw him light up a cigarette after the helicopter left, saying how he needed to calm down.

Then he went off to find something to drink with caffeine in it - he had some blood and intestinal parts to clean up in his makeshift clinic. He felt more relief than joy when he heard how he had saved a life.

We scored a victory today, without firing a single shot. We beat the devil at his own game. We helped a woman and her baby cheat death. It was glorious.