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'America's Battalion' makes midnight run to aid seven-year-old Iraqi girl

"America's Battalion" Marines made a midnight run to rush to the aid of a 7-year-old Iraqi girl after she fell from a three-story building Sept. 9.

1st Lt. Joshua R. Rosales, Navy Seaman Royce R. Ross and Cpl. Jared S. Nelson, came to the aid of a seven-year-old Iraqi girl who fell from a three-story building in Gharmah, Iraq. The three rushed her to Camp Fallujah's trauma center after Iraqi Police were unable to get her to a hospital in Fallujah. The girl sustained a fractured wrist, possible head and pelvic injuries. Doctors medeveaced her to Coalition treatment facilities in Baghdad for further treatment. Medical officials said the Marines' quick reaction possibly saved the life of the little girl.

Marines from Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, rushed the girl to Camp Fallujah's surgical center for treatment after local police were unable to get her proper medical attention.

The battalion is serving with Regimental Combat Team 5.

The incident occurred late at night in Gharmah, a small city north of Fallujah. Iraqi police there tried to rush the young girl to the Jordanian hospital in Fallujah, but had difficulty getting to the hospital, according to 1st Lt. Joshua R. Rosales, a 25-year-old platoon commander who responded to the call for help.

"We got the call from the commanding officer to link up with Iraqi Police at the police station," explained Rosales, from Raleigh, N.C. "We met up with them in Gharmah, and they had the little girl. They wanted us to be careful."

Rosales said the girl was accompanied by her uncle. She was crying, suffering from waves of pain from her injuries. She was scared, and then Marines were loading her into the back of a humvee. Rosales' hospital corpsman, Navy Seaman Royce A. Ross, a 23-year-old from Houston, got to work immediately checking his tiny patient.

"I was making sure all her vital signs were good," Ross explained. "Everything looked good enough to move her. I saw right away she was going to be OK."

Ross saw that she already had an intravenous tube inserted into her arm, but the tubing wasn't put in properly. He spoke through his broken Arabic and the girl's uncle's broken English to get permission to start another.

"The blood clotted at the IV," he explained. "I wanted to start another but her uncle didn't want me to."

Ross kept on with his preliminary examination. He said he saw a large contusion to the girl's left wrist and possibly a fracture. The girl's breathing was labored. Ross said he was concerned there were possible injuries to her chest affecting her breathing.

Read more at: http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/F402E69C2F461296852571E600372C24?opendocument