Message posted by The Major on May 19, 2006 at 1:15:58 PST:
OFF THE SUBJECT WARNING... Today, I watched a review copy of the upcoming HBO documentary "Baghdad ER" that is going to air on Sunday night. The documentary is about the medical mission of the 86th Combat Support Hospital ("CaSH") in the Baghdad "Green Zone." It's well done, insofar as cinematography and editing goes, and extraordinarily graphic. A good buddy and colleague of mine was there while HBO was filming it (I spotted him in a couple of clips filmed in the operating room). It is well worth watching, but you must know ahead of time that HBO only shows a small fraction of what the 86th did in Baghdad. They only showed injured US soldiers, with a couple of seriously injured Iraqi Police Commandoes thrown in. What they fail to show you is the hundreds of Iraqi citizens, men, women and children, who are cared for there. If fact, the majority of surgical time is spent on Iraqis, both good and bad. This blatant omission clearly tips one off to the real intention of the documentary, but then, I expected nothing less from HBO. By all means, watch it if you want to see how a CaSH works and the kind of front-line medical care your troops are getting. Some pretty cool evac footage, too. BE WARNED - it is NOT for the squeamish. The Major
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