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Life on the Front Lines: Red Cross Staff Reports From the Iraq Conflict
Monday, April 07, 2003 — NOTE: The following article is second in a series about life on the front lines, as reported back by the American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services staff currently living and working side by side with the men and women of the U.S. military serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Please check back for regular updates.
— There are currently 31 Red Cross workers on the ground in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom by delivering emergency messages to the armed forces from their families back home.
The Red Cross staff are living and working alongside the men and women they are there to support, and they must endure the same harsh conditions as the troops, including blinding sandstorms, scud and chemical/biological alerts.
Red Cross workers Phyllis Marvin and Harry Jackson with 1LT Randy Brown, LCpl Patrick Wilson, Sgt Timothy Collins, and LCpl Brandon Lackey of the 2nd MEB after they received a large quantity of Red Cross comfort kits for forward-deployed troops.
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The chemical and biological alerts have become less frequent, allowing staff to return to a more normal routine, although they must have their gas masks with them at all times.
Message delivery continues to be very challenging with troops still moving under combat conditions. The staff has put new online notification procedures in place to assist in the delivery of messages to troops in forward areas and to assist Red Cross chapters, stations and the Armed Forces Emergency Services Centers in working with families, but delays will continue as long as troop movements, communication blackouts and combat conditions exist.
Over the past few days there has been a significant reduction in non-emergency messages, which is due in part to the hard work of Red Cross workers back home who are helping manage military families’ expectations, explaining to them the extreme difficulty of getting messages to the troops and that they must be urgent in order to be delivered.
A Red Cross team stationed with the 101st reported that they successfully made contact with the 1st Brigade via cell phone, but when the call went through the serviceman who answered asked them to call back and deliver the messages at a later time because they were in the middle of a battle, proving again how difficult it is to relay messages to troops engaged in combat.
When not delivering messages, the Red Cross workers find other ways to support the troops. Last week, Dee Price, the Deputy Director of Red Cross Operations at Camp Doha in Kuwait, recruited 50 volunteers from the installation, ranging in rank from private to colonel, to assemble comfort kits to help lift the spirits of the troops. Comfort kits contain items such as razors and shaving cream, lotion, body wash, toothbrush and paste, hand sanitizer and wash cloths.
The volunteers assembled over 15,000 comfort kits in just over 6 hours. The kits were boxed, placed on military pallets, covered with plastic tarps and identified with Red Cross signs. About 7,500 comfort kits were loaded onto two Chinook helicopters. The helicopters then delivered the comfort kits to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq. The pilots flying the helicopters have been working with the remains of US casualties and their morale has been very low. These Marines had not been able to bathe or shave for three weeks, and they were thrilled to receive the comfort kits. The thanked the Red Cross for sending them, and asked that they keep coming.
Comfort kits have also been pre-positioned at 11 field hospitals to be used for wounded and injured service members. They are used at both the hospitals and on medical evacuation flights.
You can support U.S. military members and their families through the American Red Cross as we provide assistance and comfort. Your gift will support the nationally coordinated Red Cross services provided to military families across the country and to American service men and women located throughout the world. Please make a financial donation to Armed Forces Emergency Services by calling 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions may be sent to the American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services, P. O. Box 91820, Washington, DC 20090. Secure online credit card donations can be made by visiting www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html.
The American Red Cross is not a government agency. We rely on the assistance of caring supporters like you to deliver our critical services. You can support U.S. military members and their families through the American Red Cross as we provide assistance and comfort. Your gift will support the nationally coordinated Red Cross services provided to military families across the country and to American service men and women located throughout the world. Please make a financial donation to Service to Armed Forces by calling 1-800-RED CROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions may be sent to the American Red Cross Service to Armed Forces, P.O. Box 91820, Washington, DC 20090. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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