Lost and found in Baghdad

Doreen, Taylor, Brittany and Dustin are proud of their father and husband Robert.

For a month Staff Sergeant Robert Trahan disappeared somewhere between Kuwait and Baghdad. No answer to my phone calls, no replies to emails sent to his army.mil address. And no replies to calls made to his wife back home in the States. I thought we'd lost him.

Trahan is a combat medic with the 256 Battalion, a National Guard reservist unit based in Louisiana, which shipped out to Baghdad two months ago.

On October 9, we profiled him (see link below), a reluctant soldier but one who was willing to go and get the job done, who would keep his head down and come home safely to his wife Doreen and three children, the youngest only 8.

But at the start of his year-long absence we lost contact shortly after he arrived in Kuwait, the first leg of the journey to Camp Victory near the airport in Baghdad.

Then, finally, he emailed from Baghdad where he arrived on October 29 after a five-day drive from Kuwait.

"Greetings from Baghdad," he wrote with a cheerfulness that belied the city he was in. "Sorry it has taken so long to write back, but we have just now gotten internet access up. Doreen said the article you wrote was very nice, but I haven't seen it yet. I have managed to call home a few times and now can email regularly."

Trahan - at 42 and almost 20 years into a military career - said their spell in Kuwait was spent unloading equipment from ships, attending briefings, firing weapons, acclimatising, and other preparations for the convoy into Baghdad.

That long road has been under mortar fire and is constantly swept for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Trahan previously thought the journey might be more dangerous than being in Baghdad where they are in a secure compound.

"[It] took three days to make the trip up here, driving about four to five hours a day. Each night we would stop at a secure camp [logistics base] where we could eat and get some sleep.

"Thankfully, the trip up was quiet. Received some small arms fire on the start of the last leg, but no damage or injuries."

Now in camp they have been setting up their clinic and have seen a few trauma cases, but nothing life-threatening among his colleagues.

"Mortar rounds are pretty frequent here, but don't seem to be accurately aimed. More of a harassment than an actual threat. We have been tasked with operating a clinic and I have divided my platoon into 24-hour shifts, seven days a week. We handle normal sick-call as well as trauma cases that happen in the immediate area.

"No days off yet but hopefully, as the routine sets in, things will calm down some. We have been given a newly built building for the clinic and there has been much work needed to get it set up and functional as we want it."

The view outside his window is of reinforced concrete barriers which surround the buildings on the camp. There are also huge wire and canvas containers filled with sand as protection against incoming mortar fire, "but have not had any hit close in this area since our arrival".

The weather is surprisingly cool, jackets are needed in the morning and temperatures only rise in the afternoon to around 18 degrees. They have arrived at the start of the rainy season.

"It turns the soft sand and dirt into something resembling peanut butter. We had rain daily for the first five or six days here, but that has tapered off to an occasional shower maybe once a week. We are enjoying the cool weather while it is here, we know it won't last.

"Our clinic here is called the Onwardi-Shondee Troop Medical Clinic, supposedly named after two medics killed in action before our arrival. We decided to keep the name as a tribute to them.

"I have been extremely busy trying to get this place set up the way we want it, but I have enjoyed it also. We normally work out of tents in training, but to have a real building is a treat for us.

"The troops are very happy with it and are taking pride in the facility. They notice each little change we make and really keep the place up and organised. It was good to see that the training we went through paid off. The trauma cases we have received were handled calmly and professionally, everyone knew their responsibilities in advance and performed excellently."

The most severe case was that of a wounded insurgent who had been shot in the stomach by one of his brigade. The man was stabilised and bandaged, and has survived.

Trahan mentions as an afterthought that he has been promoted to Platoon Sergeant of the Treatment Platoon and is the NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge) of the clinic. And that he hasn't had much phone contact with home, but the email service is welcome.

He signs off, "Time to get back to work."

Meanwhile back home in smalltown Breaux Bridge, from where many of Trahan's unit are drawn, his family has to make do without him and life goes on. Doreen is coming to terms with being a single mother to three children: Taylor, Dustin and Brittany.

"It's really hard," she said by email a fortnight ago.

But for her, too, life has a sense of curious normality about it. In late October she wrote of 8-year-old Taylor's soccer and school projects, and of Dustin and Brittany getting braces on their teeth.

"Dustin is a senior in high school," she wrote. "He is president of the speech and debate team (they compete every weekend) and he is president of the student council.

"Brittany is also on the speech and debate team. She wins two to three trophies every weekend, she's that good. She is also in the Beta club and National Honor Society.

"So as you can see we are really busy. It is better that way.

"We hear from Robert about once a week. He is doing fine. We just really miss him a lot. We are filming a video this weekend for his unit. Each family will send their love and best wishes to them. We just think positive and pray a lot.

"We just received his new address, so we will be writing very often. We will be sending him a big package, containing a Christmas tree, presents, homemade goodies and pictures from home."

Then this week there was another email from Doreen, more family matters and keeping her fears about Robert's safety at a distance.

"Taylor was in a Toys-R-Us parade, he is in the school play, he is still playing soccer.

"Dustin and Brittany are leaving Friday to go to Philadelphia and New York to compete in a speech and debate tournament. They will be gone for one week. As you can see it is really hectic here."

Unexpectedly, Robert's father Jim - "an old radio and television reporter, anchor, pitchman, manager and corporate officer" - sends an email also.

He is proud of his son, who is fulfilling his obligations to his country completely without trepidation. He also says they recently fired up their newly installed internet service and read about Robert in the Herald.

He says how much they all appreciated it, especially since they had had such little communication with him. It was a great way to celebrate him on that special day, he says. It was Thanksgiving Day, and for the first time Robert wasn't there with them.