ÒWheelchairs
For Iraqi KidsÓ
Hi
Everyone!
I
encourage you all to check out the website below. In our missions over
here,
we
encounter a significant number of children with disabilities, nearly all of
which
have no means of getting around. We've been working with the creator of
this
organization since we arrived in Iraq 6 months ago. To give you an idea
of
how
many needy children are out there, when we arrived in Mosul, we had over 50
wheelchairs,
pediatric and adult. We ran out nearly 3 months ago and have since
been
trying to get more donated. In addition to the pictures on the website,
I've
attached a few from our med screens. Please pass this website on to
anyone
you
think would be interested in donating. Thank you for your support.
www.wheelchairsforiraqikids.com
Brett
ÒMedical
Screening Mission #8Ó
Hello
All,
It
seems like it's been some time since I last put out a group email. For
the
most
part, things in our sector have been pretty slow. We've been finding a
lot
of
IEDs and detaining a lot of people, but that's about it. For yesterday's
med
screen,
we rolled out with C Co to the Ibn Saydoon Boys School in the Al Mansoor
neighborhood.
The neighborhood isn't far from the FOB so it was a real quick
drive
out and back. Based on the company assessments, this isn't a pro-US
forces
part of Mosul, but as with anything, when you're giving away free stuff,
people
will come. We saw 201 people in about 2 and a half hours, so if you take
out
the mini stampede, it was a pretty efficient day. The stampede really
wasn't
a big deal, just impatient people pushing ahead of other impatient
people.
We ended up kicking about 50 people out. Beyond that, everything was
just
as typical as the previous seven missions.
Later
that afternoon I went out with a platoon from A Co to head up to FOB
Courage
for one of my medic's reenlistment. FOB Courage is where the Brigade
and
Division headquarters is located. It's located on the East side of the
Tigris
River in, as you'll see in the pictures, a much nicer part of Mosul.
This
is the site of one of Saddam's many palaces, which conveniently, we've been
using
as our headquarters building. The palace was incredible. Gold,
marble,
you
name it. The views from the balcony were pretty phenomenal as well.
After
the
reenlistment was over, I decided to ride back with A Co. They still had
about
an hour and a half left on their mission, but we were going to try and
find
Jonas' Tomb. We couldn't find it, but instead found a very large IED
buried
in the road. It turned out to be an Anti-Tank mine wired with C4 and at
least
one rocket. We called the explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) to come out
and
take care of it. 4 hours later, we finally left the scene. Thank
goodness
we
had country music playing over the internal radio or I'm pretty sure we would
have
all gone crazy sitting there waiting. It was a good find because an IED
that
large would have had catastrophic results.
So
that about sums up my excitement yesterday. I'm spending today getting
caught
up on all my paperwork and emails and hopefully getting to bed at a
decent
time tonight. Thanks to everyone who continues to support our med
screens
with all their generous donations, and to all of you for your support of
the
troops. We have two more med screens this month, and as I've been talking
about
for some time now, we are finally heading out to the western desert to do
a
med screen in a village. I go on leave in less than 3 weeks, so naturally
I'm
getting
a little excited to get a break. We've been deployed now for 166 days
and
March 1st can't come fast enough.
My
best to you all,
Brett
ÒMedical
Screening Mission #9Ó
Hello
Everyone!
Well,
as IÕve been promising for some time now, we finally went out west to do a med
screen. Knowing that most of the towns and villages to the west of Mosul
have seen little, if any, military presence, we werenÕt sure what to really
expect. To our surprise, it was probably the best med screen weÕve done.
We left early this morning for the hour drive out to the village. IÕm
pretty sure thatÕs the coldest IÕve been since arriving here. Nothing
like doing 55 with your head out of the hatch in sub-freezing weather.
After getting to the school, we linked up with a local physician who agreed to
help us with treating patients. This, too, was another first. Since
our first med screen back in September, weÕve been trying to get doctors from
the local clinics and hospitals to accompany us so we can put more of an Iraqi
face on the mission. Up until today, every doctor weÕd approached has
very adamantly declined. While having us in the town offering free health
care does take away patients from his clinic, I think in the long run it will
help because we were able to refer them on to him for future care. And
for his support, we donated some of our extra supplies and medications to his
clinic. So, in having the Iraqi doc with us, we didnÕt want to go too
long today, treating 149 patients in 2 hours.
The
people we saw today were the most courteous and patient Iraqis weÕve dealt
with. There was no shoving in line to get ahead and no lingering around
to get more free stuff. They all patiently waited their turn outside the
treatment rooms and gave heart-felt thank youÕs as they left. And as
always, they left with more stuff than they could carry. As the XO put it
in tonightÕs meeting, they may have shown up crying, but they all left smiling.
Corny, I know, but it is the truth. To everyone who continues to support
our mission with your generous donations, thank you again. We head out
again next weekend for the final med screen of the month. Hopefully it
will be as rewarding as this one. My best to you all and enjoy the pics.
Brett