MEDCEUR fosters international relations, friendship

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Louis Martinez
  • 48th Medical Group
RAF LAKENHEATH, England --  "Alarm Red, MOPP 2, FPCON Delta"

Well, I'm hunkered down, under attack as a participant in RAF Lakenheath's NATO Operations Evaluation. Fortunately the danger is not real and, although we are displaying a sense of urgency at our simulated deployed expeditionary medical support, there is no fear (other than a healthy fear of the inspectors who are judging our wing).

It seems like a good time to contemplate some of the things I like about being a doctor in the Air Force.

In 2001, I was in private practice with a group in the coastal resort of Wilmington, North Carolina. In 2002, I joined the Air Force and was assigned to Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. There are a myriad of reasons that compelled me to make the change. My wife and I had both grown up as Air Force 'brats' so we had a reasonable idea of the life we were getting ourselves into: the frequent moves, leaving good friends behind periodically, having little control over where we are sent, the possibility of family separation during TDYs and deployments. As it turns out, these aspects of military life result in some of the most positive components of the military community, a sense of camaraderie and cooperation and strong friendships. This is in marked contrast to my civilian experience of competition and living in a neighborhood where we hardly even got to know any of the people who lived around us.

I've had some amazing experiences in my Air Force career so far, ranging from the aerospace medicine course/survival training, to the opportunity to participate in a NASA space shuttle launch as a flight doctor (in the South of France, no less!).

Recently, I participated in Medical Central and Eastern Europe Exercise 2007, a joint, combined, multinational disaster response exercise comprised of participants from Eastern European Partnership for Peace nations. It took place in the People's Republic of Moldova. Well, my first response to the question "Would you like to go on a two week mission to Moldova" was "Sure! Where is it?" Located between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova is a former member of the Soviet Union which declared independence in 1991. The country has yet to recover economically from the collapse of the Soviet Union that precipitated the change, but is fervently striving to forge ahead. The living standards are poor, incomes are low, but the spirits of the great people these are high and they are optimistic about a future in which they will catch up with Western Europe.

"Alarm Red MOPP 4 FPCON Delta"
OK, sorry for the interruption. It's kind of difficult to write with these bulky rubber gloves on and the inside of my mask seems to be fogging up for some reason, but I'll continue.

Our team deployed with an EMEDS plus 10 on two C-130s. Landing at Chisinau International Airport, we were whisked onto two buses. We sped through the city led by police escorts, sirens blaring and with all traffic in our route blocked. Speeding through red lights and attracting a lot of attention, I imagined this must have the same feel as a Presidential motorcade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Our journey took us to Camp Bulboaca, a former Soviet Military training facility near the capital city of Chisinau. Having grown up during the cold war, it was a strange feeling to walk through the camp with its rusted out tank simulators, firing range covered with burned out military vehicles, and decades' old obsolete obstacle courses and parachute training equipment. This was where our former enemy trained for WWII while we did likewise at home. Now here we were, on a mission to build a friendship between nations and show a sign of commitment to helping democracy succeed in this part of the world. Our work might perhaps help their nation learn the way of NATO and the European Union.

Participants from 13 nations attended the exercise, but the primary participants were the U.S., with our EMEDS, and Moldova, with its medical detachment - a mobile field hospital transported by trucks. Although their setup was dated by our standards, it was a clever model with mobile operating rooms, pharmacy, lab, etc. What the system lacked in modern technology, it compensated for in functionality. Their mobile operating rooms contained rotating operating tables that took in patients on one side of the truck and sent them out the other into the post operation area. They also included a combat stress treatment component. We collocated our setups to facilitate cooperation and decided to work with a common triage point. We could then distribute incoming patients between the two facilities to create the synergistic effect of our combined facilities. Medical personnel from the remaining countries worked in shifts within these two facilities.

The exercise simulated a humanitarian relief operation in which we were flown in to assist in response to a major earthquake. A series of aftershocks created a steady flow of casualties. The host nation responded to calls with rotary wing and ground transport, and 117 casualties flowed through triage to both facilities. It was a challenge working through language barriers, but we were able to utilize Russian interpreters, a few of the participants who spoke excellent English, and our International Health Specialists to integrate activities and achieve an integrated, seamless response. We had our own exercise evaluation team to keep throwing wrenches into the works, whenever our multinational team was performing too smoothly.

Living conditions weren't quite austere, but not exactly cushy. We slept in large barracks with 100 cots per room, lined up head to toe. Breakfast and dinner were contracted with a local airline caterer, neatly packed meals designed to fit on an airline tray. Lunch was standard issue MRE. We were able to get a break from the heat of the days with a refreshing three-minute shower in sulfur water that was so pungent it made your eyes water. We built camaraderie and fostered international relations each evening in the combat bar, a covered outdoor tent that served the best (and only) spirits this side of Chisinau. The bonds that were forged among our own we brought home, and they are carried on within the 48th Medical Group daily. Our short deployment contributed to our cooperation, friendship and sense of belonging to a team.

The mission was a good example of the fact that there is more to military medicine than being a doc who just wears a uniform into work each day. We are cogs in a much larger machine, the military arm of our nation, sometimes supporting military operations and sometimes playing a role in diplomacy. I find being a part of this larger mission more rewarding than the day-to-day routine of helping individual patients through their illnesses. One toast I recall (vaguely) from a wonderful evening spent having dinner at the home of the commander of Moldovan medical forces perhaps captured the spirit of the moment: "This dinner is a gathering of new friends. May it represent a friendship between our nations and the hope for a better future for our world." During the final formation of the closing ceremony, where all the participants were lined up, rendering a respectful salute to the flags of all thirteen nations, East coming together with West; one felt this was a brief, but significant moment in history, an experience made possible by the decision to serve.

"Alarm Green, MOPP 0, FPCON Bravo"...