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FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq (January 14, 2008) - U.S.
soldiers' quick thinking and care helped save the life of an Iraqi
man in Arab Jabour, Jan. 7.
Soldiers of 153rd Military Police Company, Delaware National
Guard, were on a mission to survey the site for a future police
station with engineers from a construction company.
Arriving at the site, the convoy's lead vehicle began making a
U-turn when a white pickup truck came speeding toward them. The
gunner sounded the siren on the Humvee to stop the vehicle. The
pickup driver stopped the truck, got out and began frantically
waving his arms.
Army Staff Sgt. Bruce Ashby, the lead truck commander, did not
understand the Iraqi's cries but knew something was wrong by his
facial expressions.
"He had this frantic look on his face, was motioning his arms to
indicate an explosion," said Ashby, a native of Smyrna, Del.
Ashby got out of the Humvee and approached the truck with a
second soldier.
The man, still motioning, pointed to his leg and then to the
back of the truck. In the back of the truck, surrounded by two
other men offering comfort, was a man, grunting and shaking in
pain. The man, a stocky, mustached, middle-aged Arab Jabour
resident, was splattered in blood on his left side. His clothes
were torn by shrapnel, and his left leg, dangling off the back of
the truck, was missing below the calf and dripping blood.
Ashby, a New Castle County, Del., police officer, is trained as
a first responder, but this was the first amputation he had
encountered, he said. "When you come across a situation like that,
you don't have time to think. You just react," Ashby said.
He quickly applied a tourniquet band on the injured man and
directed the other soldier to get a medic and a stretcher.
Army Spc. Edward Graves arrived on the scene quickly. As a
combat medic, former firefighter and a code enforcement officer in
Dover, Del., Graves is experienced in treating casualties. Even
with his experience, the Harly, Del., native knew at first glance
his skills were not enough. "We had to get him up the medical
chain," Graves said.
The decision was made to evacuate the man, Mohammed Ali Abas, to
the nearest trauma center at Patrol Base Murray, manned by soldiers
of the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry
Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
As the vehicles prepared to escort the Iraqis to the patrol
base, Graves continued to check the wounded man's airway and to
stop major bleeding. Abas' left arm was severely cut above the
elbow, requiring another tourniquet band.
"Your training just comes back to you, especially your military
training," Graves said, explaining his focus despite the wails of
Abas' brother and friend in the back of the truck. "It kind of
becomes second nature; you mentally get rid of (the
distractions)."
At the patrol base, medics were alerted to the incoming casualty
and met the soldiers as they arrived with the victim. Seconds after
pulling in to the trauma center, the medics rushed Abas to the
battalion care center. Once inside, the medics began to monitor
Abas' vital signs, started an intravenous line and cut off his
clothes to better assess the wounds.
Outside the clinic, Abas' brother, Ehsan, sat by the door,
crying for his brother, with two friends by his side. Army Lt. Col
Ken Adgie, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment commander, joined
the group to add his own words of comfort and to determine what
exactly had happened.
"Your brother is going to be OK," he said, assuring Ehsan the
medics were skilled and would do everything possible for him.
Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Hee-Choon S. Lee, 1st-30th Infantry Regiment
battalion surgeon, dressed Abas' amputation and wounds. Lee said he
was concerned with Abas' low blood oxygen level. The percent of
oxygen saturation in his blood was hovering around 80 percent;
normally, the number is between 99 to 100 percent.
Lee also was worried about a possible brain injury.
"He was not talking to us, not responsive, but moaning with
pain," Lee said. "That tells me he may have had a brain
concussion."
Assessing the case as very urgent, Lee decided to transfer Abas
to the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad.
As the doctors worked inside, Adgie went to work ascertaining
the day's events. Through a translator, Adgie learned that Abas had
struck an improvised explosive device around his house, about 200
meters away from a school. An explosives ordnance disposal team
determined the IED was made of four 57 mm mortars.
The morning of Jan. 8, Abas was in stable condition after
surgery at the 86th CSH, recovering in the intensive care unit,
said 1st Lt. Kristina Moffett, ICU charge officer.
"We probably saved a life," said 1st Lt. Daniel DeFlaviis, a
Delaware state trooper and member of 153rd Military Police
Company.
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