'You're not going to die. And I don't lie.'
At a combat hospital in the heart of Taliban country, doctors
and nurses fight to save the war's worst casualties.

At The Pilot, we are always looking for ways to make connections between news that's happening around the world and people here in Hampton Roads. The NATO hospital in Kandahar is staffed in part by doctors and nurses from Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, so it provides a powerful opportunity to apply a local lens to the war in Afghanistan.
This series offers a rare view of our military's bravery and sacrifice, and of the hospital staff's heroic efforts to save the lives of soldiers and Marines who have sustained horrendous wounds on the battlefield.
Some of the words and images you will see are graphic. We debated how unvarnished to be in our report. Ultimately, we felt a responsibility to illustrate the heavy toll that this 10-year-old war continues to take.

Denis Finley, Virginian-Pilot editor

A Virginian-Pilot special report | Stories by Corinne Reilly | Photographs by Ross Taylor

To our readers: These videos contain images of wartime injuries. Viewer discrection is advised.

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The combat hospital at Kandahar Airfield is among the most advanced treatment facilities ever to operate in a war zone. Roughly 70 percent of its patients come straight from the battlefield. In addition to U.S. and coalition service members, the hospital treats Afghans. For the staff, every day is spent working to keep death at bay.

Spc. Nick Ganey with the Army's 10th Mountain Division, was inside a 15-ton armored vehicle when an IED flipped it upside down. He spent more than an hour trapped underneath in the turret.

Ali, an Afghan toddler, was badly burned in a household accident. He was flown to the hospital with his grandparents. Doctors soon determined that he couldn't be saved.

Army Cpl. Eddie Ward, 19, lost most of his right leg in a land mine explosion. He was rushed to the hospital, then into surgery. Explosive devices are responsible for the vast majority of injuries here.

A boy the staff calls Sam 80, who's about 10, was walking home with his brother in February when an IED exploded. He spent weeks in the intensive care unit, and during that time, he formed a close bond with the staff.

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  • The hospital

    Owned by NATO and run by the U.S. Navy, the hospital is situated in the heart of Taliban country at Kandahar Airfield, a heavily protected southern base that's home to 30,000 people. It's among the most advanced treatment facilities to ever operate in a war zone.

    Its 70,000-square-foot building has 2-foot thick, rocket-resistant walls. It has a state-of-the-art trauma department, three operating suites, 12 intensive care beds, a 35-bed intermediate care ward and a 64-slice CT scanner that is more advanced than most in the United States.

  • The job

    The hospital's mandate is to treat the war's worst casualties. Even staff members who've served multiple combat tours say they've never seen injuries as devastating as those they witness here - or as many. Doctors often go weeks without a day off because of the unrelenting flow of patients, the vast majority of them victims of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

    For coalition troops, the hospital generally doesn't provide long-term care. Its staff performs life-saving interventions and keeps soldiers only for as long as it takes to stabilize them for flight out of Afghanistan. Most patients stay less than 36 hours.

  • The caregivers

    The hospital keeps a core trauma staff of roughly 100 doctors, surgeons, nurses and medical corpsmen. Most serve 6 or 7-month tours, and most are in the U.S. Navy. Many are based at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center. Some are reservists and some are active duty.

    The staff also includes doctors from other American service branches and NATO clinicians from Canada, Britain and the Netherlands. Among the dozen surgeons are an oromaxillofacial specialist, three orthopedic surgeons and a neurosurgeon.

  • The patients

    The hospital sees an average of 200 patients a month, including U.S. and coalition troops, Afghan civilians, members of the Afghan national army and police, and enemy combatants wounded in the fighting. They come from across Afghanistan's southern half, usually by helicopter. Roughly 70 percent are delivered straight from the battlefield.

    2010 patients
    U.S. military: 857
    Coalition: 209
    Afghan national army and police: 257
    Afghan civilians: 497
    Enemy combatants: 72
    Contractors: 65
    TOTAL 1,957

the hospital staff

Meet some of the caregivers included in this series

  • Lt. Joelle Annandono
    is a Navy physician assistant who specializes in orthopedics. She's based in Bremerton, Wash.

  • Petty Officer 3rd Class Bryce Moheit
    is a hospital corpsman and surgical technician. He's based in Bremerton, Wash.

  • Cmdr. Julie Wetmore
    is a Navy reservist and neonatal nurse practitioner. Back home in Illinois, she works at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

  • Lt. Cmdr. Kirk Sundby
    is a Canadian orthopedic surgeon.

  • Cmdr. Jim Sullivan
    is a Navy reservist and ER doctor. Back home, he heads the emergency department at Harrington Hospital in Southbridge, Mass.

  • Lt. Cmdr. David Shellington
    is one of six pediatric intensive care physicians in the Navy, and the only one working in Afghanistan. He's based in Portsmouth.

  • Cmdr. Christian Peterson
    is a Navy anesthesiologist who specializes in pediatrics. He's based in Portsmouth and lives in Suffolk.

  • Navy Capt. Tim McCullough
    is the hospital's director of surgery. He's based in Portsmouth and lives in Suffolk.

  • Col. Tom Curry
    is an Army surgeon based at Fort Lewis, Wash.

  • Lt. Cmdr. Tom Shu
    is a flight and critical care nurse. He enlisted in the Navy 20 years ago, then went to nursing school. Now he's a reservist. He lives in Washington, D.C.

  • Lt. Cmdr. Ron Bolen
    heads the hospital's trauma department. He's a Navy reservist. Back home in Nashville, Tenn., he's a flight nurse for Vanderbilt Medical Center.

From the editor Why we are publishing this story
Read more

Ways to help
Organizations that support deployed service members, wounded warriors and Afghan victims
Read more

In their own words

Service members share how working at the hospital has changed them Read more


The Pilot's Corinne Reilly and Ross Taylor talk with WHRV's Cathy Lewis about the series.
WHRV site | Download podcast

    Credits

    Corinne Reilly, reporting

    Ross Taylor photography and video

  • Meredith Kruse, military editor
  • Randall Greenwell, director of photography
  • Thé Pham, photo editor
  • Brian J. Clark, multimedia producer
  • David M. Putney, online producer
  • Tom Justice, copy editor