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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – When Capt. Aaron Berg and his interpreter, flanked by a security detail, walk into the Garrison Support Unit clinic of 1st Brigade, 205th Corps, Afghan National Army, on Camp Hero, Afghanistan, it’s obvious he’s been here before. He greets Afghan soldiers by name, even asking one about his workout at the gym on a previous night. Those with whom Berg has been working more closely greet him with handshakes and hugs. Berg and his interpreter, Haroon, are invited into 205th Corps surgeon Col. Mohhakim Zahidi’s office.
“So how’s everything going with your planning for the runoff elections?” Berg asks after an exchange of pleasantries, getting to the business at hand.
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Berg is a medical service corps officer from Sigourney, Iowa, currently serving as deputy chief of the Afghan National Security Forces Medical Development team, which falls under the Regional Command (South) and 4th Infantry Division Surgeon section.
Maj. James Schmid, senior physician assistant, RC(S) and 4th Infantry Division, is chief of the three-man team in charge of the work he, Berg and Australian Army Warrant Officer 2 Neil Atkins have been doing now for nearly a year.
Berg is a prior-enlisted Army reservist who served for six years, which included a tour to Iraq, during the early years of Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 308th Quartermaster Company.
He said 9/11 pushed him to enlist in 2002, but it was the camaraderie and sense of greater purpose he found in serving that compelled him to become an officer through ROTC. He commissioned in May 2010 and has been stationed at Fort Carson for four years, serving in a variety of medical officer positions, most recently as a battalion medical officer and company executive officer, until the 4th Infantry Division Surgeon section brought him in to deploy to Afghanistan.
“This job allows me to interact with Afghans and assist them to improve their situation,” Berg said.
Lt. Col. Christian Richards, deputy surgeon, RC(S), 4th Infantry Division, said one of the main efforts of the Division Surgeon section has been ANSF medical development.
“We knew they had some shortfalls and needed some assistance with medical sustainability,” he said.
To help the ANSF establish those sustainable practices, Richards said Schmid, Berg and Atkins have done a lot of hard work.
One of the successes Richards singled out is the Medical Operations Planning course, one of a handful of courses they have created that range from higher-level medical operations, to training that teaches soldiers how to deal with injuries at the lowest levels of care, such as Combat Lifesaver training, combat medic training and Tactical Combat Casualty Care. All the courses they’ve developed and conducted with the ANSF are designed so those who become proficient in the tasks then train other soldiers.
“We try to create train-the-trainer courses to make the training sustainable,” said Schmid. “If you just teach people the skills, without training people who can continue the courses, you’ve lost an opportunity to make lasting change,” he said.
This focus on training the Afghan soldiers in a way they can then teach their own people has been one of the ANSF Medical Development team’s most important accomplishments, said Richards.
“Having those guys in those units being trained, so they can teach those classes in the future to their folks is a big success,” he said.
The ANSF Medical Development team has also created a medical evacuation card that describes first-line medical care and evacuation steps in Pashtu and Dari—much like the U.S. 9-line medevac procedures - that includes graphics for those who cannot read. They’ve created and printed posters that explain and visually show how personal protective equipment should be worn. And they are in the process of finishing a medical operations planning flip book, with Col. Zahidi’s and his staff’s guidance, which they hope to have in the hands of ANA medical planners soon.
“I would say ANSF Medical Development team has been successful because the fatality rates (among ANA wounded in action) have dropped by about 10 percent since we’ve been here,” said Richards.
He also said that the 205th Corps has more CLS trained soldiers than they’ve had in recent times, and ANSF Medical Development has assisted the 205th Corps in acquiring approximately 2,000 medical aid bags.
As Schmid sees it, his team’s success can be seen in the progress made by the Afghans in three main areas.
“The ANSF have increasingly been performing their own casualty evacuations, providing treatment in their own facilities, and the fatality rates of wounded ANSF are dropping,” he said.
“We’ve actually had a lot of short term successes that I hope will continue.”
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The surgeon’s office at Camp Hero where Berg meets with Zahidi and his staff is decorated with the usual official adornments: a centralized photograph of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, maps, copies of some of the posters Berg and his team helped create and print. Next to Zahidi, who is seated in an armchair near the room’s only window, stands a five-foot-tall armoire that houses, among the books, papers and photos, an Army Commendation Medal certificate. On top of the armoire is a framed keepsake from the Australian army. With the official meeting now over, Berg reaches into his pocket and pulls out another bit of memorabilia for Zahidi, to show the ANA surgeon his gratitude for all the work they’ve done together: A 4th Infantry Division Ivy Leaf patch and one of Berg’s Ranger tabs. Zahidi graciously accepts them.
On his way out the door, Berg runs into Sgt. Maj. Ali Asghar Hussaini, 205th Corps Surgeon sergeant major, whom he met during the first medical operations planning course, and spends a moment expressing his gratitude to Hussaini for his leadership.
With less than a month remaining on his tour, Berg knows he might not get a chance to see his ANA friends again before he heads home, so he takes a moment to exchange contact information with Hussaini so they can stay in touch. In watching Berg’s interactions with Hussaini and the other ANA soldiers, it becomes apparent that Schmid’s, Berg’s and Atkinson’s success is not about posters or booklets or training courses but about helping fellow soldiers.
| Date Taken: | 06.01.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.07.2014 14:24 |
| Story ID: | 132426 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Hometown: | SIGOURNEY, IA, US |
| Web Views: | 277 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, 4th Infantry Division medical officers help ANSF develop sustainable medical practices, by MSG Brock Jones, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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