Anna Sivonda

Anna Sivonda deployed to Camp Ramadi, Iraq, as a medical service officer in 2007. Camp Ramadi was 1.8 square miles in size and comprised several thousand residents on any given day. Surrounded by concertina wire and barricades, it housed Army, Navy and Marine units along with U.S., Iraqi and third-country civilians. Most military units would rotate in and out of the nearby city of Ramadi and surrounding areas. For them, Camp Ramadi was the nearest hub with real showers, a chow hall, a gym, a church and an aid station with surgeons. 

Sivonda served in a unit known as Charlie Med throughout the Army. Combat brigades usually have one medical company that offers services medics can’t provide in the field: lab, X-ray, dental and a surgical team. Sivonda stayed for 15 months with 1st Brigade Combat Team in the 3rd Infantry Division.

There were several mass casualty (MASCAL) events that overwhelmed the available resources and capacity for care due to multiple civilian casualties. Most of these events were caused by insurgents who detonated chlorine bombs or vehicle-born improvised explosive devices. When this happened, 60 or more casualties would flood into Sivonda’s aid station within seconds. Due to limited resources, her team had to quickly determine which injuries were the most serious. Language barriers and chaos made this difficult, but the team had a less than 1% died-of-wounds rate during their deployment. 

“When you have smart, creative soldiers and leaders, you can find a solution to almost any problem,” Sivonda said. “For instance, we struggled to keep enough blood on hand for surgeries, so we developed a ‘walking blood bank.’ We had the command center make an announcement to the base via the massive intercom system that we needed a certain blood type. Minutes later, we had a hundred people lined up outside the aid station. During a MASCAL, all medical staff was extremely busy, so we improvised and trained vehicle mechanics from next door to draw blood. Our lab tech would set up rapid blood testing, and a runner would take the blood into the surgical suite. That creativity and urgency saved a lot of lives.” 

Children were also victims of insurgents’ attacks, and Sivonda’s unit wasn’t prepared for the number of pediatric patients they received. Pediatric medical supplies, formula, diapers and clothing were not available. In order to help, the unit reached out to communities back home. Their hometown churches, schools and clubs stepped up. “They gathered and sent everything we asked for,” Sivonda said. “Within weeks, every small child left our care with clean diapers, snacks or formula, new clean clothes and a bag full of toys. A pediatrician even sent pediatric trauma supplies like suture kits and tiny bag-valve-masks for supplying oxygen.”

Sivonda often reflects on the people and groups that supported and cared for her unit during some very difficult times. “When you’re deployed, it’s easy to feel like everyone at home is just going about their lives, not really caring about what’s happening in a far-away war, but that’s wrong,” Sivonda said. “The amount of care and support we received from home reshaped the way I see myself as a Veteran. I am very proud of my service, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have experienced the generosity of fellow Americans.”