Vision Quest

34. Afghanistan off Base Part 2 An Emergency

POV: Roger

    I was doing inventory when Sarge approached. "Roger, I need you to take the Doc here out to Ahmad's camp. Ahmad called me and one of his people got wounded by a Taliban sniper. They need a doc. I can't take him because I have a meeting with the base commander. You are the only other person I know who knows how to get there."

The "Doc" Sarge was referring to was Health Care Specialist Ben Martin. He prefers to be called Ben. He was tired of all the jokes about him being Doc Martin. You know like the type of shoe or the British comedy. He is the one medic Sarge could trust with helping Ahmad because he is a major user of the product Ahmad supplies us.

The shooting was unusual, but not unheard of. The Taliban considered Ahmads people American collaborators. Ironically, some of the Army higherups think Ahmad's people may be Taliban collaborators. I think Ahmad considers both Americans and Taliban as invaders, but I think given a choice he prefers Americans.

Ben and I headed out. I think he was just as nervous about leaving the base as I was. Like me, he was continually scanning the mountains for potential threats. Once we were out of sight of the base, every bump in the dirt road made him jump. He told me that he was certain a land mine was in his future.

"Do you go off base like this often?" he asked me.

"More often than I'd like. Have you been off base very often?"

"Just on patrols. Then I have guys around me, but never out like this. Out in the open like this with just the two of us is a little more nerve racking."

"I feel you brother," I commiserated.

"What do you know about this guy I'm going to help?"

"Not much. I do think they are the good guys."

"Well, that's reassuring," he sarcastically concluded as we pulled into Ahmad's camp.

Turned out the wounded man was not at the camp but had already been taken to their village. I had never been to the village; so, Ahmad crawled into the jeep and directed us to it. The village was not too far away. It was a cluster of mud huts some barns and animal pens. The biggest structure was a small mosque. This was a fair size village but not big enough to have their own doctor or their own bazaar. The streets were mostly empty. It was Ramadan so most of the inhabitants were involved in fasting, meditation and prayer.

Ahmad took us to the hut where the wounded man was. He was surrounded by his family which was rather large and included his mother, father, wife, a brother, two sisters, one of their husbands, and several nieces and nephews. The family was very glad to see us.

Ben went to the man and immediately got to work. The wound was in the man's shoulder. Ben was able to remove the bullet, stop the bleeding and make sure nothing had been seriously damaged. Because it was Ramadan when even drinking water during the period of fasting is not allowed, Ben asked permission to give the man fluids to make up for his blood loss. The brother explained because of his wound, the brother would be excused from fasting until he was well. He could make up the missed days after Ramadan.