This Is What We Do

The 909th FST in action during one of the mass cal ( Massive Casaulties)



There was an Australian News team that did a documentary about the war in Afghanistan. They filmed this last fall about the medical unit and the treatment the wounded receive in Afghanistan. It was filmed at FOB Shank. The unit was the 8th FST. My unit, 909th FST relieved the 8th FST here in early Feb. The documentary filmed a day at the FOB, almost at the peak of the amount of injuries before the winter set in. Since the filming, the winter has fortunately slowed down the number of injuries. However, we still get days just like this. This is a 20 min film that very accurately shows what we do here. We met the doctors who are in the film. We overlapped them for about a day before they took off and we took over. We operate in the same OR, the same treatment bays, and the same mass confusion and rushing around that is shown on the film. Unfortunately, we hear the same screams, and feel the same pain and sometimes helplessness. The FOB is a little bigger since the film. We now have metal plates where the helicopters land. That also makes it a little easier to roll the injured into our treatment area.
Towards the end of the film, they show a 16 y/o boy who was shot and paralyzed by the Afghan Army. They have been taking care of him weekly for months. The family brings him in once a week and we debrided and dress his wounds. The family really has no where else to take him. There really isn’t any other medical facility around, unless they travel to one of the major cities, which is extremely difficult. We have continued his care since they left. He has not shown up for the last 2 weeks. He was looking pretty terminal the last few visits. We suspect he finally expired.
The room at the end of the film was the doctor’s room. It is a section of the tent, that had a wooden wall built into it to section off part of the tent to make it almost a separate room. We call it the dorm room. Some call it the brothel because it reminds them of what one looks like on TV. I think they bought out all of Amazon.com. They filled it up with so much crap, it is worst than a college dorm room. But that is ok. If that is their escape from reality here, they deserve it. I am not living in that room. I am only a Major and don’t have enough rank. The Lieutenant Colonels stay there. However, most of the evenings, all the docs go to that room and watch Sopranos or some movie because they have a TV. We don’t get any TV programs, so we just watch DVDs. I am in the big tent with 12 other guys. I can’t complain. I am doing fine.
Since the documentary was done by an Australian news team, I don’t think it will ever be shown in the US. Too bad. For those who are familiar with a documentary done by HBO a couple of years ago, something like “Bagdad ER”, this film is right in line with that. It was just released this month. I highly recommend it. The link to their website is:

“http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/ “ Click on "The Golden Hour'

Because of the bravery and courage of our young men and women in uniform, defending our nation, this is what we do.



This is all the docs from the 8th FST and the 909th FST. We are standing on the new helipad that was just placed a few weeks before our arrival. This picture was taken the day we arrived. The 8th left the next day.



This picture was during the same mass cal. You can see the hair on my head now, so I apologize for not having a haircut.



Tom