Photo By Sgt. Judith Dacosta | Lt. Col. Albert Zakaib, the 3rd Corps Support Command officer in charge, holds an...... read more read more
On the evening of May 20, two individuals, a five-month-old boy and an adult male, were injured in a collision.
Troops brought both individuals to a checkpoint manned by Iraqi army forces and U.S. Marines. Once the patients arrived at Logistical Support Area Anaconda, the medical staff discovered that the injured were only distantly related.
Furthermore, according to Lt. Col. Todd L. Lloyd, the Joint Operations Command " Iraq, Marine Expeditionary Forces (Forward) Liaison to 3rd Corps Support Command, it was likely that the father had died during the accident making the child according to Iraqi tradition, an orphan.
Lloyd tried to reach the families of the two individuals to let them know that their loved ones were okay.
The information spawned a week-long search for the family of a nameless and possibly homeless child.
The 3rd COSCOM civil affairs team chased several leads for roughly three days to catch up with the child's remaining Bedouin parent and they met with success.
A 3rd COSCOM interpreter spoke with the injured adult male from the May 20 collision and was able to narrow the search down to a couple of nearby cities and even acquired a satellite telephone number in order to contact the mother.
Iraqis who own the phones tend to leave them turned off to save on expenses, said Lt. Col. Albert Zakaib, the 3rd COSCOM Civil Affairs OIC.
After several unsuccessful phone calls, Zakaib decided to move to plan B and coordinate with a Marine team, under the guidance of Lloyd, to track down the mother of the orphaned child and after a few days the hospital had an address to deliver the baby.
Meanwhile this baby without a name received the best possible care in the Air Force Theater Hospital.
"The baby had a skull fracture but after several tests seemed to be doing well enough to be picked up," said Air Force Capt. John Keller, a 332d Emergency Medical Group nurse. "Caring for the baby wasn't difficult," he said.
"The baby cried a lot," said Marine Sgt. Deangelo R. Brown, a 1st MEF official at the AFTH. "He wasn't used to the environment."
On May 26, after receiving daily care from nurses who fed, burped and changed the baby's diapers, the baby was healthy enough to go home.
Hasna Abdallaoui, a 3rd COSCOM civil affairs interpreter, and Zakaib went to the hospital to check in on the baby and deliver the good news that the mother had been found.
During the wait for transportation, the nurse had to get back to other duties in the hospital. So to aid the nurse, the G-5 team volunteered to baby-sit.
Abdallaoui and Zakaib enjoyed the time and took pictures to document the tiny infant's giggling and dribbling smile during their three hours of babysitting.
"It is so out of the ordinary to be involved in a case with a baby," said Zakaib. "We usually see adults or children but none this young."
"I definitely didn't expect to come to Iraq and baby-sit," said Zakaib.
Soon after, the baby flew in a Black Hawk helicopter and rode in a
couple of humvees to complete the journey home.
Few Iraqis may experience in a lifetime what one 5-month-old baby experienced in the span of a week.
He received the best medical attention currently available in theater, the attention of Air Force nurses and Army volunteer baby-sitters and finally he was personally escorted by Army and Marine troops to his home.
On May 29, Marine Gunnery Sgt. Brian Yount, a team leader on the mission to deliver the Iraqi baby, reported: 'the baby from the [MEDEVAC] was picked up by the family and the family was very happy - mission accomplished."
| Date Taken: | 06.23.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 06.23.2006 08:52 |
| Story ID: | 6935 |
| Location: |
| Web Views: | 481 |
| Downloads: | 88 |
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