What the Casualties in Iraq Taught Me About War

“The threat of death hung over everything like a heavy, invisible curtain”: an OR nurse with the USAF 407th Expeditionary Medical Group reflects on Operation Iraqi Freedom and the lessons of war.

A U.S. Marine with Combat Logistics Battalion 24 (CLB), 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), carries a simulated casualty out of a CH-53 Super Stallion at a mass casualty exercise during Realistic Urban Training (RUT) at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Oct. 8, 2020. Cpl. Isaiah Campbell/U.S. Marine Corps photo

Commentary

I deployed to Tallil Air Base, Iraq, in September 2004 as a U.S. Air Force (USAF) Operating Room (OR) nurse with the 407th Expeditionary Medical Group. At the time, there was still hope that Operation Iraqi Freedom might live up to its namesake. The United States was ostensibly still looking for weapons of mass destruction (the U.S. Iraq Survey Group issued its Final Report on Sept. 30, 2004), the Second Battle for Fallujah in November hadn’t yet taken place, and preparations were being made for the coming Iraqi elections in January 2005.