This story is part of another one that needed it’s own post to talk about. This one I think it the first story that I have written about Iraq that is not from my blog. I wrote about is briefly in my first post on the website. Here is the full story.

Every time it seems that I talk to the Iraq Police or Army there is always medical issues people are dealing with. For the most part it is simple problems such as bug bites or a common cold. There are a few times that have been more problematic such as much needed dental work or needing specialized medication for such things as high blood pressure.

For the most part I am doing all of this under the watchful eyes of the platoon I am with. Because when I am working with the locals, I get tunnel vision. So to ensure that I do not do anything stupid I have someone near me. Well this time we where working on repairing a bridge so everyone was busy. Our interpreter who I shall call “Bob” said that there was a person that needed to be seen. He could not move so I had to come to him. This is where is gets interesting.

The interpreter “Bob” was following a Iraq Army officer and I was following Bob. It became apparent that the patient was further away then I thought. Before I knew it I was about 150+yards away from the nearest guy in my unit. Then I saw the officer go into a room in a mud building that looked more like a apartment set up then anything else. That little voice in my head was going crazy about how stupid I was being. But these people do not have medical care on the level that we do and I may be the best option for care for who knows how long.

So I enter the room and because of the difference in lighting I could not see anything to the point of being blind. So I am mentally going over my actions up until now. Lets see, going away from my platoon, following people I barely know, in a small room not knowing what’s in it and temporally blind. Great. If I get killed, I will never live this one down.

I finally get adjusted to the room light and see the guy that needs my help. The problem was that he could not get up or stand up. I took a look at his lower back and felt that there was some moderate swelling and inflammation. I asked about past history but got nothing worth writing about. I end up giving him some pain meds and some cream for the back to help out with the swelling. Also I gave him a dollar make sure that he does not have to deal with unnecessary drama at the Iraqi clinics.

The only thing that I was concerned about while I was treating him was that there where three guys with Aks to my back that I could not see. So if they tried to do something crazy, there was not much I could have done. Also I think just a few weeks later a US service member was killed doing something similar to what I did. One of the reasons why I never told this story to my wife at the time.

But on all I am glad I did it. Was it crazy, yes. Stupid, oh defiantly. Necessary, I think so. But it is stuff like this that made the entire deployment worth doing.