Courtesy of Travis Air Force Base, Public Affairs	More NurseWeek Features   Smoke-Free Zone   Nurses and patients tackle nicotine addiction   Bloodless Survival     Surgical techniques to use when transfusion drops out of the equation
Maj. Cathleen Madge, MSN, RN, and Capt. Jeanette Hess, RN, check inventory of medical supplies at a U.S. military base inside Iraq.

The nurses gently lifted the young soldier onto the airplane, being careful not to aggravate the gunshot wound in his leg. Capt. Jeanette Hess, RN, a registered respiratory therapist, one of the Air Force reservists tending to the soldier, was struck by his youthful appearance.

He seemed barely old enough to be out of high school, and yet here he was thousands of miles from home, serving his country in the war on Iraq. Someone's son, she thought, as she squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Hess is one of many American nurses who, in recent months, have traveled to Iraq offering their nursing expertise within a war-ravaged country.

Hess and her colleague, Maj. Cathleen Madge, MSN, RN, work at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. Both have served in the Air Force Reserve, based at nearby Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., for many years.

The two arrived in Iraq in late March and returned home in early May. Other Air Force Reserve nurses remain overseas supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"We fly on many operational missions during peacetime," Madge said, "but this was our first wartime mission."

Arriving in Kuwait dressed in helmets and body armor, carrying weapons and prepared for the possibility of chemical attacks was an experience far different from their daily routines at UC Davis, where Madge works as the house supervisor and Hess as an assistant nurse manager in pulmonary services.

In Iraq, the two nurses served as an integral part of Air Force flight crews, flying on operational rescue missions to care for and transport wounded troops.

"It was a very sobering experience," Hess said. "I remember caravans of military personnel heading north one morning, and hoping against hope that none of them would return injured."

The Air Force Reserve provides 80 percent to 90 percent of all air evacuation missions worldwide. In Iraq, medical flight crews were responsible for transporting injured soldiers to an Army hospital in Kuwait.

Depending on the extent of their injuries, some of the wounded were transferred to a medical facility in Europe.

Ready and willing

"Although we had never served during a war, the excellent training we received over the years in the Air Force Reserve completely prepared us for the experience," Madge said.

Flying on C-130 aircrafts that carried between 15 and 20 patients, Madge and Hess found themselves caring for soldiers with a variety of injuries sustained from gunshots, as well as broken bones, abdominal injuries and shrapnel wounds.

"We saw some incredibly brave soldiers," Hess said. "Being given the opportunity to care for the troops is the highest honor I've received in all my years of nursing."

For Navy Cmdr. Jim Fowler, MSN, RN, Operation Iraqi Freedom marked his third deployment during wartime. Fowler, who works as the nurse manager/officer-in-charge of the Branch Medical Clinic at Corry Field in Pensacola, Fla., also served in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield.

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