In Iraq: 'They said go ahead and take it since it's one of yours'

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq - “Did you hear about the two solders?” soldiers asked, the words "death" and "killed" left unspoken. 

“I’ve had this feeling of not wanting there to be silence today,” said flight medic Spc. Scott Thurman, 27, of Keizer, Ore., who previously served with the 41st Infantry. Both soldiers were from Oregon's 41st Infantry.

Thurman got through some hairy times on his past two deployments - like an IED blast in 2005 - by accepting that when your time is up, your time is up.

That thought hasn’t stopped him from worrying for the last several days over the identity of the two fallen soldiers. 

The answers came soon enough.

For the second time this month, commander of Oregon’s 41st Infantry Col. Dan Hokanson flew to Balad - again to visit with a wounded solider. This time it was Specialist Reid Walch, who escaped the fate of his fellow soldiers but suffered shrapnel wounds.

Specialist Taylor D. Marks, 19, of Monmouth, Ore., and Sgt. Earl G. Werner, 38, died Friday when their convoy was hit by an explosive, according to the Oregon Military Department.

After visiting Walch, who is the second soldier from Oregon's 41st Infantry injured in Iraq, Hokanson flew to a ceremony for two other soldiers killed in action by the IED as they began their journey home: Sgt. Earl D. Werner, 38, of Amboy, Wash., and Spc. Taylor D. Marks, 19, of Monmouth, Ore.

'We’re glad to help Oregon boys'
For Thurman's new unit, Oregon's Charlie Company, the casualties carry special signifigance.

On the morning of Aug. 28, soldiers in Charlie Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation, a Medevac unit, based out of Salem, Ore., were notified of a patient needing transport from Baghdad to Balad Theater Hospital.

When news came that the patient was from Oregon's 41st Infantry, Sgt. Candace Westlund, 25, of Corvallis, Ore., coordinated with another Medevac unit to make sure Oregon soldiers could transport the Oregon patient.

“They said go ahead and take it since it's one of yours,” Jason Westlund said.

Before noon, Rod Comstock, 48, the pilot in command from Salem, Ore., flew the 25 minute flight at 120 knots to Baghdad.

“It makes you think about home,” said Comstock. “We’re glad to help Oregon boys.”

At the landing zone in Baghdad, Westlund, flight medic Spc. Matt Moore, 28, of Silverton, Ore., and two soldiers on the ground loaded the patient on a litter into the aircraft.

As they flew, Westlund monitored Walch, who suffered shrapnel wounds from an IED blast while riding on a Mine Resistant Ambush Proof vehicle on a convoy security mission.

Westlund checked Walch's bandages closely for additional bleeding and carefully watched his pulse and vital signs. The soldier had his eyes closed for most of the flight but opened them every once in a while.

“He would smile, give me a thumbs up and a little nod,” said Westlund (pictured below). “He was doing all right at that time.” 

Back in Balad, Westlund helped transfer his patient into Balad Theater Hospital for further medical treatment. Then Westlund waited for a couple hours until he and Sgt. Candace Westlund, Westlund's wife, were able to visit with the soldier.

“I brought one of our flight patches over as a little souvenir," Westlund said. "When I got there he was talking, he was in good spirits. He had just been on the phone with his mom back home.”
 
Walch was sent to Germany that night to begin his recovery and start his way back to the U.S.

'I want to help those Oregon soldiers come home'
At the Medevac base, the subject of the IED blast and the casualties is brought up every once in a while in the following days.
 
For Westlund the day has further inspired him to consider joining the 41st Infantry when he is finished serving his time with the Medevac unit. Soldiers in Charlie Company have asked him: do you still want to go now that soldiers are getting injured, you’d have to be crazy to do that?

Westlund served with an artillery unit in his past two deployments to Iraq and Kosovo, so he is familiar with the dangers ground soldiers face.

“Yeah, I’m definitely planning on looking into extending with them, especially if they are out there getting hurt and they’re out there on the ground doing patrols and all that kind of thing,” says Westlund. “Yeah, I want to be there because I want to help those Oregon soldiers come home.”

Cali Bagby is embedded with the Oregon Army National Guard from Charlie Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation, a Medevac Unit based out of Salem, Ore., for KVAL.com. Her work has been published in the Washington Post and the Eugene Weekly.
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