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BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (May 29, 2012) – The chaplain gave
the cross he brought from home to the young Marine who was injured
from Florida. The Marine, who was engaged to a girl in Jacksonville,
Fla., had been injured in an improvised explosive device attack and
lost his cross that was on his body armor during the explosion. When
he presented the cross to the youthful Marine, both men cried.
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U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Brian Bohlman,
chaplain, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, Bagram Air Field,
Afghanistan, meets with and prays with members of the Craig Joint
Theater Hospital, May 26, 2012. Chaplain Bohlman works the night
shift at the hospital and routinely visits patients, American and
Afghan, throughout the night helping them to cope with their
circumstances. The hospital here employs 528 joint medical staff.
Photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Clay Lancaster
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This was Lt. Col. Brian Bohlman's first experience as the night
shift chaplain at Craig Joint-Theater Hospital here approximately
six months ago.
The chaplain would experience these types of
scenarios and more throughout his time at CJTH, one of the largest
and best-equipped trauma facilities in Afghanistan.
Anytime a
trauma comes in the chaplain's pager will go off, he said.
“Our role in the trauma room is to introduce ourselves, and we tell
them we are praying for them,” said Bohlman, who is deployed from
the 169th Fighter Wing, McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C. “We
will also follow them while they are in the hospital.”
The
chaplain doesn't only deal with trauma, but also makes hospital
visits to patients who are stable.
“We [the chaplain's
assistance and I] generally see about 15 people a night,” Bohlman |
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continued. “I always ask them their hometown.” |
Caring for people is nothing new for the 20-year Air
Force veteran.
Bohlman always had a strong internal
call to serve, he said. He didn't meet the requirements to
serve as a chaplain so he came into the military in 1992 as
a chaplain's assistant.
After serving four years on
active duty and a year in the reserves, he earned a
commission through the Air Force Chaplain Candidate Program,
the Bel Air, Md., native said.
“Our mission is to
care for the warrior's soul,” Bohlman said. “There are three
functions we do. One is nurturing the living, two is caring
for the wounded and three is honoring the dead.”
“On this
deployment, I've done all three, but I definitely prefer the
first.”
The rosy-cheeked chaplain pulls out a green
book from his left breast pocket. Though, the book is not
worth more than a couple of dollars, this book holds a much
deeper meaning.
Every injured military member, Bohlman
has come in contact with, resides in this green book.
Their name, rank and service are typed on a name tag in
the book, but what sticks off the page are the notes he has
written about each individual.
“I try and write a
little bit about everyone I meet,” he said.
There are
those who have stories that have stuck with Bohlman --the
Army quadruple amputee, the suicide victims and those who
didn't make it.
“In April, we had a lot of traumas,”
he said with sadness. “At one point there were four patients
in the trauma room, and I looked down and realized there was
a lot of blood on floor. I still have those stains on my
boots. I thought about the sacrifice and how our job can be
dirty one. I just thought about how they truly left their
mark on me.”
After his first week at the hospital,
Bohlman told the staff that he can pray and chew gum at the
same time, meaning he could help out if it was needed.
“I was taking temperatures, putting on the blood
pressure cuff, and getting warm blankets,” he added.
“Chaplain Bohlman has been great,” said Maj. Micah Schmidt,
Emergency Room physician. “He participates in all the
traumas. He is very helpful. It is not expected but it's
nice. Just the other night he helped me change the dressing
on a gunshot wound.”
It is not just the patients the
chaplain watches after, but also the staff who work at the
hospital.
“We're here to listen to their stories,” he
said. “A lot of times, the staff will compartmentalize what
they deal with. You can have an enemy prisoner of war and
the soldier who was injured by the enemy POW, but you have
to give the same exact care. They have to keep their
feelings and emotions out of it.”
The chaplain is
always asking the staff about their well-being.
“I
usually ask if they've talked to their family lately,” he
said. “My goal is to build resilient airmen. Are you taking
the time to exercise? How are you processing what you are
seeing? I tell them I'm here regardless of their faith or
denomination. My job is to provide care for their soul.”
A lot of times, they just need someone to talk to, he
said.
“They have seen a lot but the way they deal with is
knowing that many would die if they weren't here,” he said.
“They see the big picture. It helps them during difficult
days to pull through.”
While this is the chaplain's
fifth deployment overseas, losing people never gets easier,
he said.
Bohlman will always have a place in his
heart for the military members he has lost throughout the
years.
“At the end of the sermons I give, I have a
slideshow of the service members I've worked with who have
died and I always tell my congregation, ‘these are the faces
of freedom!'” he exclaimed.
More photos available below
By USAF Senior Airman Alexandria Mosness
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
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