Doctors Struggle to Save Lives on Iraq Battlefield
PHILLIPS: As you know, CNN is your hurricane headquarters. And we've been following these live pictures out of Westminster, Texas, seeing the severe weather damage. Our Rob Marciano is on the ground there. Now we're getting live pictures in from Birmingham, Alabama. Reynolds Wolf is going to tell us about how this system continues to move from state to state. Tell us about Alabama.</s>WOLF: Well, what we're seeing in Alabama right now, Kyra, some fairly heavy storms. Most of these are forming just to the west of this vantage point. Now the -- what you happen to see on part of the screen, of course, is a shot from Red Mountain, looking north, the city of Birmingham nestled right there on the right-hand side. Now from the television screen, from the left to the right is I- 65, and Legionfield (ph) is over on the left-hand corner of the screen. What we're seeing right behind me, if we take the computer, weather computer full, is this line of showers and storms, some of these very intense. At this hour, the National Weather Service has already posted many severe thunderstorm warnings. And this storm is going to continue to march through places like Jasper, eventually through Gardendale (ph), Birmingham, back through Hoover, Alabaster. We're going to have some large hail. We're going to have some heavy rain, and there's always the potential for tornados to form. So this is really a very, very unstable area that we're going to watch. Again, most of it just to the west of Birmingham at this time. Here's I-65, coming right through parts of Birmingham. I would say within the next 30 minutes or so it will be moving right past Red Mountain, eventually moving into places like Talladega, Jacksonville, and back over to Gadsden. So this is going to be just the beginning of what we're going to be dealing with, Kyra, through the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, as well. Just these strong showers and storms. And of course, the potential for tornados will exist, as well.</s>PHILLIPS: All right, Reynolds. We'll be talking a lot through the day, no doubt.</s>WOLF: You bet.</s>PHILLIPS: Appreciate it. And you know about the 2,000-plus U.S. troops that have been killed in the war in Iraq now, but more than 1,700 (sic) troops have been hurt, a big number. But many of those would have been on the other list, were it not for the military doctors and nurses who fight for young lives every day. CNN's Ryan Chilcote has their story on a report you may have seen on "THE SITUATION ROOM". And if you didn't, you should know these pictures are pretty graphic and not always very easy to watch.</s>RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Baghdad's combat support hospital is about to get busy. Information on the incoming is scant, nuances important.</s>DR. DAVID STEINBRUNNER, LT. COL., U.S. ARMY: We're two liter urgent. And it sounded like there was some nervousness in the voice of the people calling it in originally.</s>CHILCOTE: Colonel David Steinbrunner is the on duty doctor.</s>STEINBRUNNER: We won't really know until they get to the door.</s>CHILCOTE: And in a war zone, even the most seasoned doctor can be surprised at what comes through that door.</s>STEINBRUNNER: Holy crap!</s>CHILCOTE: The triage begins. The walking wounded goes to a nurse.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have a medic.</s>CHILCOTE: Next door in the E.R., Steinbrunner is beginning his initial check on the soldier brought in on the stretcher. At first glance, things aren't looking good.</s>STEINBRUNNER: He's real pale, guys.</s>CHILCOTE: Through an oxygen mask, though, the soldier manages to mumble a message. The doctor relays it to the team.</s>STEINBRUNNER: He said, "Please don't let me die."</s>CHILCOTE: In return, he gets the doctor's words.</s>STEINBRUNNER: I promise. I wouldn't lie to you. Don't you dare try to die on me, OK? I didn't give you permission.</s>CHILCOTE: He's just as honest when the soldier asks if he can save his leg.</s>STEINBRUNNER: I don't know. That I don't know, OK? We'll try to save it if we can, OK? I just don't know. I can't give you an answer yet.</s>CHILCOTE: Also at the soldier's side, a chaplain. The anesthesia is administered. But the soldier still stirs.</s>STEINBRUNNER: We've got to put him down. Poor guy's waking up through all this.</s>CHILCOTE: Then, another call rings out. More are on the way.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two more inbound, two minutes.</s>CHILCOTE: But for this soldier, it's too late. They've been doing CPR on him for a half hour. Five minutes later, he's pronounced dead. In all, four soldiers were brought to the hospital after a bomb hit their vehicle. Private First Class Victor Vicente was behind the wheel. He's on the phone home. He doesn't tell his wife what happened to the others. That's the military's job.</s>PFC. VICTOR VICENTE, U.S. ARMY: I have a cut on my head. But it's not a big problem.</s>CHILCOTE: But he won't be going home.</s>STEINBRUNNER: Hey, I hate to tell you this, but basically, you're RTD, return to duty.</s>CHILCOTE: The casualties are separated only by curtains. There's little privacy.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that guy over there is getting a needle in his back.</s>CHILCOTE: Take this day and turn it into every day. You have Dr. Steinbrunner's routine since he arrived in Iraq.</s>STEINBRUNNER: It seems like it's been a long time, but it's only six or seven months.</s>CHILCOTE: With this system of medical care, U.S. servicemen and women are now twice as likely to survive wounds that would have killed in Vietnam.</s>STEINBRUNNER: Where do you push so far? You put a little...</s>CHILCOTE: Today, that soldier is in the E.R. X-Rays are back.</s>STEINBRUNNER: There's no free air.</s>CHILCOTE: And they're looking good.</s>STEINBRUNNER: Sweet. Sweet.</s>CHILCOTE: He's stabilized and ready for the operating room. Dr. Steinbrunner's job is finished for now.</s>STEINBRUNNER: He may lose an arm or a leg. He may save it. I don't know.</s>CHILCOTE: Steinbrunner kept his promise.</s>STEINBRUNNER: He lost a lot of blood in the field so -- but he's a young, healthy guy so -- he was compensating. That's why he could talk and maintain and everything like that. But you could see the color of his skin. I mean, he was pale. He was definitely looking very, very sick. So now I'm going to take care of his buddy. Thanks.</s>CHILCOTE: Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.</s>PHILLIPS: CNN's Baghdad bureau director, Cal Perry, produced the piece you just watched. He joins us now live from Baghdad. Wow, Cal, I think that's the first time we've ever seen a piece like that. Very emotional, not only for the soldiers, but the doctors. This must be an unbelievable training ground in many ways dealing with situations they've never seen before when it comes to operating and the type of wounds they're seeing.</s>CAL PERRY, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU DIRECTOR: It is. As you said, I mean, it's things that no doctors in the world are seeing. It's certainly things that doctors in the United States are not seeing. These doctors, they see blast wounds. They see soldiers that are coming in, their legs are literally blown off. And they're faced with sort of an emotional challenge that no other doctor really is faced with. The day that we were there, a soldier died in the room. And in the very same room, doctors were saving his life. And to see doctors as they're pronouncing a soldier dead, one of their countrymen, to then turn and have to treat another soldier and save his life, it's an incredible thing to be able to do. And they do it every day, seven days a week. They do it every single day of the year because they have to. They talk about sitting on the roof, trying to get a moment to themselves. And a chopper comes into the LZ, and they know. They know that it's going to be a very seriously wounded individual, but they never know what they're going to see. And it's certainly something very difficult to deal with.</s>PHILLIPS: When you say they never really know what they're going to see, I'm thinking about the injuries, but what about the patients? Has there ever been a weird moment where they're working, maybe, on a couple U.S. soldiers and then maybe the Iraqi target comes in, the enemy, and they have to work on that individual's life, as well?</s>PERRY: Well, absolutely. As you've said, these -- these doctors, they're doctors first, and they're soldiers second. And they'll tell you that. They do treat insurgents. And it's something that they have to do and that they do do on a daily basis. Dr. Masure (ph) is somebody who we profiled in the piece. He's an incredible man. And I could really tell. He told me a story of the Australian soldier who was killed. He died of a bullet wound to the head. And Dr. Masure (ph) was the one who treated him. And he tells this story about the countrymen of the Australian soldiers gathering around as it becomes clear there's nothing he can really do for him. They pulled an Australian flag sort of over his chest. He had a little koala bear on him, and he died right there in front of them. An hour later, Dr. Masure (ph) is treating an insurgent with a very similar wound. And he told me this story. He sort of paused, and he was obviously very emotional about it. And he said, you know, "I'm not God and I can't play God." But you can tell it really does take a toll on these doctors. But as I said, every day, they have to get back after it.</s>PHILLIPS: Cal, that's what I mean. I didn't mean to say Iraqi soldiers. I meant to say the insurgents when I was referring to -- to the enemy. But that does bring me to the point of do they work on Iraqi soldiers as well, the ones that are working with U.S. troops to try to take down the insurgents?</s>PERRY: They do, and translators, as well. They see the entire gamut of the war. And that's something that I found very fascinating about this hospital, is they see the war up close and personal every day because it arrives at their front door. So on any given day, they're treating a translator, an Iraqi soldier or an insurgent, and they have to treat everybody equally. They are doctors first. They said this over and over again. They really wanted to impress this point. But again, when they see a U.S. soldier come in, you can tell it really hits home, and it's something that they have to do. And it just -- it's a very difficult thing, but they do it every day. And as this sort of statistics that you've named, 17,500 wounded U.S. soldiers is an incredible amount of wounded U.S. soldiers, but they're saving lives. These are soldiers that would have died in Vietnam. The one Ryan Chilcote's piece that we profiled, that's a soldier that, we were told, would have bled out in Vietnam, probably would not have lived.</s>PHILLIPS: Wow. They've come a long way with regard to operational procedures. Now, Dr. Steinbrunner, you focused on him in this piece. But you told me, even through your personal pictures, you were very touched by Dr. Masure (ph). Tell me more about him and why he left such an impact on you.</s>PERRY: He's an incredible man. And he really -- he understands, as difficult as it is, and the horrible things that he sees, this is something that he's never going to forget for the rest of his life. And it's an incredible training ground, as you said. I mean, these are the doctors that are going to go home and they're going to save lives of people in car crashes that probably would not have survived, because they'll have that training. They're seeing injuries that are really, on the one hand, horrific but they're learning. And the staffs are incredible: 18-year-old medics who are doing things out here in Iraq that they wouldn't be doing in the U.S., because they see it on an everyday basis. Five guys come in wounded at a time, and they have to pitch in and help out. And they do, and they do an incredible job.</s>PHILLIPS: Final question, anything that really sticks out in your mind that you'll just never forget? I mean, you cover a lot of stories in Iraq. This was the first time you guys had a chance really to spend a couple of days in a situation like this. Quite a reality check. Is there anything that stands out specifically?</s>PERRY: Yes, the emotional strength of everybody involved, of the helicopter medic that's providing CPR care on a soldier that probably has no chance to live, but for 30 minutes that medic is going to give it every shot that he has, just in the chance of a miracle. The young doctors that every day, they're pronouncing somebody dead on one side of the room. Then they have to turn around, that very moment, and they have to treat another U.S. soldier, and they saved his life. The emotional strength that it takes on a daily basis, when you're seeing those kinds of wounds, to emotionally be able to cope with it, get by, and move on the next day, is really something that I'll never forget.</s>PHILLIPS: Cal Perry, you and Ryan Chilcote did an amazing job. Thanks so much. You can see more stories like this on "THE SITUATION ROOM". Tune in this afternoon at 4 p.m. Eastern and watch the live prime-time edition at 7 Eastern. Well, if you find your stockbroker peering into a TV monitor today, he or she, well, they're not watching "Oprah", more than likely. The Fed is just one hour away from a big decision on interest rates, and the fallout could be historic. That's coming, just ahead on LIVE FROM. And once again, live pictures from Westminster, Texas. You can see the tornado damage. We're watching all the severe weather around the country, including Alabama. Stay tuned to CNN.