They call her Doc

[NYVet]

http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=48390


NANGARHAR, Afghanistan, Dec. 12, 2007 – Army Pfc. Sarah Becker has spent most of her year deployed as an Army medic gaining the respect of soldiers across Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.

“It’s a very prestigious thing to be called ‘Doc’ when you’re around people that you work with,” said Becker, of 173rd Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), Special Troops Battalion, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Military Police platoon. “It means that they respect you. It’s not about the rank; it’s about what you can do for them.”

<snip>

Afghan troops listen to Becker because she brings with her ample combat experience. Over the past summer she was attached to 66th Military Police Company in Camp Torkham, near the Pakistani border here in Nangarhar province. She has been on convoys that have been attacked and has treated numerous combat injuries.

<snip>

The life of a combat medic is stressful, the missions are plenty, and the hours are long, but Becker handles the challenge well and manages to keep up the spirits of the “Sky Soldiers” she works with. “She’s very friendly; she’s kind. She likes to work; she’s a hard worker,” Diaz said. “She’s constantly going on missions because she’s the only medic we have in the platoon. If we have two missions in one day, she has to go on both missions. We’ll come back from one and she’ll jump from one vehicle and go into the other. She never complains.”

Becker is a well of inspiration to those around her. She loves the people in her unit and the local Afghans, especially the children. Her inspiration comes from helping people, she said. “Being a medic I get to help people,” Becker said. “I get to not only help U.S. soldiers, but I help the kids too. And, as you can see, it puts a smile on my face.”

(Army Pfc. Daniel M. Rangel is assigned to 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)




Godspeed Doc, and thank you for your service

[noamnety]

1. Well, at least this is a nonbiased article, not a propaganda fluff piece.

(Army Pfc. Daniel M. Rangel is assigned to 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)

[NYVet]

2. Would you rather I used one of the AP stories about her?

I didn't even see your reply until today.


Jesus, Mary, Joseph and all the saints. This woman does something that most people of us would never even dream of doing, and you critique my choice for a post about her?

[noamnety]

3. Some of these posts are being received on my end

as a series of fluff pieces that attempt to glorify women in the military and seduce women into joining, without really discussing the realities of war. This one in particular has a made for tv movie aspect to the way it's told, instead of giving a more realistic vision of what life is like for women in the military. It just sounded like something a recruiter wrote, and a little hollywood, like they're creating a character for her to play, if that makes sense.

It was sort of laughable in that respect, which is why I was looking to the byline to see what was up with that, and then I saw it was a PR piece.