(4/15/04) army nurse lt. col. thomas yarber thought he had prepared himself and his nurses as best he could for the trauma he knew they would see in iraq. he and his nurses looked at photographs of soldiers whose limbs were blown off by rocket-propelled grenades, heads rocked by explosive shock waves, or eyes pierced by shrapnel. they talked extensively with other army nurses who had already served in baghdad. they brushed up constantly on their combat nursing skills.
"we did a lot of mental preparation to make people aware that this was not a community hospital we were going to," says yarber, deputy commander for nursing for the army's 31st combat support hospital (csh), now on the ground in baghdad.
but nothing could have prepared yarber and his nurses for the trauma they would see when violence erupted in iraq april 4 and continued throughout the week as iraqi insurgents tried to capture key cities throughout the country.
