1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs

Story by Spc. Mike MacLeod

CAMP RAMADI, Iraq – On the day a dedication was made here to Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, a Navy SEAL who received the Medal of Honor for shielding his team members from a grenade with his body during the second Battle of Ramadi in the fall of 2006, a Navy Corpsman remembered another special operations forces casualty.

"I had a Delta operator come in with a live [rocket-propelled grenade] round embedded in his spine. I had to get [explosive ordnance disposal] before I could do anything," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Christopher Rebana, a hospital corpsman with the Regimental Combat Team 6 regimental aid station, recounting how rough Al Anbar province had been just a few years ago.

"I've been in cities all over Iraq, and eastern Ramadi was the worst combat zone I've seen. It was like Chechnya," said the corpsman, nicknamed "Muharib," or warrior, by the Iraqis who knew him.

As the senior enlisted leader at the Camp Ramadi regimental aid station, Rebana was working hand in hand with his replacement, Sgt. 1st Class Richard Ortiz, as paratroopers of 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division replace the Marines (and Navy corpsmen) of RCT-6.

The times have changed. RCT-6 did not lose a single Marine during its nine-month deployment.

"I couldn't have asked for a better crew to transition with," said Rebana." I can see their professionalism and their dedication. It's really great that my junior guys get to see how their Army counterparts treat their patients.

"Also, as we were transitioning out of here, we had to reduce our footprint and supplies. They brought a ton of supplies — that's great. Some of their paratrooper stories are pretty good, too," he said, laughing.

"I've learned that we're all Americans. One of the things I have learned in the combat zone is that we have a tendency of pawning people off if they don't fall under our chain of command to get treatment. Sgt. Ortiz says, 'Hey, if it's going to help a soldier or a Marine, hey, let's do it.' That's really striking. I really appreciate that."

Both Rebana and Ortiz have 15 years of service, but while Rebana is on his third combat deployment, this is Ortiz's first.

"Before coming here, I often asked myself what I could bring to the fight," said Ortiz, who volunteered for the mission after serving as a liaison to wounded warriors coming through Landstuhl, Germany. "Most of my medics have deployed before, so, if anything, I thought I would be learning from them."

Ortiz and his wife prayed that he be put in the places where his hospital experience would be most useful, he said.

"Well, here we are, mission changes. We're setting up an aid station, and I have experience there. I've been teaching these guys how to run a sick call, and they say, 'Wow, sergeant, we've never had to do this before.' It turns out, there's a lot I have to offer," he said.

Rebana and Ortiz agreed that paratroopers and corpsmen have much in common. "They're just as crazy as we are, and I mean that in a good way," said Ortiz, who pointed to the corpsman's motto, "through the gates of hell for a wounded Marine."

"I remember walking on a ship with my father, a Marine who retired after 22 years," said Ortiz. "He saluted and no one else did. I didn't know why then. When I come home from work dirty and tired, I tell my kids, this is what it's about. That's the biggest thing the military has instilled in me, to think of people other than myself."

"When you get called 'doc,' that's a special thing," said Rebana. "I tell my Sailors, 'You can't be selfish; you have to be willing to sacrifice not only your life but your time. You're going to be scared, but you can't show your Marines that you're scared. Honor the history of the hospital corps, and remember there are people out there doing it every day. You have to make sure you don't get complacent."

Rebana's father retired from the Navy after 20 years. Ortiz's family military connections include not only his retired Marine father, but his grandfather (retired chief in the Navy) and two uncles (retired master chief and retired corpsman).

"Being the only Army, I get it when I go home," said Ortiz, "but one card I have is that I'm a paratrooper, and none of them can compete with that."

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