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Afghanistan:
One Green Beret Takes On Mission
| Copyright © 2002 KAB/Asia Times |
Untreated, that is, until Jack showed up.
"Jack does house-calls," said the American, who declined to give Associated
Press his last name. Jack, would only admit that he is a
Green Beret from Fayetteville, N.C., and former member of the U.S. Army
Special Forces. He has been in Afghanistan for more than six months on a mission he won't reveal. Afghan officials
would only say he was a civilian adviser to the
Northern Alliance military forces and interim government.
Associated Press
"Jack" an
Advisor to the Northern Alliance resistance forces carries one of more than 300
children he rescued from perils ranging from
On Saturday, wearing a khaki-and-brown, U.S. flag patch on his shoulder, sporting a beard and carrying an assault rifle
and pistols, Jack continued his own one-man mission to help those hurt in the quake that struck this area of northern Afghanistan a week ago - and in particular find
all of its neglected victims: women and children.
He was bandaging more than 30 children by the afternoons and using up five boxes of field dressings
a day- and quite a few happy-face bandages. He made it to the top of one area by
horse, with three Afghan soldiers.
Sharifa lost five of her seven children during the quake. "I thought I was
dead and I thought the child was dead for sure," the mother said as Jack
tenderly examined the infant to check an eye infection he had treated the day
before.
It was only after Sharifa's husband was treated by Jack for a neck wound that he
trusted the American enough to bring him to the family's UNICEF supplied tent.
As soon as
word gets around that Jack is back, children come streaming in to show him their
injuries.
For five days Jack returned to one area to treat an 8-year-old boy's severely
burned hand. One the fourth day the boy carried an injured 4-year-old on his
back down to the village so Jack could treat his friend. On the fifth day Jack
rewarded the little boy's courage with a new pair of shoes.
Taliban rockets to devastating earthquakes.
Coalition Forces may not be able to reach the injured, and German military
forces had to turn back at the base of one mountain due to security
concerns, but this American doesn't seem to have a problem.
Eight
months pregnant when the Monday evening quake hit, Sharifa crouched for an hour
on her hands and knees under the rubble to protect her newborn until they were
rescued. Sharifa asked Jack, who also treated her back injury, to name the
daughter: He chose "Suzzana," or "new beginning" in the Dari language, and
Viktoria, after his wife.
ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Locals don't think Jack is anything more than
a doctor, and his assault rifle is
hardly an unusual sight in this country. Actually, he's more accustomed to
treating bullet wounds and is just applying the techniques of combat medicine to
treat the wounds he can, sometimes just simple cuts and bruises.
"Maybe they're not hurt much, but even putting on a Band-Aid helps," Jack said.
During the first five days he was involved in the rescue, seven children were
critically injured and needed surgery. German peacekeeper surgeons wasted
no time giving Jack the support he needed. One surgery lasted six hours
and required the entire German ISAF surgical team.
Jack, left, a Green Beret, accompanies and injured Afghan woman to a German ISAF Field hospital.
It was a young girl who should have lost her leg. The German Army team saved her
leg and her life. She was not the first, or the last patient that Jack brought
in from the
mountains requiring more skill than he had
and laid on the ISAF
operating table.
Two mobile hospitals are now operating in the area - one set up by the Kabul-based European peacekeepers and the other by the Russians. Two more clinics are operated by French doctors and three others by various relief groups and the United Nations.
Apparently, Jack is particular about who operates on his rescued kids. "Hey, if I'm dying and I've got a German Army doctor then I've got a damn good chance of making it," he told a UN triage nurse. "She's going to the Germans, they slap on gloves and go to town, your people sit there and have meetings for three hours while the kid is dying," Jack added according to Weiss Faiza, owner of the Mustafa Hotel in Kabul, who climbed aboard Jack's mission when "he needed an interpreter with guts and his own guys were in Gardez. Next thing you know, I'm on a chopper," referring to the Afghan military Russian helicopter Jack ordered to fly Faiza and medical supplies into the quake.
Nahrin is one of the poorest regions of Afghanistan. Faiza says the experience has been rewarding, but tiring. "Jack never sleeps," he added. Faiza says he always wanted to help his fellow Afghans and never had the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of so many poor people.
"Jack gave me a chance," Faiza said standing in the mud outside the UN airfield, "and he gave my people a lot more."
"Thanks Weiss, now lets load up with more gear and get back out there," Jack replied smiling.
And then they were off again.
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Minister of Health Suila, the only female General officer in Afghan military history credited Jack with saving more than 300 women and children during the earthquake. "Jack" declined all interviews and photographs, with only AP allowed to follow him for a short time after approval of their request by General Mohammed Daoud, Ministry of Defense Corps Commander and regional commander.