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| Staff Sgt. Aubrey McElroy (right), assigned to the 304th MP Company in Johnson City. Tenn., discusses entry control point (ECP) operations with Ugandan Military Police. The MPs of six different nations are working together to provide force protection for Natural Fire, a partnership and humanitarian exercise between the US, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Uganda. Part of the exercise involves medical outreach to the local community. |
By Maj. Corey Schultz
Army Reserve Public Affairs
KITGUM, Uganda-- Army Reserve Soldiers from across the United States are on the ground in northern Uganda, working in an exercise with other U.S. forces and five East African nations to improve disaster management response and provide medical care.
During this exercise, Natural Fire 10, personnel from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and the U.S. have set up an operating base in Kitgum, about 200 miles north of Lake Victoria, where they train and work together on a humanitarian assistance mission. The exercise includes practicing responses to disaster relief such as convoy operations, crowd control, weapons handling and vehicle checkpoints. Also, medical, civil affairs and construction personnel travel daily into the communities.
The Army Reserve is playing an important role in this exercise, providing all the aircraft as well as civil affairs, force protection, and medical care for both U.S. Soldiers and Ugandan citizens.
Soldiers of the 11th Theater Aviation Command’s D Company, 7-158th Aviation Regiment, primarily from Louisville, Ken., and Olathe, Kan., are providing all the air mobility for Natural Fire. They operate three CH-47 Chinooks and two C-12s.
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| Marines prepare a sling load on a US Army Reserve CH-47 Chinook. The Chinooks of D Co., 7-158th Aviation Regiment, are responsible for all the aviation operations in support of Natural Fire 10. This U.S. Army Africa exercise is a partnership between the U.S. and five East African nations: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. The six nations are working together to learn from each other and improve disaster management techniques and humanitarian operations. |
These Army Reserve aviators have been flying personnel and cargo back and forth daily, and also conducting sling load training in Kitgum. They provide crucial rapid transit from the staging area in Entebbe out to the field. For instance, on Oct. 15, Chinooks carried about 200 personnel from Entebbe to Kitgum, saving almost 10 hours that would have otherwise been spent on the road. On Oct. 21, they were again called upon for a critical mission: medevac for a seriously injured Ugandan soldier.
The soldier had been working at a construction site when a steel beam fell from 20 feet and struck him on the head. 1st. Lt. Matthew Boyer with the Army Reserve’s 629th Forward Surgical team was the medical officer-in-charge at the scene and arranged for the injured man to be treated.
“That’s what we do, save life, limb and eyesight,” said Maj. Scott Armen, a surgeon from Gaineville, Fla., who led the team assessing and stabilizing the injured Ugandan. The pilots and aircrew of D Co. spun up a Chinook, and the soldier was flown to a Kampala hospital within about 90 minutes. Without the Chinook, it would have been an eight to 10 hour drive over rough dirt roads –which the patient may not have survived.
Medical personnel from the 7225th Medical Detachment (Greenville, S.C.) are also providing care for local Ugandans. They have set up at the Pajimo Medical Clinic outside of Kitgum and work side-by-side with their U.S. Navy, Ugandan and Tanzanian counterparts, treating more than 500 patients per day. The team includes doctors, Navy dentists, pharmacists, nurses, physician assistants and medics. They provide medical, dental, optometry and pharmacy services, and even have a psychological nurse, Lt. Col. Jimmy Paulk, who counsels victims of domestic violence and persons with psychological problems. Patients are also given medicine and vitamins to take home with them.
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| Maj. Scott Armen, a surgeon from Gainesville, Fla., and other soldiers of the Columbus, Ohio, 629th Forward Surgical Team, examine a Ugandan soldier hit in the head by a steel beam. 1st. Lt. Matthew Boyer (not shown), a nurse, was the medical officer-in-charge at the site, and having no neck braces, improvised and stabilized the injured man’s neck with a pair of boots. The Ugandan soldier was quickly flown by helicopter to a hospital in Kampala, 200 miles south. |
Though the Army Reserve medical personnel did not plan for any maternity care, they quickly made a contingency plan when a 19-year-old Ugandan woman went into labor at the Pajimo Clinic’s gate.
Fortunately, one of the 7225th’s emergency room nurses, 1st. Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson of Lubbock, Texas, is a labor and delivery nurse in her civilian occupation. She immediately ran down to the maternity clinic.
“This is what I do back home,” Watson said. “This is what I live for.”
About two hours later Watson, her medic Pfc. Kendra Hinds, and the clinic’s midwife staff delivered a healthy, 5.5 lb. baby boy. The 7225th adjusted their daily figure of 714 patients treated –to 715.
“It’s an amazing day,” Watson said.
The clinics owe the large amount of patients to the U.S. Army Reserve’s 310th Psychological Operations Unit out of Atlanta, Ga. These Soldiers go out into the communities with translators to issue announcements ranging from advice on how to prevent the spread of disease to directions to the local clinics, such as Pajimo. The Psyops personnel then return to the clinic to gauge the effectiveness of their message.
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| Army Reserve 1st. Lt. Victoria Lynn Watson, deployed with the 7225th Medical Support Unit out of Columbus, Ohio, delivers a 5.5 lb healthy baby boy to a 19-year-old Ugandan woman who went into labor at the gate of Pajimo Clinic, Uganda. The 7225th did not have maternity staff present, but Watson --an emergency room nurse in her Army Reserve status-- is a labor and delivery nurse in her civilian occupation in Abilene, Texas. She rushed in to help the mother deliver her child with the assistance of her medic, Pfc. Kendra Hinds, and Ugandan midwifes. |
As with any operation, physical security of the participants is of tantamount importance. Military Police Soldiers from the 400th MP Battalion are providing force protection: guarding the gates and patrolling the forward operating base so that all the exercise participants remain safe. They also provide escort and security for numerous distinguished visitors, such as Maj. Gen. William B. Garrett, III, commander of U.S. Army Africa.
“The Ugandans have been very friendly,” said Staff Sgt. Aubrey McElroy, an MP with the 304th MP Company out of Bluefield, W. Va. “On one of our Personal Security Detachment (PSD) missions, we escorted a Ugandan general to a radio station for an interview. They found out we didn’t have Internet back on the FOB, so they let us get on their email to tell our families we had made it OK.”
Exercise Natural Fire 10 will conclude on Oct. 25. By that time, thousands of Ugandans in the Kitgum district will have interacted with Army Reserve personnel, hopefully fulfilling the intent of the exercise: to bring the United States and East Africa into a closer partnership.
"This exercise is an example of the U.S. Government's commitment to strengthening our relationship and increasing our ability to operate together to promote security, stability and peace in Africa," said Lieutenant Colonel David Konop, U.S. Army Africa's spokesman.
