Care Team Looks After 3rd HBCT Soldiers

Capt. Ewa Garner, the physician assistant for the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion which is part of the Sledgehammer Care Team on Forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq, follows up on the phone with a soldier who was wounded in action to be sure they are receiving proper care, July 13.

By Spc. Ben Hutto
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – Senior leadership of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team continues to look after the welfare of their Soldiers through the Sledgehammer Care Team.

The care team was set up during Operation Iraqi Freedom III as a tool for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team commander to identify problems and provide support for Soldiers and their families.

The care team’s main focus is to support the families of fallen Soldiers and maintain weekly contact with Soldiers wounded in action. It also helps to provide both groups with any support they may need during and after the deployment.

Col. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr., 3rd BCT commander, has made the care team one of his top priorities.

“Col. Grigsby has really taken the concept of the team and ran with it,” said Capt. Ewa Garner, the physician assistant for the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion. “He is very concerned about the Soldiers and constantly checks the care team book to see trends and what is going on with (Soldiers wounded in action) and the families of the (Soldiers killed in action).”

Chaplain (Maj.) Timothy Sowers, the brigade chaplain, is a part of the team and likes what it is doing to help the families of fallen Soldiers. His job is to ensure that the team tends to the needs of wounded Soldiers and their loved ones.

“I get very excited knowing that our command puts such great emphasis on taking care of Soldiers and their families,” Sowers said. “They have made such a sacrifice that it is a great honor to be able to help them through the grieving and recovering process. I sincerely hope that our effort encourages them.”

Garner and Capt. Joycelyn Constantino from Melbourne, Fla., the brigade nurse, help the team track wounded 3rd BCT Soldiers.

“We call and gather all the information as far as how (the Soldiers) are doing, where they are, and their plan for rehabilitation,” Constantino said. “The phone call really helps us determine where they are in their recovery and how we can assist in that process.”

Garner makes the weekly phone calls to gather information and make sure that 3rd BCT Soldiers know that they are still remembered by their comrades at FOB Hammer.

“I call every injured Soldier, regardless of where they are, once a week to make sure that their needs are being taken care of,” said Garner. “I want to know what is going on with them and let them know that even though they are back home, we are still thinking about them. Whatever issue they have, we make it a priority and relay it to the commander.”

Garner said she feels that despite some of the logistical hurdles involved with making the calls from Iraq, it is an important job.

“I’ve developed personal relationships with Soldiers and their families,” she said. “I talk with spouses and let them know we are thinking about them also. We want to know how they feel and what they are thinking. It will be very exciting to go back home and meet all these people face to face.”

Garner said she gets a great deal of personal satisfaction from her duties.

“I want all of our WIAs to know that we appreciate their sacrifice,” she said.

“Many of them have sacrificed so much and I feel like this is the least I can do for them.”

Another aspect of taking care of Soldiers involves seeing to their legal needs. Capt. Paul Lloyd, the brigade’s operation law attorney, has taken on that responsibility.

“We provide the commander with trends for what legal actions are happening with Soldiers,” he said. “This is more of a helpful measure than a punitive one. For instance, if one unit has a high number of Soldiers receiving Article 15s (Uniformed Code of Military Justice) for the same offense, we will examine it and see why it is happening.”

Capt. Angela Mobbs, the brigade physiologist, helps advise the commander on his Soldiers’ general well-being.

“The commander wants to know how his Soldiers are doing physiologically,” she said. “He checks on trends and is constantly checking to make sure that no problems are arising. He is very much on top of what is going on with his brigade and is always working to stop problems before they arise.”

Grigsby has used the information in the care team’s book to send letters to the families of every fallen 3rd HBCT Soldier from OIF III to the present deployment. He also used it to write all the brigade’s WIAs on Independence Day.

“I think it is great that the Soldiers here know that they are cared about from the beginning of their deployment all the way past the end of it,” Mobbs said.

Command Sgt. Maj. James M. Pearson, the enlisted advisor to Grigsby, is planning to visit all of 3rd BCT’s wounded Soldiers on the East Coast while he is home for his two weeks of mid-tour rest and recovery.

“I just want to thank them for their service,” he said. “It is important to me that I personally thank each and every one of them for their service to their country. I want to let them know that as long as there is oxygen in my lungs, I will help them anyway I can.”