farmgirl
02-05-2004, 11:31 PM
http://www.morningjournal.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1699&dept_id=46371&newsid=10920492&PAG=461&rfi=9
MICHAEL C. FITZPATRICK , Morning Journal Writer 02/05/2004
ARMY Maj. Timothy Nunez, M.D., left a lucrative private practice because after 9/11 he knew his country would need his skills.
He was right.
Nunez, a 1986 graduate of Lorain High School, worked from October until late last month as a general surgeon stationed at the Baghdad Airport as a member of the U.S. Army 912 Forward Surgical Team.
Nunez, 35, was a general surgeon in Richmond, Ky., when he took a 70 percent cut in his pay, left his wife, Jill, and children, Kathryn, 5, and Jacob, 3, to be commissioned in the Army.
Nunez and his family are in Lorain visiting his family, which includes his father, retired Lorain Municipal Judge Gustalo Nunez.
Nunez said he toyed with the idea of joining the military before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but, when the World Trade Center towers were struck by hijacked airliners on that fateful day, he knew he had to join.
He discussed the plan with his wife, telling her, ''They are going to need help, and it sounds like something I'd like to do.''
His wife didn't hesitate in giving her approval. ''She said you go do what you have to do,'' Nunez recalled.
Nunez joined the Army reserves and was ''plucked'' from his reserve unit in March 2003 and sent to Ft. Bragg, N.C., and from there he was asked to go Baghdad.
Dirty facilities powered by generators that provided dim light in operating rooms were just some of problems that faced surgeons working in the desert conditions of Iraq, Nunez said.
''There is just dust everywhere because it's Iraq and you just can't get rid of the dust,'' he said of the less-than-sterile operating rooms. ''You wouldn't want to have your hernia operated on (there), let's put it like that.''
Boredom was also another foe.
''You work for a little bit and then you won't work on anybody for a couple of days and then you'll get 15 patients in because of a big attack,'' Nunez said.
In some cases, he was called upon to save the lives of the enemy. While it can be hard to perform surgery on someone who may have let loose a rocket at a jeep carrying U.S. troops, he takes a ''clinical'' approach to the task, he said.
''It's not like being here (in the U.S.), where you are operating on someone who may have shot at a police officer. It's a little bit more emotional to me because you are at war. You have to be like, ÔI'm a surgeon, I have to operate, I have to do what I'm supposed to do.' I can't think this guy is a bad guy or a good guy. You just have to do your job the best you can every time,'' said Nunez.
''We treat them exactly the same,'' Nunez said of working on enemy soldiers, or as he dubbed them, ''terrorists.''
''They get the same care ... but you are operating on the same guy who 15 minutes before was shooting at one of our guys. But we operate on them, make them better and then they go to prison.''
Most of the Iraqi soldiers remain defiant of U.S. military figures, even when one is trying to save their lives, Nunez said.
''One of them actually said Ôthank you' to me,'' Nunez said. ''But for the most part, if they hadn't been in the position they were in, they'd have gladly done harm to me.''
The capture of Saddam Hussein and President Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad for Thanksgiving with the troops were two morale boosters, Nunez said.
On the night U.S. special forces discovered a bedraggled and unshaven Saddam inside a spider hole, Nunez said he learned of the capture via a slapped-together satellite TV hookup.
''One of our younger guys had rigged up a satellite TV, and we were watching the BBC when the news broke,'' Nunez recalled. ''We were like, ÔNo way.'''
Saddam wasn't given his medical exam by doctors on Nunez's team.
''We don't know where that was at,'' said Nunez. ''We're assuming it was at the airport, but no one knows exactly where physically he was kept.''
News reports that the Bush administration used incorrect intelligence in its decision to invade Iraq have not dulled Nunez's belief that the war with Iraq is just.
''To me it doesn't matter. After seeing what the guy did to the people and knowing how many terrorists are there ... I think the world is a better place to be with him gone,'' Nunez said.
Nunez also said he'll keep those same beliefs even if no weapons of mass destruction are found.
''Are they going to find anything? To me I don't care. And that's another reason I'm staying in the Army, because I know we'll be dealing with these guys for a while.''
Mrs. Nunez said she never had any second thoughts about her husband's decision to leave civilian life for the military.
''I was always proud of him for joining the Army,'' she said. ''Knowing what he was doing over there made the absence of him at home worthwhile. We were just very proud of him being over there. I felt good knowing he was over there helping the soldiers.''
Mrs. Nunez said she kept in touch with her husband via e-mail and an occasional phone call. She'd tell the couple's children their father was serving a noble cause.
However, uncertainty and concern for her husband's well-being were constant companions, she said.
''It was terrifying watching the news and hearing of the bombing. But I just had to have faith he was going to be OK,'' Mrs. Nunez said.
Nunez said his team worked on a ''couple of hundred'' patients inside the former missile school that was converted into a operating room, but one patient in particular sticks out in his mind. The patient was a 14-year-old Iraqi boy whose father was aiding U.S. forces. In an attempt to kill the father, someone placed explosives outside of their home. Instead of getting the father, it was the son who felt the brunt of the attack, losing his right hand in the process.
''He (the father) came up to me and told me in broken English that he appreciated what we were doing, and he wanted to apologize for the terrorists in his country. He said he hoped one day their country could be like ours. That was pretty cool,'' Nunez said.
©The Morning Journal 2004
Another inspiring story, but this one has a better ending.
MICHAEL C. FITZPATRICK , Morning Journal Writer 02/05/2004
ARMY Maj. Timothy Nunez, M.D., left a lucrative private practice because after 9/11 he knew his country would need his skills.
He was right.
Nunez, a 1986 graduate of Lorain High School, worked from October until late last month as a general surgeon stationed at the Baghdad Airport as a member of the U.S. Army 912 Forward Surgical Team.
Nunez, 35, was a general surgeon in Richmond, Ky., when he took a 70 percent cut in his pay, left his wife, Jill, and children, Kathryn, 5, and Jacob, 3, to be commissioned in the Army.
Nunez and his family are in Lorain visiting his family, which includes his father, retired Lorain Municipal Judge Gustalo Nunez.
Nunez said he toyed with the idea of joining the military before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but, when the World Trade Center towers were struck by hijacked airliners on that fateful day, he knew he had to join.
He discussed the plan with his wife, telling her, ''They are going to need help, and it sounds like something I'd like to do.''
His wife didn't hesitate in giving her approval. ''She said you go do what you have to do,'' Nunez recalled.
Nunez joined the Army reserves and was ''plucked'' from his reserve unit in March 2003 and sent to Ft. Bragg, N.C., and from there he was asked to go Baghdad.
Dirty facilities powered by generators that provided dim light in operating rooms were just some of problems that faced surgeons working in the desert conditions of Iraq, Nunez said.
''There is just dust everywhere because it's Iraq and you just can't get rid of the dust,'' he said of the less-than-sterile operating rooms. ''You wouldn't want to have your hernia operated on (there), let's put it like that.''
Boredom was also another foe.
''You work for a little bit and then you won't work on anybody for a couple of days and then you'll get 15 patients in because of a big attack,'' Nunez said.
In some cases, he was called upon to save the lives of the enemy. While it can be hard to perform surgery on someone who may have let loose a rocket at a jeep carrying U.S. troops, he takes a ''clinical'' approach to the task, he said.
''It's not like being here (in the U.S.), where you are operating on someone who may have shot at a police officer. It's a little bit more emotional to me because you are at war. You have to be like, ÔI'm a surgeon, I have to operate, I have to do what I'm supposed to do.' I can't think this guy is a bad guy or a good guy. You just have to do your job the best you can every time,'' said Nunez.
''We treat them exactly the same,'' Nunez said of working on enemy soldiers, or as he dubbed them, ''terrorists.''
''They get the same care ... but you are operating on the same guy who 15 minutes before was shooting at one of our guys. But we operate on them, make them better and then they go to prison.''
Most of the Iraqi soldiers remain defiant of U.S. military figures, even when one is trying to save their lives, Nunez said.
''One of them actually said Ôthank you' to me,'' Nunez said. ''But for the most part, if they hadn't been in the position they were in, they'd have gladly done harm to me.''
The capture of Saddam Hussein and President Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad for Thanksgiving with the troops were two morale boosters, Nunez said.
On the night U.S. special forces discovered a bedraggled and unshaven Saddam inside a spider hole, Nunez said he learned of the capture via a slapped-together satellite TV hookup.
''One of our younger guys had rigged up a satellite TV, and we were watching the BBC when the news broke,'' Nunez recalled. ''We were like, ÔNo way.'''
Saddam wasn't given his medical exam by doctors on Nunez's team.
''We don't know where that was at,'' said Nunez. ''We're assuming it was at the airport, but no one knows exactly where physically he was kept.''
News reports that the Bush administration used incorrect intelligence in its decision to invade Iraq have not dulled Nunez's belief that the war with Iraq is just.
''To me it doesn't matter. After seeing what the guy did to the people and knowing how many terrorists are there ... I think the world is a better place to be with him gone,'' Nunez said.
Nunez also said he'll keep those same beliefs even if no weapons of mass destruction are found.
''Are they going to find anything? To me I don't care. And that's another reason I'm staying in the Army, because I know we'll be dealing with these guys for a while.''
Mrs. Nunez said she never had any second thoughts about her husband's decision to leave civilian life for the military.
''I was always proud of him for joining the Army,'' she said. ''Knowing what he was doing over there made the absence of him at home worthwhile. We were just very proud of him being over there. I felt good knowing he was over there helping the soldiers.''
Mrs. Nunez said she kept in touch with her husband via e-mail and an occasional phone call. She'd tell the couple's children their father was serving a noble cause.
However, uncertainty and concern for her husband's well-being were constant companions, she said.
''It was terrifying watching the news and hearing of the bombing. But I just had to have faith he was going to be OK,'' Mrs. Nunez said.
Nunez said his team worked on a ''couple of hundred'' patients inside the former missile school that was converted into a operating room, but one patient in particular sticks out in his mind. The patient was a 14-year-old Iraqi boy whose father was aiding U.S. forces. In an attempt to kill the father, someone placed explosives outside of their home. Instead of getting the father, it was the son who felt the brunt of the attack, losing his right hand in the process.
''He (the father) came up to me and told me in broken English that he appreciated what we were doing, and he wanted to apologize for the terrorists in his country. He said he hoped one day their country could be like ours. That was pretty cool,'' Nunez said.
©The Morning Journal 2004
Another inspiring story, but this one has a better ending.