By Staff Sgt. Bryan Bouchard
447th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs

SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq -- Airmen here supported an Army forward surgical team in providing medical treatment to detainees as they transitioned from the Abu Ghraib Theater Internment Facility to a new facility on Camp Cropper near Baghdad.

Multi-National Force-Iraq officials established the new facility July 30 to replace Abu Ghraib, which is closing.

"Within 72 hours we went from three to 16 hospital beds and increased our operating room tables from one to two," said Col. (Dr.) Chris Lisanti, 447th Expeditionary Medical Squadron commander.

Soldiers from the Army's 772nd Forward Surgical Team and the 21st Combat Support Hospital arrived at Sather to work alongside Sather expeditionary medical support Airmen at the Victory Base Complex outside Baghdad.

The operation was immediately tested within a few hours of the Army team's arrival when the joint team saved the life of an American soldier on the Fourth of July.

"This patient was severely injured with a neck, abdominal and leg wounds from a rocket attack," Lisanti said. "He was resuscitated and taken to the operating room where a team of six surgeons did simultaneous surgeries on his neck, abdomen and leg. He was then evacuated to Balad Air Base. This patient is doing well and survived."

By the end of the transition, the joint team was able to provide care to 50 detainees through 30 successful surgeries, and provided hospitalization to 28 total wounded detainees in 14 days while still providing full care to coalition forces.

According to Lisanti, EMEDS usually performs up to 100 surgeries in a typical four-month rotation; the team performed one third of that in two weeks.

While members of leadership and medics consider the mission a success, the move was not without challenges.

The EMEDS facilities were designed to take care of the Sather Air Base patient load and provide workspace for the 30 Airmen assigned. During the transition there were twice as many people in the facility.

"We had to blend two entirely different chains of command, while preserving some semblance of the original chains, but adapting to the new mission, and knowing full well that the new hybrid organization will only last two weeks or so," Lisanti explained.

Lisanti added that this construct of Army and Air Force has been identified as a framework by which future joint operations may be designed.

"The two Army teams and Air Force team worked very well together to form one task force," said Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Kirby Gross, 10th Combat Support Hospital. "Each team took the lead in various areas of the operation and brought its specific expertise."

When the dust cleared, the small hospital at Baghdad International Airport cared for more than 400 patients in the period.

"The chance to work in a joint task force shoulder to shoulder with an Air Force unit is a rare opportunity," Gross said.

"During the time of the transition, we had no break in our services to the coalition forces at the Victory Base Complex," Lisanti said. "We continued to offer the premier medical and surgical care for 42,000 personnel and run our routine orthopedic and general surgery clinics."