What was your reaction the first time you witnessed the horrors of war?

2017-09-22T13:17:11-04:00

After a deployment to Iraq as an MP and a deployment to Afghanistan as a Black Hawk crew chief in an Air Assault Company, I've been fortunate to not have witnessed the horrors of war so far. I now find myself in a MEDEVAC detachment that's just over a year old with an excursion planned in the not so distant future.

Coming from a line of work where seeing death and dismemberment isn't that commonplace and diving into one where that's my job, I've had questions about how I'll react to it and how it will impact me, as many of us do when it's an unknown to us.

For the other MEDEVAC crew chiefs out there, what was it like for you? Did your training kick in and make it business as usual? Was there a "fascination", so to speak? Did you have a hard time with it? What did you do to prepare yourself or come to terms with it?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 22 at 2017 1:22 PM

2017-09-22T13:22:25-04:00

I was never given the honor of going downrange. Volunteered for two deployments and shot down as being “non essential”. That said, first time I saw the elephant was at my front door.

July 4th 2012, out in the country west of Tucson. Heard a string of pops at 9:30, and ten minutes later my door bell rings off the hook. Illegal is laying on the ground holding his chest and shouting for help in Spanish. We call local LE, they clear the scene, and I offer to go out and help translated. We both found out neither of us had treated a gunshot wound before, and got to work.

My ears were buzzing from the adrenaline rush, and yeah my training kicked in. When the fecal matter hits the round circular object, you revert to the most basic level of training. CLS helped. All there was to it.

Response by SP5 Peter Keane made Sep 22 at 2017 1:48 PM

2017-09-22T13:48:01-04:00

25 Mar 69, been incountry for a month and never saw anything but water buffaloes and rice paddies. Blocking force for another company in contact. After about 30 minutes the mortars started raining down. L-T says they need you at 3-2 track. Grabbed the aid bag and started running, mortars still dropping. Got there, patched up 2 troops who had shrapnel up and down their backsides. went back to command track, 15 minutes and L-T says they need you at 3-3. Same thing, 2 troops shrapnel wounds. We went from a blocking force to an all out firefight. One man had his penis severed by a chi com. In the contact, though we didn't know it at the time was a platoon leader performing acts that got him both the CMH and MOH. (Casket with Metal Handles). The enemy broke contact, we did our little sweep, got a few weapons, ammo and such. We went back to the Fire Base, (we called them FSB's as in Fire Support Base) I sat down behind an APC, looking at the jungle fatigues that were covered in blood from shoulder to boot top. Wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into, an 18 year old medic became an old man that day.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 22 at 2017 2:28 PM

2017-09-22T14:28:57-04:00

I wasn't a medic but from what I experienced, the training takes over. I never thought much about anything until after it was over.

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 22 at 2017 10:57 PM

2017-09-22T22:57:41-04:00

SSG Private RallyPoint Member Immediate shock, but then your training kicks in and you take care of business. Afterward, you have time to process what you have seen and heard.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 29 at 2017 1:28 AM

2017-09-29T01:28:39-04:00

One incident sticks out in my mind when considering this question.

My second tour in Iraq consisted of a bunch of moving around (jobs) until I volunteered to be a TC in a gun truck for EOD security. We had a system where 2 gun trucks would escort a small team of EOD guys out to disarm bombs, conduct post blast analysis, and whatever else they did. The most vivid thing I can recall to this day was the aftermath of a car bomb.

This Iraqi dude, for whatever reason, had decided to load his little white car down with a stack of Russian arty rounds and used that to run his vehicle into an up-armored M1114 from another unit. That M1114 was demolished and looked like hell spat it out from the ground below. I learned the Soldiers were all okay - amazingly. But the Iraqi dude? He wasn't "okay."

What remained of this guy was a torso missing a head, legs, and arms, still smoldering next to the remnants of the car he used to execute his attack. The air was cool and crisp that day and I recall thinking, "This smells exactly like bbq."

I often wondered about that guy - how hatred could drive someone to the point they were willing to put their clothes on in the morning for one final time, say goodbye to their family, maybe have a snack or coffee like any of us would - then go and ride a concussion wave of destruction into eternity.

That scene stuck with me.

Now - I know that I said this was my second tour and you asked for the 'first time you experienced it' - I was in a very unique situation in 2003 and although I was with the 4th ID during the invasion, I wasn't infantry and thus, I didn't really see much aside from the inside of a FOB, and when I volunteered for the Colonel's PSD, I saw the inside of other FOBs and the road. But 2003 was in the time before IEDs were really a thing.