CRNA in Iraq Page Four
Myself and the other CRNA on the Surgical Team give approximately forty general anesthetics using the army draw-over vaporizer. The draw-over vaporizer is a compact vaporizer that can be deployed with us easily; however, it is not used in the civilian world and requires additional army training. We spend the next several days treating the Mojahedin doing several surgeries a day and working to help the care teams develop post-op pain care needs.
When we return to As-Sulaymaniyah we learn that the war is nearing an end for us. The Special Forces teams have done their jobs well and it is time for them to go home -- and that includes us, as we are attached to them. However, four members of the team will be staying back with a Special Forces unit in Irbil to go on High Value Target Missions (HVT). I am chosen as the anesthetist who will stay behind, as well as our trauma surgeon, one operating room nurse, and an operating room technician. The rest of the team begins the process to return home.
The remaining four members of the team are integrated into a rapid response team that is looking for targets in Iraq that have high intelligence value to the government. The HVT team consists of a Special Forces group, a squad from the Tenth Mountain infantry division, and the four of us from the 932nd FST. We prepare a surgical team at the request of the commander that can be deployed in a ground vehicle or on a helicopter to accompany the HVT missions.
The team practices several live fire missions with the HVT team and are prepared to deploy at any time. The HVT mission goes several weeks without any mission so it is decided to let the last of the surgical team return home.
Several plane rides later I find myself at my home in Massachusetts with a lot of pictures, memories and several pounds lighter. I am proud of my family as they survived one of New England's harshest winters without me at home to take care of problems. My wife and children had the more difficult task of keeping a young family running while their father/husband was sunning in Iraq.
WELCOME HOME, JEFF JOYCE
Thanks to you and to all military CRNAs for a job well done
Click here for an article from the Taunton Gazette about CPT Joyce's return celebration
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