Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Adam Stump | U.S. Army Sgt. Seanjohn Barksdale, a Pittsburgh native, currently serves as a licensed...... read more read more
PARWAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – A Pittsburgh native is now serving as a licensed practical nurse at the detention facility in Parwan for Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 at Parwan province.
U.S. Army Sgt. Seanjohn Barksdale is deployed from the 352nd Combat Support Hospital at Moffett Field and arrived in Afghanistan in February on an 11-month tour.
Barksdale is part of a medical staff that provides medical services for detainees held at the DFIP as well as U.S. soldiers.
“I have seen over 500 patients,” Barksdale said. “I have provided patient education on how to ensure medical health and wellness while in Afghanistan. I have advanced my study of ministry, and used my experience to assist the soldiers in my unit with coping with the deployment process.”
Barksdale said he has two main missions while deployed.
“As a non-commissioned officer, my two basic responsibilities are mission accomplishment and the welfare of soldiers,” he said. “I ensure that the mission is accomplished through maintaining the health and wellness of our fighting force by ensuring that rapid treatment and rehabilitation of our personnel takes place.”
He said medical soldiers are an important part of the mission at the detention facility as well as other military units.
“Medical readiness is key to the success of any military mission,” Barksdale said. “Soldiers do their job because they know that if something happens to them while on the battlefield, or in training, any Army medic, nurse, or medical provider will do everything in their power to save their life and ensure that they make it back home to their family. The Army spares no expense in training and developing the best medical professionals.”
Barksdale, the grandson of Tina Bryant and brother of Galone Parker of Pittsburgh, graduated from Pittsburgh High School in 2003. He joined the Army in April 2008 and is serving on his first deployment.
Barksdale said the majority of the men in his family have served in the Army, something he knew at an early age he would also do.
“My grandmother instilled the importance of providing service to God and my country early in life and made sure that I understood that everything we enjoy as Americans comes with a price,” the corporal said. “Many of the things I have seen and experienced on this tour, Americans never have to experience. It is great to have a family who has shared in the military experience and who can understand what it is to be an American soldier.”
The 43rd Military Police Brigade, Task Force Protector, a subordinate Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 command, oversees all detention operations at the detention facility in Parwan. The task force ensures the safe and humane custody, control and care of detained persons in the DFIP.
The DFIP, a state-of-the-art theater internment facility, located several kilometers from Bagram Air Field, was completed in September 2009 and occupied by detainees in late December 2009.
The DFIP is equipped with a medical facility, on-site family visitation center, vocational facilities and educational classrooms. The design of the DFIP accommodates detainee reintegration efforts and enables CJIATF-435 to better align detainee operations with the overall strategy to defeat the extremist insurgency in Afghanistan.
CJIATF-435, in partnership with the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and U.S. interagency and international partners, conducts operations in detention, corrections, the judicial sector and biometrics. CJIATF-435 is conducting a conditions-based transition of detention operations to Afghan control while promoting Rule of Law.
| Date Taken: | 07.25.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.25.2011 03:51 |
| Story ID: | 74255 |
| Location: | PARWAN PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 262 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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