Story and photo by Spc. Gretel Sharpee
The two new doctors who arrived in northern Iraq to join the 118th Support Medical Battalion, from Concord, Mass., are more than just outstanding doctors, they're family.
"Growing up in my family, visiting my dad at work in the hospital, I just always knew being a doctor was what I was going to do," said Capt. Donald Kosiak Jr., who has been in the Army National Guard for six years. "It was the same with the Army; it was just something you did, if you were in my family, to serve the greater good."
Kosiak and his father, Col. Donald Kosiak, arrived in Mosul to fill two doctor positions in the final three months of the 118th's year-long deployment.
Col. Kosiak is working in Mosul at the 67th Combat Support Hospital (CSH), the only Multinational Forces hospital in northern Iraq. His duties as the medical officer in charge of 118th CSH operations involve overseeing the daily sick-call services where Soldiers can come if they have a non-emergency medical concern. He and his staff also respond to emergencies.
After his first month in Mosul, Col. Kosiak, who operates his own family practice in Wishek, N.D., talked about his admiration for the CSH and his staff.
"This facility is amazing," he said. "It is as good as any small hospital in the States, and even better when you think of all the medical specialty personnel located right here. But what I truly appreciate is the staff. Their motivation to learn and concern for each patient is outstanding."
Capt. Kosiak is located on the other side of the Tigris River, which cuts the city of Mosul in half. He serves as the officer in charge of the second largest aid station in the city, located on Forward Operating Base Freedom.
Capt. Kosiak, who is an emergency room physician for Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., hopes to share his knowledge of pre-hospital care with the Soldiers who make up his staff at the Freedom Aid Station.
"I hope that during my stay here, I can use my education to make the medical professionals I work with the best they can be," said Capt. Kosiak, who holds weekly medical classes on Freedom, as emergencies permit, to work toward his goal.
With two members of the Kosiak family in Iraq, family members left at home have double the concern for what happens here.
Col. Kosiak's wife and Capt. Kosiak's mother, Francine, may have twice the worrying to do now, but at least it is for a shorter amount of time then it would have been if they had deployed at different times, said Capt. Kosiak.
Capt. Kosiak, whose own family includes wife, Shelly, and three children, Alexis, 9, Abby, 7, and Carter, 5, states that while it might be hard to be gone now, the benefits of having worked in a combat environment will only make his skills stronger when he returns home.
Even though Col. Kosiak is deployed at age 54, he doesn't mind.
"I don't mind helping the Soldiers who are out fighting, I just hope that we can accomplish our mission here so my grandchildren won't have to be in the same place I am," said Col. Kosiak.
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