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Victory Times Vol. II, Issue 115 Telling the Camp Victory story Oct. 12, 2006 Physicians Assistants week celebrated in Iraq Story by Spc. Sean C. Finch anyone who applies has the chance to dis- Army. MNC-I PAO cover their potential and to help their fellow When physicians assistants are in a de- Soldiers, said Tozier. ployed environment, there are three differ- Friday marked the beginning of Physi- Applicants must be enlisted, warrant or ent types of environments in which they cians Assistants Appreciation Week in the commissioned officers with a minimum of must work. United States. The Vic- three years ser- “Level one is the closest to the point of tory Base Complex physi- vice. Other eli- injury, supporting the combat medic with a cians assistants were able gibility criteria battalion aid station. These PAs are primar- to meet for a dinner at the include a gen- ily involved in trauma care,” said Tozier. Sports Oasis Dining Facil- eral technicial Physicians assistants work hand-in-hand ity. score of 110 or with doctors in everything they do, but The dinner was, in part, greater on the there are times when places become full a celebration, but more Armed Services of patients and the care of an additional importantly a passing of Vocational Apti- trained professional can mean the differ- knowledge between ser- tude Battery, 60 ence in someone’s life. vicemembers who had semester hours Level two facilities, such as the tempo- been in country and new of post-second- rary medical clinics on Camps Victory and arrivals. ary school edu- Liberty, service many of the same needs as But, who are the people cation which patients in a non-deployed environment. who become physicians must include six “Being on post, we see a lot of ortho- assistants? What purpose hours of Eng- pedic injuries resulting from sports-related do they serve in a deployed lish, six hours of accidents,” said Maj. Todd M. Kreykes, a environment? humanities, six physician’s assistant at the Golby Troop “We have a slogan that hours of general Medical Center on Camp Victory. “But we rings very true that most chemistry, three are a level two facility, so we do see trauma people have never heard,” hours of human victims who we have to stabilize and then said Col. William Tozier, anatomy, three transport to other facilities.” senior physicians assis- hours of human While accidents from sports are some- Photo by Maj. Bobby Hart; 3rd MEDCOM Public Affairs tant, 3rd Medical Com- p h y s i o l o g y, times unavoidable, illness represents some- Maj. Todd Kreykes checks on an Airman during his mand, Multi-National rounds at sick call at the Golby Troop Medical Clinic three hours of thing that has afflicted most servicemem- Corps-Iraq. “We are from on Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq. college algebra bers at one time or another. the line and we are for the or higher math, “This is a very dusty environment, so we line.” and three hours of psychology. get a lot of upper-respiratory ailments,” said This quote is in reference to the origin The applicant is then looked at for selec- Capt. Brian J. McKeon, physicians assis- of each physician’s assistant. They can be tion, and once accepted, begins their train- tant, 3rd Medical Command, Multi-Nation- selected from any unit, anywhere in the ing at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, al Corps-Iraq. “I think almost everybody Army, and in some cases, return to that unit Texas. here will suffer through at least a few days to serve as a physician’s assistant. The course is fast paced and lasts only feeling the effects of the environment.” The PA Corps is made up of Soldiers two years; but, graduates receive a master’s “Level three medical care is the combat from every method of specialization. They degree from the University of Nebraska and support hospital. Currently no PAs are as- are hand-picked from every location and are commissioned as first lieutenants in the See PHYSICIAN, page 2 In today’s Victory Times: Page 2: This Week in Military Page 3: Camp Victory Three- Page 4: Army officer promoted in History Day Forecast, Chap- special ceremony lains Corner Page 2 Victory Times Oct. 12, 2006 This Week in Military History with Lt. Tom Lewis, Australian Forces A reader asked how I knew whether trebuchets were effective after I slighted them in a recent article. A good question, for any historian is only as accurate as his sources, and stuck here in the great sandpit, mine are not much good. But having visited around 50 castles in the United Kingdom, and many years of reading middle age accounts in the past – plus simple logic – have led me to conclude using siege machines against strong stone castles was not very effective. A castle in concept is pretty simple. First, find your hill. Some of the best defensive spots are on hills, simply because your enemy has to expend lots of energy getting up them; and when fighting with edged weapons the person who has the height has the added advantage of gravity to give his sword some more impetus. The downhill chap is going to get tired more quickly. Once you have your hill – some castle makers simply built their own mounds – put a stone wall around the top of it. Inside, put a good strong building. The concept is quite an ancient one – what may have become known as Camelot is to be seen on Cadbury Hill in south England, where King Arthur and his friends may have established a hilltop castle of considerable size in the late 500s. Of course, occupying a fortified hilltop could be a trap – your enemies might surround you and wait it out. But you anticipated that with good supplies, and preferably a well. The height would allow you to see the enemies coming, and also signal more easily to your friends in their castles to come and raise the siege. The trebuchet is one of several siege machines designed for attacking fortified positions. The classic design uses an arm with a weight on one end; the other end is pulled down and a projectile is placed on that end. When the projectile end – much lighter than the weight – is suddenly released, the pent-up kinetic energy flings the projectile forward in an arc. Variations on range and the size of projectile can be gained with longer arms and bigger weights, and the construction materials used also have varying effects. Although simple in concept, the trebuchet gets complicated as its size increases. The heavier the projectile, the stronger the material needs to be for the arm. The more force held in check in the restrained arm as the projectile is loaded, the stronger the restraint material – usually rope – needs to be. The bigger the whole machine gets, the heavier it gets, and the more difficult it is to move. Indeed, moving a trebuchet would be so laden with difficulty – particularly on inclined ground, that many may have been built on the spot as necessary. This practice however, exposes the engineers and carpenters and laborers to the fire of the castle’s defenders, the range of the machine being less than that of many bows. And a spoiling raid against a halfway-built trebuchet could result in much destruction in a short time. Once the machine was built, its ability to fling a missile was also of dubious value. Although a 100 pound rock on top of the defenders’ heads would be a definite success, the missile was slow and easily avoided. The inbuilt inaccuracy of the trebuchet – its parts wore out quickly as it fired, and it moved itself with each discharge – meant that the machine’s ability to batter down a wall, as later gunpowder weapons could do, was not feasible. And although the oft-quoted idea of flinging a dead cow over the ramparts, to introduce germ warfare was probably tried occasionally, however, the meat would probably be better used as steaks for a good storming party. Although, a possible idea against small castles with timber walls, a decent stone castle really put an end to any idea of trebuchet triumph. PHYSICIAN and share stories and knowledge signed to CSHs, although some from their experiences. may occasionally be attached “One of the important things as part of a special that came out of this (dinner) requirement,” said Tozier. was the chance for some of the In total, there are more than people who just got into country 120 physicians assistants de- to meet some of the experienced ployed in support of Operation people and pick their brains,” Iraqi Freedom. said Tozier. “The Soldiers Most are in level one stations, who have been here for the past and continue to do a fantastic year have gained an incredible job of both treating trauma and amount of knowledge and they illness-oriented patients as well are more than willing to pass that as keeping the medics around along to their counterparts.” them sharp and well-trained to Through their initial training deal with the situations that may and passing of useful infor- arise, said Tozier. mation, physicians assistants Over the last week, physicians throughout the theater are trained assistants have had an opportu- and ready to help Soldiers con- nity to meet with one another tinue their mission. Page 3 Victory Times Oct. 12, 2006 Chaplain’s Corner Ariadne’s Thread interesting things, stamps, coins, pistols, objects, expensive garments, polished rifles, NASCAR commemorative drivers armor and gilded chariots.