-Caveat Lector- America at War Mounting casualties overwhelm American medical units By SHARON SCHMICKLE Minneapolis Star-Tribune Mar 24, 2003, 06:03
CAMP VIPER, Iraq -- U.S. forces met sporadic resistance and suffered heavy casualties Sunday in Nasiriyah, overwhelming medical units with patients. In one incident near the city located on the banks of the Euphrates River in south central Iraq, an armored personnel carrier with five U.S. Marines aboard was hit by a volley from a rocket propelled grenade, one of the Marines told doctors at a tent hospital operated by the Navy's Shock Trauma Platoon No. 8. "We got hit with RPG's inside" the carrier, the Marine said from his stretcher at the entrance to a tent that functions as an emergency room. "I went out to hit back. Then all ... hell broke loose." They were attacked with mortar, artillery and small arms fire, he said, and one Marine was killed. Other Marines nearby responded with heavy machine gun fire, he said. Crowds of Iraqi civilians were in the vicinity, he said, but he gave no account of casualties. In all, as many as 50 members of U.S. forces may have been wounded in and near Nasiriyah, said Marine officials here. One shock trauma platoon received more injured Marines than it could handle and called for help from nearby units. At least three injured Marines were sent to a British medical unit that specializes in burn treatment. The names of the casualties will not be released until their families are notified. Shock Trauma Platoon 8 and a Forward Resuscitation Surgical System team had just set up and equipped their tents a few hours before a call from a Navy evacuation station alerted them that two of the first patients would be arriving. They were among the wounded from the attack on the armored personnel carrier. Two dual-rotor CH 46 Sea Stallion helicopters dropped onto the desert near the hospital, kicking clouds of sand into the faces of stretcher-bearing Marines who were on hand to transfer the men to ambulances. "Where do you hurt?" doctors asked the men as they approached the medical tents. "My left leg," said the Marine who was most stable. His face had been burned, and he had taken shrapnel hits in the buttocks and below the left knee. "We are going to take care of you," a doctor said as his stretcher was carried into the tent. "First, we're going to give you some morphine." Even with the medication, the soldier screamed as workers cut the pants from his left leg revealing a hole where the shrapnel had hit. Doctors said his wounds were moderate, but the other Marine had more severe facial burns, shrapnel in the neck, a broken ankle and other injuries. His eyelashes and eyebrows were completely burned off his face. He shuddered and moaned as doctors worked to stabilize him, but he was alert enough to say that the armored personnel carrier "just blew up ... I was surprised that we made it out of that thing." Doctors asked him how his eyes were. "I can only open one of them," he said. "I smacked my head on the (carrier) when it blew up." Troops inside armored personnel carriers face three levels of risk, said Dr. John Perciballi, a Navy Medical Corps Captain from Pensacola, Fla. First, the explosion in the enclosed space creates the potential for fatal lung injuries that may not be immediately apparent. Second, shrapnel hits them. And third, they may suffer serious blows as their bodies are thrown by the hit. Both Marines were stable later Sunday, said Navy Lt. Commander Jim Pierce, an emergency room intensive care nurse. They were evacuated via helicopter to a larger hospital. The shock trauma platoons are designed to stabilize the wounded and then send them to other facilities. � Copyright 2003 Capitol Hill Blue <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://archive.jab.org/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
