Guest Editorial: We Got Them Home

When I received word of my combat deployment to Afghanistan, I began doing what every combat deployer does: I started getting my life in balance and making sure everything back home was in good order before I stepped onto the plane to go start my job in a combat zone. Leaving two teenage daughters and a 5-month-old son behind, I knew what I was sacrificing (time with my family). I told myself they would understand why I left when they were older and that I was making the world and our country safer places. 

Deploying is tough—missing the day-to-day luxuries we have, like talking to your wife, hugging your children, or just sitting down to relax with a good meal and a show. I’ve done this before; I had previously deployed to Iraq and served as a medic years earlier. Afghanistan was different—the combat wounds were the same, but the atmosphere had a different feel. 

I was blessed with the opportunity to lead a joint service team. On my team were medics from the Air Force and Army and corpsmen from the Navy. Being a medic in Afghanistan was tough—movement throughout the country was hard due to the terrain, IED dangers by ground, and rocket attacks by air, but at the end of the day, our mission was simple: We were there to save lives and provide aid to the injured. We had one job: Get everyone home. Politics didn’t matter; we had Americans and allies in harm’s way, and it was our job to get them back to their families. 

Part of my responsibilities was to train the locals on advanced emergency medical techniques. We taught courses like PHTLS, BLS, and TCCC. It was clear at the time the locals had difficulty grasping the American way of performing prehospital medicine. Maybe our words were lost in translation, but the sense of urgency was not there for my group of students. We knew the country of Afghanistan might not sustain itself as a long-term option. 

By far the hardest part of serving as a medic in Afghanistan was treating enemy combatants. But we knew treating the enemies with the highest-integrity patient care would lead to intelligence that could save other Americans and allies from future attacks. 

As we look at the withdrawal from Afghanistan, a lot of people wonder if their time in the country was worth it. As a medic, I don’t think we ask that question. I think we know what we did there. I think we know the lives we impacted through our trauma management, rebuilding communities, and preventive medicine the locals wouldn’t have otherwise received. We know good medicine in bad places resulted in intelligence that led to a safer world. 

Every time I see a video of an airport return of a military service member, I feel a sense of pride. We did what we were sent to do: We got them home.

Jeremy D. Miller, MEd, is a paramedic and director of care environment at SUN Behavioral Columbus in Ohio. Reach him at jmiller@suncolumbus.com.