Photo By Sgt. Robert Baumgartner | Maj. James Truong, optometrist with the 82nd Sustainment Brigade, checks the eyes of a...... read more read more
Subscribe
By Spc. Robert H. Baumgartner
82 Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs Office
Forward Operating Base Hammer, Iraq – One of the primary missions of the 82nd Sustainment Brigade (SB) is to enable combatant commanders to have freedom of action unconstrained by logistics. The brigade directly impacts the individual war fighter by dispatching its optometry team out from Logistics Support Area Adder to more remote and austere forward operating bases. This allows commanders to maintain vision readiness without sending their soldiers away to on of the larger bases.
The optometry team's mission satisfies another function of combat readiness; soldier reassurance. Operating in an environment where the difference between living and dying is measured in seconds, soldiers need to be confident in their ability to spot a threat before it materializes.
"A lot of times soldiers come to see us because they want to make sure nothing changed, that they are still seeing well. When these guys are on the road, accurate visual acuity can mean spotting an improvised explosive device before it's too late," said Staff Sgt. Mark Maczuga, non-commissioned officer in charge of the 82nd SB optometry team.
Maj. James Q. Truong, chief of the optometry team, describes how soldiers will come to see him with a newfound appreciation for clear vision. Now that the stakes have been raised, having clear vision is no longer a matter of convenience.
"Soldiers will come to me and tell me that they haven't worn glasses for years. When asked why, they say that they see clear enough for life back in the U.S., but out here, they want to see perfect," Truong said.
Even though all American soldiers go through a screening process before entering the theater, some will inevitably slip through the cracks, experience changes in vision, and otherwise find themselves with less than perfect eyesight in the combat zone.
"Despite the rigors of the Army's pre-deployment soldier readiness program, a soldier's prescription can change during the course of the deployment...glasses are lost or scratched...not to mention the dust storms and dry eyes that can affect a soldier's vision once in theater," Truong said.
In addition to examining fellow American soldiers, the optometry team also sees our coalition allies, such as El Salvadoran troops at Camp Delta and Polish soldiers at Camp Echo. Some of our coalition allies may not have the same vision standards in place, and a visit by the 82nd SB optometry team may be the first time they have ever been seen by an eye specialist.
"One particular soldier from El Salvador was told by his commander to come and see us while we had a clinic set up at (Camp) Delta. He was a 38-year old tower guard, and had never been to an optometrist. We tested his vision and it was pretty bad, so when he got his glasses he was amazed. He didn't even know what he was missing," Truong said.
"The number one cause of visual deficiency, by statistics, is refractive error. This is just a fancy way of saying someone needs glasses. Most people do not see well simply because they do not have glasses, not because of some exotic eye disease," Truong continued.
According to Truong, this example exemplifies the mission of the optometry team.
"That is what we do. We bring clear, comfortable, single vision to soldiers. That is mostly what optometry is all about," Truong said.
| Date Taken: | 10.09.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 10.09.2007 10:50 |
| Story ID: | 12789 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 877 |
| Downloads: | 801 |
This work, 82nd Sustainment Brigade brings clear vision to forward troops, by SGT Robert Baumgartner, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
