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Old 01-02-2020, 02:13 PM
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Arrow An Air Force surgeon tells the story of saving a CIA officer with shrapnel in his hea

An Air Force surgeon tells the story of saving a CIA officer with shrapnel in his head after a bombing in Afghanistan
By: Carlin Becker - Washington Examiner & Business Insider - 01-02-20
Re: https://www.businessinsider.com/air-...anistan-2020-1

Photo link: https://image.businessinsider.com/5e...jpeg&auto=webp
Afghan men watch the aftermath of a suicide car bomb attack at Camp Chapman in Khost province of Afghanistan

An Air Force surgeon recounted the harrowing night he saved the life of a CIA officer who had been injured in an explosion at a small base in Afghanistan a decade ago.

Speaking with the Washington Post in a report published Monday, the 10th anniversary of the incident, Joshua Alley recalled when alarm sirens sounded at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost on December 30, 2009, just as he and some of his colleagues were about to enjoy a screening of "The Hangover." An explosion had hit the adjacent Camp Chapman, where many CIA agents were stationed.

Alley, then 33, soon learned that a man thought to be a Jordanian informant by the CIA had detonated a suicide vest packed with bars of C-4 explosive after arriving at the base for a meeting. Many around him at the time died instantly, but other victims were transported to Salerno in an attempt to secure live-saving treatment of their wounds.

"I couldn't fall to pieces because we had so many people we needed to take care of," said Alley, now a general surgeon and father of five in Virginia. "All my training kicked in. In the moment, you don't process it. You just act and do."

After trying and failing to save two other victims, the surgeon began his work on a third victim, a young CIA officer whose leg was fractured and who had shrapnel lodged both under his knee cap and in his skull above his brain. Despite his injuries, the officer was awake and alert. Alley worked on the leg wounds before pushing to make sure the victim got to a neurosurgeon quickly.

Alley knew the officer needed to board an hourlong helicopter flight to a much larger military hospital at Bagram Airfield north of Kabul. However, he was worried the man would lose consciousness during the trek, leaving it virtually impossible for flight medics to insert a breathing tube aboard the plane.

"This is a thing I second-guess myself about all the time because he was talking to me and alert, and could he really be that badly injured?" he recalled. "But we tend to treat that helicopter ride like it's a black box where you can't do anything. If he lost his airway from Khost to Bagram, that would have been on me for failing to protect his airway.

"I told him, 'We have to put you to sleep and put in a breathing tube, and he was like, 'Aw, man,'" Alley continued. "Don't worry," Alley told the officer. "You're entering the best worldwide system of trauma care ever. They'll take care of you."

After placing the man under anesthesia and on the next flight to Bagram, Alley didn't expect to ever learn of the officer's fate and continued helping other victims. But two years later, he received an email from the man's mother, which read, "My son ... is the young officer with the brain injury you treated in Khost. ... He was part of the CIA team that was attacked by the suicide bomber."

The mother went on to explain that she thought her son would die and had even begun telling family members to travel to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, before they lost him. When his brother arrived, however, things took a turn for the better.

"All of a sudden out of nowhere [my injured son] put his left thumb up," the mother wrote. "From that day forward God performed a miracle in [my son]. He kept on fighting to get better. Six months after the bombing our son was back at the CIA. He has ZERO neuro deficits ... he has never had a headache ... does have the perfect facelift!!! He will never wrinkle!

"My husband and I can never thank you enough for giving us our son back ... whole," she added. "You are truly a hero to us. We are forever in your debt."

Alley and the officer, who still works undercover for the CIA, met later, giving each other a "big hug" during lunch one day.

"I'm glad I did what I could do," Alley said. "He was one of the ones we were supposed to help save."

The officer, who almost became the eighth person to die in the attack on Camp Chapman, is still thankful for Alley's life-saving moves, saying, "I'm grateful daily. I'm able to continue the fight."

Read the original article on Washington Examiner. Copyright 2020.
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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