Treating the Enemy

The telephone rings at the front desk at our U.S. Air Force EMEDS hospital in Baghdad and is promptly answered by the Master Sergeant enlisted medic. “Sir, they need you over at the morgue—2 casualties—U.S.” It is early spring in Baghdad and a light rain is falling. I grab a radio, pick up the keys to one of our assigned vehicles and drive the 500 meters to the ramshackle building near the flight line. Coalition casualties are brought here in heavy black body bags to be processed; after that, they are transferred to sturdy metal caskets covered by an American flag before being loaded on a C-130 transport plane by an honor guard for the first leg of their final journey home.

The mortuary affairs facility's staff is drawn from an Army Reserve unit from Puerto Rico. Many of the soldiers are older than the usual active duty Army troops, and all of them are quiet, extremely professional, and take solemn pride in preparing these human remains to make their final journey home with dignity. I think the staff know my questions about how they're holding up are sincere and that my interest in how their kids are doing at home reflects genuine concern. I imagine they also find it a little strange that a “bird colonel” speaks with them so informally since, by necessity and the nature of the command structure in the Army, an Army colonel would seldom be called upon to perform such a task as signing death certificates, let alone have time to chat with enlisted soldiers. It has always been different in the Air Force, where colonels fly aircraft sitting next to lieutenants and enlisted aircrew.

I ask the sergeant what he knows about the casualties. He tells me that the remains are of 2 …