Photo By Pfc. Zackary Root | U.S. Army Spc. Mark Brown, of New Braunfels, Texas, an operation room specialist from...... read more read more
LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan — An operating room at times is a scene of controlled chaos, doctors and nurses are calling out and taking orders, while working together to save a patient’s life.
The endless clamps, forceps and bandages are the tools of surgeons. These tools, at the best of times look similar, and often are indiscernible without paying close attention. Combine the tools’ similar appearances with the pressure of working in an operating room and the importance of reacting quickly to save a patient’s life; one can see the difficulty of performing surgery in a hospital let alone as a member of a forward surgical team in Afghanistan.
When a surgeon needs the right tool to save a life or assistance during a surgery, Spc. Mark Brown, of New Braunfels, Texas, an operating room specialist from the 628th Forward Surgical Team, is there to bring order to the chaos, providing the instruments and services needed to assist doctors in saving lives.
“It is pretty intense the first time,” said Brown.
Before becoming an operating room specialist, Brown, like many people, was discouraged with his current occupation.
“I was working a construction job and it was going nowhere,” he said.
Brown, who had a wife and one-year-old daughter to provide for, decided he needed a change and joined the Army Reserve in 2008.
He was hesitant at first about entering the Army’s medical field, but his wife insisted that he stick with it, and he eventually came around and enrolled as an operating room specialist.
Once Brown finished basic training and his initial military medical training, he still lacked the experience to work in the civilian medical field. Not wanting to go back to work in construction, Brown found a job as a structural mechanic working on Boeing 757 airplanes for Singapore Technologies Aerospace in San Antonio.
“It’s kind of like being a body mechanic for airplanes, but there is a lot of math, sketches and blueprints,” he said.
Splitting time between a career in aviation and a career as an operating room specialist in the Reserves makes for an interesting array of duties.
“The coolest thing I got to do was help remove one of the airplane engines,” Brown said. “That thing was huge! It was probably the size of a school bus.”
While on active duty, Brown not only prepares and hands instruments to doctors, he sometimes has to literally reach inside a person’s body to assist in surgery.
“Say an organ is nicked deep inside the cavity and they need someone to hold the intestines or abdominal walls,” Brown said. “We will actually go in there and hold those organs.”
“You get your hands in there and everything is warm and slippery,” he said. “Eventually, you get used to it and just dive right in.”
While Brown enjoys different aspects of both jobs, his passion remains in helping soldiers get better.
“I love both of my jobs,” he said. “But for me personally, nothing is better than helping out a fellow soldier. I love what I am doing out here.”
| Date Taken: | 12.16.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 12.16.2011 17:23 |
| Story ID: | 81513 |
| Location: | LOGAR PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 275 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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