KHOWST PROVINCE, Afghanistan – As the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect,” and for U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Chris Ackley, Khowst Provincial Reconstruction Team civil affairs team sergeant at Combat Outpost Sabari, the long hours of practicing medical procedures was time well spent.
Ackley, a native of Beaver Dam, Wis., helped provide medical care to an Afghan woman who received a gunshot wound during a firefight between insurgents and U.S. forces in Sabari District, July 6. According to the medic, the immediate aid the woman received was critical to her survival.
For his actions, he received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal in a small ceremony with the PRT at Forward Operating Base Salerno, July 12.
“I am pleased with Staff Sgt. Ackley’s actions in aiding the injured Afghan woman,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Brad Brewer, Khowst PRT commander from Fort Recovery, Ohio, who presided over the ceremony.
“He fell back on his training and saved her life. I am honored to have the opportunity to recognize his truly heroic act,” Brewer added.
The mission that day for Ackley and an infantry team of soldiers from 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Task Force Duke was to attend a high school graduation in Sabari District. The unit had hoped to talk with the headmaster of the school, parents, local elders and mullahs about security and a recent shura.
During the discussion, their vehicles came under attack. The team began making their way back to the trucks, questioning villagers along the way on what they knew of the attack.
As the team moved through an open area, they started to receive small arms fire. The firefight lasted around 10 minutes with no injuries to team personnel, but they received a report of an insurgent-injured civilian. The team’s combat medic ran ahead to aid the casualty. When Ackley and the rest of the team arrived, he immediately started to assist the medic in providing aid to the 36-year-old Afghan woman suffering from a gunshot wound.
As her lung began to fill with fluid, the duo put a chest seal on the wound, performed a needle decompression and started administering fluids. They monitored her vital signs, rolled her onto her side for easier breathing and called for a medical transport.
The villagers initially resisted the idea of the woman being medically airlifted. However, once they realized that she needed surgery to live and that a family member could go with her, the villagers relented. Coalition forces medevaced the patient to Forward Operating Base Salerno for further treatment.
The medic and Ackley’s actions were captured on video. When the duo had a chance to review the scene, they realized how well they worked together.
“It was like we’d been working together for 10 years” he said. “He [the medic] said I played the perfect noncommissioned officer role.”
Ackley’s training as an emergency medical technician with the Beaver Dam Fire and Rescue Department and Army medic allowed him to stay calm and provide the aid needed for his first gunshot wound victim.
“I didn’t think I deserved the award, just because for the fact that it is my job and I would do it again,” Ackley said. “But I’m grateful that I did, and it shows that people appreciate what we do out there.”
| Date Taken: | 07.12.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.15.2011 19:02 |
| Story ID: | 73820 |
| Location: | KHOWST PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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