Psychiatrists in Combat by Elspeth Cameron Ritchie Christopher H. Warner & Robert N. McLay

Author:Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, Christopher H. Warner & Robert N. McLay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Interestingly, though, stories that should be about fear end up being recoded into humorous self-deprecating tales. As an example, shortly after arriving to Camp Gannon, I was standing outside our aid station. I asked my Corpsmen what that strange popping sound was. As I was being tackled to the ground, I heard, “Doc, there is a sniper line of fire where you’re standing.” My Corpsmen loved this story about the rookie young doctor who was going to be their new subject matter expert. This is a well-known phenomenon of war, and it was true of my dad too. He fought in World War II, and despite being in Europe through several years of fighting, the only stories he ever told me of war involved his much loved technique for cooking crisp bacon or something of similar consequence.

What I remember most about my time in Iraq is the kinship that comes from working closely as a team on something so important, for so unrelentingly long. The bonds that come from such conditions warm my heart. Despite the moments of intense chaos, the storytelling and bonding in the fight against unrelenting boredom remain unbreakable.

I can’t avoid recalling aching for the time to come when we would be relieved and could return home. We spent hours talking about food that we were looking forward to eating, or the view of the blue ocean or a green forest. We also coped with the uncertainty that begins to swirl around returning home, worrying whether we’d be “extended” by having our relieving unit’s arrival delayed and thus our departure. Or, we might leave one area of operations only to have to go to a different area to fight.

This was the case when I was in Afghanistan; I treated Soldiers who were redirected to Afghanistan after spending time in Iraq and thinking they would soon return to the USA. Definitely, looking forward to returning home and longing for home becomes a double-edged sword that different Service Members approach differently. Some find it best to put it out of their mind; others perseverate on it.

As the date for beginning the egress out of combat grew nearer, Marines and their Corpsmen began to count down in various ways. Some looked at how many more patrols outside the wire or how many more convoys there were. Anxiety grew as everyone can imagine calamity striking on that last mission and missing the finish line. For me, that occurred on February 25, 2005, 4 days before we were scheduled to leave Camp Gannon. I was 8 ft from a 120 mm mortar round that exploded, knocking me to the ground, knocking me out, blowing out my left tympanic membrane, and peppering me with shrapnel. As was the directive on our base, I was wearing my protective flak jacket and Kevlar helmet. Thus I was spared what could have been a much more serious set of injuries . To be so close to harm and walk away, I was quite fortunate.

As is true

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