Photo By Sgt. Jason Mikeworth | Capt. Amber Eastburn, the commander of C Detachment, 502nd Personnel Services...... read more read more
The Soldiers of C Detachment, 502nd Personnel Services Battalion's casualty liaison team (CLT) at Logistical Support Area Anaconda are the first line in the casualty notification process.
Members of the CLT meet injured Soldiers arriving at the Air Force Theater Hospital to gather vital information about their injuries and the circumstances in which they occurred.
Staff Sgt. Michael Wiest, the detachment NCOIC, said the CLT uses the information to notify family members of injured Soldiers and to track trends of injury types. He said injured Soldiers from all over Iraq pass through Anaconda before being evacuated to hospitals outside of Iraq for continuing treatment.
"It's a 24-hour operation," Wiest said. "We're a direct link from the battlefield casualty to the family notification."
Wiest estimated about 90 percent of Soldiers who leave Iraq for additional services are sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
"If a Soldier gets hurt, whether it's hostile [action] or non-hostile, and requires medical assistance, what happens is they go to their nearest medical facility and the determination is made if the injury can be treated on site or if they need to be pushed to a higher care facility," Wiest said. "The stuff we get is pretty serious."
Wiest said they have one hour to enter in a casualty notification report into the Defense Casualty Information Processing System.
"An hour's usually not a lot of time to get a detailed report," Wiest said. "We can usually get the five W's" the who, what, where, when and why."
Capt. Amber Eastburn, the detachment commander, said she reviews every report and logs them in the master log as well as assists in tracking Soldiers in the categories of not seriously injured, injured and seriously injured.
"We like to tie those incidents to specific events in theater so the higher headquarters can have a better overview of what's going on," Eastburn said. "The worst thing that can happen is we miss someone in the system."
Eastburn said that although the team works hard to gather and report information as quickly as possible, making sure the report is accurate is the most important part of the mission.
"We stress the accuracy part because it's such an important mission for the people back home. I"d rather delay a few minutes and get the right information to people," Eastburn said. "There's a definite timeline because you can't send all the updates everyone wants until something definitive happens. We don't want to jump the gun and send out a report that may not be true in two hours."
Wiest agreed with Eastburn, saying the focus on getting the right information is vital to the success of the mission.
"Accuracy is very important," Wiest said. "We don't want the wrong family notified, but we do want the right family notified with the right information."
He cited a recent event in the U.S. to underscore the effects of choosing speed over accuracy.
"How would you feel if your family found out from CNN you were in an accident before the Army told them?" Wiest said. "Then, imagine if the story they saw on CNN wasn't accurate? We don't want a situation like what happened to the families of the miners in West Virginia."
A coal mine explosion trapped 13 West Virginia miners on Jan. 2 inside of the mine. Some early reports to the families said 12 had survived, though an hour later they learned only one miner had survived.
Eastburn said that professionalism led her to select Sgt. Dawn Barr for the NCOIC of the CLT.
"They're a very detail oriented bunch. Sgt. Barr was hand selected for her position because she is very disciplined," Eastburn said. "We trust her, so she was allowed to choose her team, and it's a reflection of her. She's got a good team."
Barr said she selected her team for their emotional strength and attention to detail as well as their ability to cooperate in a multi-service environment.
"We work with the Air Force personnel here," Barr said. "They've trained us on the helo pad, so when the medevac birds come in we go out and help them unload the casualties."
The CLT gets most of their information from injured Soldiers if they arrive in a condition that allows them to talk. When the Soldier is not able to talk, the mission becomes more like detective work, Barr said.
"We grab our clipboards and go into the emergency room and gather all the information surrounding the incident they were involved in. You get the information from wherever you can," Barr said. "Maybe it's from the crew that brought them in, or if they're not accompanied by anyone from their unit then you have to call their brigade to try and find out what happened."
Barr said working with injured Soldiers each day isn't easy, but she is able to see the importance of the mission.
"Seeing the Soldiers in some of the conditions they come in with, you kind of think about their families back home and the fact that they're going to be notified in a couple of hours that their loved one is hurt," Barr said. "It's your brothers and sisters in arms coming in, but you have to separate yourself from that aspect. You have a mission to accomplish."
Barr said she is grateful for the opportunity to help Soldiers and their families.
"Knowing that what you do makes a difference to the families and the Soldiers is the best part of the job," Barr said. "They may not always be in a condition to tell you what happened, but I think they would appreciate knowing that their families are getting all the information we can get them about their condition."
Barr said she has three Soldiers who work for her on the CLT. She said she tries to make sure the stress of the job isn't taking a toll on them.
"I try to make it a point to talk to them each day," Barr said. "It's not always possible, but I make a conscious effort to talk to them usually at the end of their shift."
Barr said the team uses a variety of outlets to deal with the daily stress of their duty.
"We talk to people. Find people we trust. Friends or family," Barr said. "They have plenty of resources on Anaconda. We see Combat Stress once a month, so we know that they're there for us."
Barr said that she hopes others can see the value of the CLT's mission.
"It can get a little hectic at times. People may look at us and think we're in the way sometimes," Barr said. "But it's not about us. It's all about that Soldier and their family."
| Date Taken: | 01.19.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 01.19.2006 10:42 |
| Story ID: | 5150 |
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| Web Views: | 544 |
| Downloads: | 33 |
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