Lt. Col. Dan Henley has been back in the United States for a couple of months, but the memories of his tour in Pakistan are vivid.
“It was just barren, flat and dusty,” said Henley, describing the station where he was based for 3 1/2 months.
Henley lives in Mount Vernon and has been on the Family Practice Residency Staff at Andrews Air Force Base for the past two years. His primary job is to teach the residents, but he is also the director of Sports Medicine. Twice he received alert notices saying that he might be deployed to go overseas, but they had both been changed.
When he received the third alert notice last November, he wasn’t sure until the last minute if he would really have to go. His wife, Tracy, and their three children, Kate, Ryan and Christopher, hoped that he wouldn’t. But the Friday after Thanksgiving, Henley found himself on an airplane, not even sure at first exactly where he was going.
It wasn’t an easy ride. It took five days to get there and when they landed at their destination, it was in the middle of the night. “It was a tactical landing, where you put the lights out. It gets your attention and you get a little worried when you’re landing,” said Henley. “I felt better once we landed.”
Henley was so exhausted the first night that he was able to sleep without being awoken by the heavy aircraft which was flying overhead at night. It was also one of the few nights when he wasn’t woken by one of his patients.
“I STARTED WORKING as soon I arrived,” said Henley, who served as the Medical Group Commander and Director of Base Medical Services for the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing. “Everyday I got up and went to work. I was available 24 hours a day, anybody could come to see me.”
Other than an orthopedic surgeon, he was the only medical officer on a base located in a remote area of Pakistan. Even the men flying over with him on the plane seemed to be relieved that he was coming with them. “The doc was on his way,” the men were told. Other doctors had come for short periods of time, but there was no permanent medical officer and the commander was adamant that Henley be there for a extended stay.
Henley felt that his purpose was very clear and felt very needed. “Medical care is one of the biggest moral boosts for soldiers,” he said.
Most of the illnesses Henley treated were routine and mild. Bottled water was not readily available, so Henley was in charge of overseeing the testing of the water. They used reverse osmosis and it seemed to be fine.
“The overall rates of gastrointestinal problems were equal to anywhere else,” he said.
There were other problems, but Henley said, “The times we had to deal with mental health issues were rare.”
Several injuries were incurred during loading and unloading operations. With the men trying to unload quickly and at night, injuries were bound to happen. The first day Henley was there, he treated a man who was injured while unloading a plane. The most severe injury was a soldier who suffered a pelvic fracture; he was loading a plane and was crushed with a 6,000 pound pallet.
SNAKES WERE RAMPANT and one soldier was bitten through his boot, supposedly by a viper. They quickly located the correct serum for that region, but didn’t have to use it; they were able to correct the person’s breathing and he survived. There were other snakebites, but they were not considered toxic.
One incident that stands out in Henley’s mind was the Navy pilot he treated. The pilot’s cockpit broke while he was at 30,000 altitude. Miraculously, the pilot only suffered minor cold injuries and recovered very quickly. “I think he flew out the next day,” said Henley. Not all situations had a pleasant ending. Henley had to declare the remains of the seven Marines killed in the Marine C-130 crash.
But while the conditions were harsh, there were some bright spots.
Gen. Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, came over to review operations. Wayne Newton, Drew Carey and Neil McCoy came over before Christmas to perform and Joan Jett came for New Year’s Eve.
Henley said that he missed eating real food; they existed almost exclusively on MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat). On New Year’s Eve, they had their first real meal. When he came back home, his wife, Tracy, was reluctant to give him too many heavy foods right away for fear that he would get sick. Alcohol was not allowed partly because they were in a Muslim culture and partly because they were all on high operations.
Henley said that there was some threat where they were with planes being shot at, but he didn’t have a daily worry about his safety. Since communicating by phone and mail was difficult, e-mail was the saving grace and he was able to communicate regularly with his family.
“One of the most difficult things about being deployed is knowing what your family is going through. I was very appreciative of what people here did for them,” he said.