Navy Docs in Afghanistan See Gruesome Results of War

Afghanistan's Helmand province has been getting a lot of press in recent months because of the large number of casualties U.S. forces have sustained there.

Camp Pendleton Patch has been tracking since the publication's launch in May.

Marines with "boots on the ground" have a pretty good idea of how dangerous Afghanistan can be, but likely don't see as much carnage as the military doctors treating their wounded.

Marine Corps Times staff writer Gina Cavallaro produced a compelling piece on Navy doctors operating in an area of Afghanistan that has proven the most dangerous for U.S. troops as of late—Sangin Valley.

The doctors at Forward Operating Base Jackson have treated many of Afghanistan's war-wounded, a majority of whom are nationals of that country, Cavallaro wrote.

Of Marine units in the area, one in particular has shed the most blood—3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. The unit suffered 25 casualties before completing its combat operations commitment in the Helmand Province earlier this year, North County Times reported.

But since March, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines has patrolled the area and is quickly catching up to 3/5 in terms of life lost. In the month of June alone, 1/5 suffered nine of its 12 total casualties in Sangin Valley, according to Marine Corps Times.

“We’ve seen Marines come through here who survive a gunshot or an IED, then they go back out and they get killed, or come back with their legs blown off,” said Navy Lt. Rich Whitehead, 1/5’s battalion surgeon, in an interview with Marine Corps Times.

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