Combined Joint Task Force - 82 PAO

Story by 2nd Lt. Natassia Cherne

Combat medics and a doctor from Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team disinfected and re-stitched sutures on Sayed Sharif, a native from Tupak village, a former commander of an Afghan border police unit in the Kandahar province.

Six months ago, Sharif returned to Afghanistan, after living in Iran for 16 years, and attended a police academy in Kabul. When he graduated, he became a second lieutenant in the Afghan border police.

"In the past we didn't have a stable government, but since Karzai was elected, we hope to have a stable government, that's why I came back to serve my country," Sharif said.

In September 2009, Sharif was clearing out a culvert with his men in the Kandahar province, when an anti-personal mine went off causing him to have his legs amputated. He quickly received medical attention and surgery from Canadian doctors in the Kandahar province. After his surgery he relocated to his native village in eastern Afghanistan's Nuristan province, Tupak.

When asked if he regretted his return to Afghanistan, he simply replied, "I don't regret my return to my country, I'm proud to serve my country and I lost my legs serving my country. If the ABP would take me back, I would be ready to work."

The PRT medics came across Sharif during a civil assessment in the Tupak Village. Once they heard his haunting experience and examined his sutures on both legs, U.S. Navy Lt. Jennifer Dreiling, doctor, a native of McLean, Virginia, recommended that he come to Forward Operating Base Kala Gush for treatment on the wound on his left leg because it had started to open.

The doctor and her staff cleaned the wound and re-stitched sutures to prevent them from coming undone in the future.

"I certainly have never seen anything like this, he's lucky to be alive," Dreiling said.

Sharif will come back to FOB Kala Gush in two weeks for a follow up appointment with Dreiling.

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