Juggernaut 11,054 Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 Just passing this along for those of you that may care. regards, Drew > >Capt John Dunn sends this SitRep from Lieutenant Commander Heidi Kraft MD USN. > >The Commander was deployed with the Alpha Surgical Company, 1st Medical Battalion, the First Marine Expeditionary Force, in Iraq. The doctor gives a very explicit definition of what life is like in Iraq. > >I MEF from Camp Pendleton, CA, was just replaced by II MEF, Camp Lejeune, NC. > >"Subject: Greetings all from hot, hot, hot Iraq. > >We are short indeed...although not quite as short as we had originally thought...our flight home has been posted and is showing up 3 days later than planned. The good news is that we leave in the middle of the night and arrive (all admin complete, including turning our weapons into the armory) around dinnertime at Pendleton on the same day we leave (11 hrs time difference). > >The other good news is it appears we've got commercial contract air carriers taking us home...so we don't have to worry about sleeping on the cold steel deck of an Air Force C-17. > >So...we turned over authority of the surgical company last week to our replacements, who had a serious trial by fire here in multiple ways, including multiple traumas, surgeries, increased risk to their personal safety, power outages, water outages, and camel spiders in the hospital...all in their first 4 days. But a few days ago, we heard the helicopters coming and knew they were dealing with multiple traumas, several of which were going to the OR...and we sat in our barracks and waited for them to call us if they needed us. They never did. Last week was the ceremony to mark the official end of our role here. Now we just wait. > >As the days move very slowly by, just waiting, I decided that one of the things I should work on for my own closure and therapeutic healing...is a list. The list would be a comparison: > >"Things That Were Good" about Iraq and being deployed with the Marines as one of the providers in a surgical company, and >"Things That Were Not Good." >Of course, it's quite obvious that this list will be very lopsided. But I thought I would do it anyway, hoping that somehow the trauma, the fear, the grief, the laughter, the pride and the patriotism that have marked this long seven months for me will begin to make sense, through my writing. > >Interestingly, it sort of turned into a poem. To be expected, I guess. > >Most of all it's just therapy, and by now I should be relatively good at that. Hard to do for yourself, though. > >So here goes...in reverse order of importance... > >Things That Were Good > >Sunset over the desert...almost always orange > >Sunrise over the desert...almost always red > >The childlike excitement of having fresh fruit at dinner after going weeks without it > >Being allowed to be the kind of clinician I know I can be, and want to be, with no limits placed and no doubts expressed > >But most of all, > >The United States Marines, our patients... >Walking, every day, and having literally every single person who passes by say "Hoorah, Ma'am..." > >Having them tell us, one after the other, through blinding pain or morphine-induced euphoria..."When can I get out of here? I just want to get back to my unit..." > >Meeting a young Sergeant, who had lost an eye in an explosion...he asked his surgeon if he could open the other one...when he did, he sat up and looked at the young Marines from his fire team who were being treated for superficial shrapnel wounds in the next room...he smiled, laid back down, and said, "I only have one good eye, Doc! , but I can see that my Marines are OK." > >And of course, meeting the one who threw himself on a grenade to save the men at his side...who will likely be the first Medal of Honor recipient in over 11 years... > >My friends...some of them will be lifelong in a way that is indescribable > >My patients...some of them had courage unlike anything I've ever experienced before > >My comrades, Alpha Surgical Company...some of the things witnessed will traumatize them forever, but still they provided outstanding care to these Marines, day in and day out, sometimes for days at a time with no break, for 7 endless months > >And last, but not least... Holding the hand of that dying Marine > >Things That Were Not Good > >Terrifying camel spiders, poisonous scorpions, flapping bats in the darkness, howling, territorial wild dogs, flies that insisted on landing on our faces, giant, looming mosquitoes, invisible sand flies that carry leischmaniasis > >132 degrees > >Wearing long sleeves, full pants and combat boots in 132 degrees > >Random and totally predictable power outages that led to sweating throughout the night >Sweating in places I didn't know I could sweat...like wrists, and ears > >The roar of helicopters overhead > >The resounding thud of exploding artillery in the distance > >The popping of gunfire... > >Not knowing if any of the above sounds is a good thing, or bad thing > >The siren, and the inevitable "big voice" yelling at us to take cover... > >Not knowing if that siren was on someone's DVD or if the big voice would soon follow > >The cracking sound of giant artillery rounds splitting open against rock and dirt > >The rumble of the ground... > >The shattering of the windows... > >Hiding under flak jackets and Kevlar helmets, away from the broken windows, waiting to be told we can come to the hospital...to treat the ones who were not so lucky... > >Watching the helicopter with the big red cross on the side landing at our pad > >Worse...watching Marine helicopters filled with patients landing at our pad...because we usually did not realize they were coming... > >Ushering a sobbing Marine Colonel away from the trauma bay while several of his Marines bled and cried out in pain inside > >Meeting that 21-year-old Marine with three Purple Hearts...and listening to him weep because he felt ashamed of being afraid to go back > >Telling a room full of stunned Marines in blood-soaked uniforms that their comrade, that they had tried to save, had just died of his wounds > >Trying, as if in total futility, to do anything I could, to ease the trauma of group after group...that suffered loss after loss, grief after inconsolable grief... > >Washing blood off the boots of one of our young nurses while she told me about the one who bled out in the trauma bay...and then the one who she had to tell, when he pleaded for the truth, that his best friend didn't make it... > >Listening to another of our nurses tell of the Marine who came in talking, telling her his name...about how she pleaded with him not to give up, told him that she was there for him...about how she could see his eyes go dull when he couldn't fight any longer... > >And last, but not least... > >Holding the hand of that dying Marine. > >Lieutenant Commander Heidi Kraft, MD, USN > >A member of Alpha Surgical Company, 1st Med Battalion, 1st MEF. > >"Integrity - When you do the right thing even though no one is watching." > >Not even Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha Please keep all our Troops in your prayers. Thanks, Drew Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Juggernaut 11,054 Posted February 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 ^Hey C.M. this one made me think of you!^ Thanks again! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Red Jacket 329 Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 word. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SuAside 2 Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 War, war never changes... Greatest respect for those fighting for their ideals, their country and the men by their side. PS: lt commander? what (NATO) OF-grade is that? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
getitat 609 Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 Nothing like reading this first thing in the morning at work, co-workers wondering why tears are running down my face...Ok, maybe I'm a pussy, but the stories of selfless bravery and valor our loyal fighting service people show are just awe-inspiring. I will never stop being completely overcome by these accounts. I just wish the Iraqi's would feel the same sense of obligation, and take the initiative for their own destiny, so America's finest can return home to their loved ones. Thanks for posting, Juggernaut. Guido2 in Houston Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Juggernaut 11,054 Posted February 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 (edited) SuA, Here is a link that should answer all U.S. pay grade questions. http://www.princetonreview.com/cte/article...y/paygrades.asp E-7 is wrong on the list for USMC E-7, it reads first Sgt. it should read Gunnery Sargent. 1st Sgt is E-8 in the USMC. To answer directly I'd say O-5 (lt. col.) Edited February 20, 2007 by Juggernaut Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SuAside 2 Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 I just wish the Iraqi's would feel the same sense of obligation, and take the initiative for their own destiny, so America's finest can return home to their loved ones. it's very easy to convince people others are no good, convincing them of the opposite is quite hard... either way, you're stuck with a love/hate relationship in which they feel you owe them. i doubt there's an easy answer to it all. SuA, Here is a link that should answer all U.S. pay grade questions. http://www.princetonreview.com/cte/article...y/paygrades.asp To answer directly I'd say O-5 (lt. col.) euhm, you misread, list says O-4 (Major) thanks for the list btw. Lt. Comm. in the Navy overhere makes "Frigate Captain" (even if they don't actually have a frigate. uhu, our Navy ranks suck donkeydick) PS: our puny army have 1 rank more than yours (23 vs 22), that while 2 of your ranks aren't exactly used and another seems for honor/ceremonial purposes only. smallest army in the world with the most ranks? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Juggernaut 11,054 Posted February 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 (edited) so I missed the Lt. part. (I didn't join the USMC because I was the smartest kid on the block.) anyhow I hope it answered you question to your satisfaction. Take care, D Edited February 20, 2007 by Juggernaut Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ColdWar 0 Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 though it brought tears, thanks for posting this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loki0629 55 Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 Thanks for the post Juggernaut. Reminds me of the Marines we've had to medivac out when I was there in 04-05. Here's how it would go: First you hope like hell that your wounded make it to the corpsman, then you hoped like hell that they make it to Charlie Med in Ramadi, then you hoped like hell they make it to Baghdad. If they made it that far there was a good chance they would make it to Germany and then back to the States. Sometimes, this was not the case. Funny, it's easier to keep your cool under fire than it is dealing with losing one of your own. I've been on the receiving end of that line where you are told the Marine didn't make it. I can tell you that in a split second you run the range of emotions between extreme sadness to extreme anger and it ping pongs back and forth. Damn..even now writing about it a year and half later. SuA, Ceremonial ranks? Not in our military we don't. We've handed out honorary titles (as in Honorary Marine) but I can assure you we have no ceremonial ranks. If you're looking at the Special Grades row then it would be a mistake to think the the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps is a ceremonial rank. And I really hope you don't think the Commandant of the Marine Corps is somehow a ceremonial rank also. That would be our equivalent of a Special Grade rank for Marine officers. Regards, GunnyR (Yeah, it's Gunny, as in E-7 USMC) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bvamp 604 Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 there are honor guard JOBS in all branches of the US military, but it is not rank specific, more a brigade or division of its own. (maybe one of you guys can help me explain it better to the belgian before someone takes this the wrong way) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Juggernaut 11,054 Posted February 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 (edited) I was discharged (RE-1A) from the USMC in Nov. of '93 I still serve on an honor guard with the Marine Corps League. We serve as Color Guard at local parades and ball games (our det. even did a Tigers game. they lost as always.) We also do military funerals, and firing details. mostly for our older veterans such as WWII and Korean war veterans. Active duty Marines normally handle the detail for our young KIA's However, (once a Marine, ALWAYS a Marine.) we always lend our support to a grieving community. We try to tend to the families needs and assist any way we can. At the showings, we always do what is called a "walk by". Thats when every Marine stops in front of the casket and render a proper salute. There is no rank or title in an MCL Honor Guard other than Marine. Edited February 20, 2007 by Juggernaut Quote Link to post Share on other sites
G O B 3,516 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 God bless those who serve. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SuAside 2 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 SuA,Ceremonial ranks? Not in our military we don't. We've handed out honorary titles (as in Honorary Marine) but I can assure you we have no ceremonial ranks. If you're looking at the Special Grades row then it would be a mistake to think the the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps is a ceremonial rank. And I really hope you don't think the Commandant of the Marine Corps is somehow a ceremonial rank also. That would be our equivalent of a Special Grade rank for Marine officers. Regards, GunnyR (Yeah, it's Gunny, as in E-7 USMC) Well, i took E-10 as a purely ceremonial/honor rank (one per branch), since it's a rank for the oldest E-9 in that branch (if i'm not mistaken). And it says the five stars arent used (There are no living five-star commissioned officers). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loki0629 55 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Well, i took E-10 as a purely ceremonial/honor rank (one per branch), since it's a rank for the oldest E-9 in that branch (if i'm not mistaken). And it says the five stars arent used (There are no living five-star commissioned officers). E-10 (according to that table) is actually the most senior enlisted rank in that branch of service. I can understand the confusion but the reason that there is only one is because...well, there can only be one (just like in Highlander). Seriously, THE Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps is the senior enlisted man in our branch of service. He is the direct advisor to the Commandant of the Marine Corps - who is the most senior officer. Every single enlisted Marine is subordinate to the Sergeant Major...even if they hold the same rank (Sergeant Major billets typically start at the battalion level). The same concept holds true in the other branches of service also. Personally, I'll never see those ranks. E-7 is probably as far as I'm going to go. There are days I can't wait to grow a pony tail like Cobra_76_two. I'd also like to stop running, grow a beer gut, and have a daily workout consisting of pushing the buttons on the remote. Can I have more cheese with this whine please? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Juggernaut 11,054 Posted February 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 (edited) Personally, I'll never see those ranks. E-7 is probably as far as I'm going to go. There are days I can't wait to grow a pony tail like Cobra_76_two. I'd also like to stop running, grow a beer gut, and have a daily workout consisting of pushing the buttons on the remote. Can I have more cheese with this whine please? OOH-Rah on that one Gunny! However, I am sure every Marine, seeing our boys in combat, feels a little helpless and frustrated not being able to do much from 1st Civ. Div. "Esprit de Corps" is bread into us! God Bless ya Gunny! Edited February 21, 2007 by Juggernaut Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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