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Suicide bomber detonates during IA soccer game

Photo By Spc. Leigh Campbell | Sgt. Paul Crisp, surgical technician, 47th Combat Support Hospital, Capt. Steven...... read more read more

MOSUL, IRAQ

08.07.2006

Courtesy Story

138th Public Affairs Detachment

by Spc. L.C. Campbell
138th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

MOSUL, Iraq (August 7, 2006) – Anti-Iraqi forces present new challenges to the medical field almost daily with their means to disrupt the positive progress that Iraq is making towards reform.

Capt. Corbin Partridge, oral and maxillofacial surgeon, 47th Combat Support Hospital, and native of Salina, Utah, was faced with one of these challenges August 3 when a patient was brought to the operating room after a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated in Al Hadr, Iraq.

Second battalions Iraqi Army Soldiers were playing soccer while family members watched when a Toyota pick-up truck exploded, killing 11 and injuring 24.

The Iraqi citizen that Partridge treated suffered shrapnel wounds just beneath his right eye. According to Partridge, this type of case is categorized as a maxillofacial trauma.

The piece of shrapnel had destroyed the bottom of the eye socket and cheekbone.

Partridge's challenge was to reconstruct those two facial features. First Partridge and Sgt. Paul Crisp, surgical technician, 47th CSH, had to remove any pieces of shrapnel and dirt that remained in the wound before the reconstruction could begin.

Partridge used a metal mesh to reconstruct the eye socket. Partridge and Crisp cut the mesh to make sure that it fit as perfectly as possible when put in place. After the mesh was screwed into place and the eye socket was complete. Partridge could then begin to reconstruct the cheekbone. The cheekbone was constructed with a piece of titanium that was shaped to match the opposite cheek bone; it was then screwed into place.

"This gentleman is extremely lucky," said Partridge. "This surgery went very well and I am pleased with its outcome."

Partridge joined the National Guard in 1993 as a combat engineer to help pay for college, he graduated Southern Utah University with a bachelors of art in biology and a minor in chemistry. While at Southern Utah he met his wife Lori.

Partridge and his wife have two children. "They support me while I am over here," said Partridge, "but they would like me to come home."

After finishing his undergraduate degree Partridge signed up for the Health Professions Scholarship Program. This scholarship was created to give people seeking health professions the necessary education, and to gain experiences while being in the armed forces.

Partridge did his residency at the Indiana University Medical Center; he was in delayed status during this time, educational delay.

"I was still in the military, they were just delaying me into coming to active duty," said Partridge. "The way it works is I went through three years of schooling with the Health Professions Scholarship Program, so I have to return three year to the military as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, but I was on educational delay because I went into a civilian residency."

Partridge had always wanted to be an oral and maxillofacial surgeon; he discovered the profession had a lot of diversity when talking to a friend that was pursuing the profession.

"We are able to work in our own offices, as well as work at the hospital," said Partridge. "We are predominate surgeons when it involves facial traumas. All of the patients I see here in Iraq are facial trauma."

According to Partridge, he gets a lot of satisfaction from his job here by seeing how thankful the Iraqi people are after their surgeries, especially when some of the patients heal from terrible accidents.

"I felt like I was very patient and a good man before, but just being here has made me understand patience even more and to be more humble with what we have," said Partridge. "This experience has made me a better doctor and surgeon, but it has also made me a better man, because I have learned patience and understanding of what people go through in life."