'Gamblers' help local doctors, set up clinic in unusual location

Photo By Spc. Alexis Harrison | Pinckneyville, Ill., native Spc. Shelby Silva, a medic with the 15th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, th BSB, 2nd BCT, 1st Cav. Div., checks the blood pressure of an Iraqi man while an Iraqi doctor explains to him what's ailing him during a combined medical engagement in the Baghdad Zoo May 28. Troops from the 15th BSB, helped the Iraqi doctors with logistical support and security while they treated more than 80 patients during the three-hour operation.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

05.28.2007

Courtesy Story

2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

By Spc. Alexis Harrison
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs


BAGHDAD – You'd expect to see a veterinarian working in a zoo, but a doctor? Treating people? In the Baghdad Zoo?

That was the case as Soldiers from the 15th "Gamblers" Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd "Black Jack" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, helped conduct a medical operation with local Iraqi physicians inside the zoo May 28.

The Gamblers have been working at the city zoo ever since they moved from Forward Operating Base Falcon to FOB Prosperity this spring. Leaders from the battalion say there have been improvements across the board, but the troops wanted to take it to the next level in a cooperative medical engagement May 28. They helped set up a clinic inside a compound in the zoo to help local doctors do what they do best: help their fellow Iraqis.

The battalion's main role was to provide support for the doctors – logistics and security – while the doctors gave treatment to zoo employees and their family members from the surrounding areas.

• Date Taken: 05.28.2007
• Date Posted: 06.05.2007 13:04
• Story ID: 10681
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ