Personal care to battle-weary soldiers

This is the sixth in a series of stories tracking Nevada Air National Guard units during a training mission in Europe. Two squadrons - civil engineering and medical - from the 152nd Airlift Wing are doing their annual two-week training in Germany. The Nevada Appeal will tell some of their stories.

Landstuhl, Germany - Even though she's been in the National Guard for 10 years and works as a physician's assistant for the Veterans Administration, Maj. Zola Ferguson never saw a soldier with the "thousand-yard stare" until she worked at Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany.

Her unit, the 152nd Airlift Wing's medical group, was sent to Landstuhl for two-weeks of annual training.

"These guys are coming in here with their BDUs (battle dress uniforms) on, blood all over them and they have the stare," she said.

"They don't see you. I don't know what they see but it's as if they're looking somewhere beyond where they are."

On average, two C-17 Starlifters land at nearby Ramstein Air Force Base each day, bearing wounded from "downrange" who are then bused to Landstuhl - the largest American hospital outside the country.

At "wheels down" - when the plane lands - an announcement is made over the public address system at the hospital, "All man power to the E.R." and the hospital is a flurry of action.

On Friday the 13th, there were no battle injuries. Only 14 wounded were scheduled to be flown in - including one with a heart attack and another who had fallen from a helicopter.

"(Fourteen) is a very low number," said public relations officer Marie Shaw. "That's very, very low. But the day is not over."

Staff were bracing for the arrival of wounded from the current offensive against supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Despite the relative calm, the Nevada Guard members - and the other 1,800 staff at the hospital - stayed busy.

Lt. Col. Sidney Van Assche, deployment commander for the Nevada airmen, worked in the emergency room.

"This has actually closed the loop for me," said the recently returned veteran of deployments to Iraq. "I had the opportunity to put them on the plane in Iraq and you're kind of sending them out into the big blue and wondering where they're going. Now I know."

He was impressed by the hospital's regular staff who deal with waves of seriously wounded 18-, 19- and 20-year-old soldiers almost daily.

"Two weeks is surreal. It's superficial," he said. "You're not really in it day after day like they are."

Sparks resident Staff Sgt. Jason Farnsworth has been with the 152nd for five years. He said he feels privileged to serve the heroes.

"Is it emotional? Absolutely. There's no way around it. This is probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

He was impressed by Landstuhl's ability to handle both battle injuries and regular patients.

"It's not just people from downrange," he said. "It's everything. This is a fully functional hospital."

Friday he was assigned to the neonatal intensive care unit where newborn babies are treated.

"I've never seen a preemie before and all of a sudden I'm changing vents on babies this big," he said, holding fingers six inches apart.

Sen. Airmen Jessica Brandon - born and raised in Reno - is on her first deployment.

"My first couple days were an eye-opener," she said. She works in the surgical nursing care unit where patients are cared for before being discharged. She's dealt with soldiers hurt by shrapnel, blast wounds and gun shots. She's also cared for government contractors from companies like Halliburton.

"Just guys who have gotten sick or got caught up in a blast," she said.

Several members of the Nevada unit were working on a wounded soldier who didn't make it.

"He had a gunshot wound to the belly and multiple internal injuries," said Maj. Ferguson, who did not work on the patient. "As I understand it he bled to death. They were giving him blood and blood and blood and he just didn't make it."

She said the Nevada airmen who worked on the patient learned death is a part of life.

"They were touched by this guy. He made the ultimate sacrifice and they touched him before he went. They tried to help him."

Like the other Nevadans, she described her time at Landstuhl as a privilege.

"This is our way to serve working in our field. It's an honor to be here and to try and help people who have made the ultimate sacrifice. And just to be around the people who work here. I heard someone say they would probably crawl to these patients' beds to help them. And you don't see that at a lot of hospitals in America."

The first bus load of wounded arrived at noon Friday - an hour after members of the Nevada Guard unit had finished the last shift of their two-week deployment.

They are flying home on a C1-30H, with pilot rest stops in the Azores islands off Portugal and outside Detroit.

Karl Horeis is a reporter for the Nevada Appeal on assignment with the Nevada Air National Guard in Germany. Reach him at khoreis@nevadaappeal.com