March 10, 2004
MEDEVAC
HHB drove me to BIAP. We did the ritual PX/Burger King run. I said my goodbyes. Knowing that I'll see them in two months, made it easy.
I made it over to the AMC terminal and connected with an AF PAO. We had dinner in massive chow hall--with every kind of food you can think of--and then drove over to the AF CASF hospital. I checked my bags in--they have to be searched for drugs and weapons--and met the doctors and nurses.
The patients were a mix of "walking wounded"--many guys have ear problems from IEDs-soldiers with normal medical problems like hernias, soldiers with mental problems and then the severely wounded. All of them will go first to Landstuhl.
With darkness, I started to film. We met a C-130 coming in from Kuwait with medical cases for transfer on the runway. Then, a Black Hawk came in from the Green Zone with a soldier in critical condition. They brought him in and started to work on him. After about ten minutes, it was clear that he was near death. I asked a nurse if he was going to make it, and she just quietly spoke of hope.
Our ride, a C-17, came in and they quickly began driving patients out to the aircraft. Litter after litter was carried to the ambulances, a seamless movement of bodies, a sort of tragic ballet. As other aircraft took off, they dropped flares to distract missiles.
Talk about other-worldly--how did I end up here? How did we end up here? I sat with the nurses in the ready room and we watched Survivor.
Survive this.
The critical cases were loaded. Then the walking. The ramp went up and we began our ascent--a mixture of relief and dread until we knew we were away from Baghdad.
The soldier from the Green Zone was still alive, the AF team worked on him throughout the flight. One happy ending. We hit the ground in Ramstein and the gate opened to another world--green forests, crisp air, 5 hours and a world away from Baghdad.
Ten hours later, I was home.
