Soldiers bring medicine to local Iraqis

Photo By Aaron Rosencrans | Union City, Penn., native 1st Lt. Jon Still, medical officer, with the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, greets some patients as he ensures the operation is running smoothly during a combined medical engagement operation Jan. 25 at the Falahat girls school. This mission focused on providing care for Iraqis in a neglected area and training the Iraqi army medics to conduct their own medical missions in the future.  

TAJI, IRAQ

01.28.2008

Story by Spc. Aaron Rosencrans 

2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division

By Spc. Aaron L. Rosencrans
2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division

CAMP TAJI, Iraq — Multi-National Division – Baghdad and Iraqi soldiers hosted a combined medical engagement Jan. 25 at the Falahat girls school in Taji, which is located north of Baghdad.

The medical engagement was intended to bring medical care to a community that had been overlooked in the past.

"This area is predominantly Sunni, so many of the families have been neglected when it comes to medical care," said 1st Lt. Jon Still, and native of Union City, Penn., who serves as a medical officer and event coordinator with 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, "Warrior," 25th Infantry Division, MND-B.

In this phase of the efforts in Iraq, the MND-B Soldiers and coalition forces are working hard to train the Iraqi army to take charge of many of the responsibilities that currently fall on coalition forces.

In general, the whole country badly needs regular medical care, and the U.S. is unable to meet all of the needs of the people, said Still. So, he and other medical teams are training the Iraqi army to take over the responsibility of caring for the medical needs of their fellow Iraqis.

"We are preparing the Iraqi army medics to take over this job," said Still. "They're learning how to assess what the community needs and provide the appropriate care."

Coordinating and working with the Iraqi army has been a little bit of a challenge for some Soldiers, but the medics seemed to work through the issues easily.

"Working with the Iraqi army can be difficult because of the large language barrier, but we all focused on taking care of the people," said Spc. Nicholas Bergmooser, a native of Rocklin, Calif., who serves as a combat medic with Troop C, 2-14 14 Cav. Regt. "Sometimes, the Iraqi medics don't know everything, but that is why we're here."

"For me, working with the Iraqi army has been easy," Still said. "The (Military Transition Team) has helped out a lot getting them on board with this operation."

During the medical engagement, U.S. Army medics took a back seat and let the Iraqis take charge.

"We are putting IA medics out front to let them practice," said Still. "Our goal is to only play more of a supporting role."

For many of the Soldiers, the medical engagement wasn't their first time helping Iraqis in the area. Some have seen some of the horrifying effects of war and violent conflicts.

"The hardest thing I saw was a kid who had half of his back burned," Bergmooser said. "It was infected and not healing right. We helped dress his wounds and gave him antibiotics. He came back later and his back finally started to heal properly. It's nice to see some good come out of our efforts."

At the end of the event, there were still a lot of people waiting in line to be seen.

"We can't stay here too long because you never know what the enemy is doing while you're working here, trying to help the people," said Still. "Not being able to provide medical care to everyone is hard at first, but just being able to give them something is awesome. Some people only come for the free soccer ball and blanket; but for some, we actually have the opportunity to make a difference in their life."

• Date Taken: 01.28.2008
• Date Posted: 01.28.2008 12:30
• Story ID: 15820
• Location: TAJI, IQ