Georgia Army Guard Medical Personnel operated in the state of Chontales (in red above)
Sgt. Leon York, a medic with Mairetta-based Company B, 161st Medical Battalion, checks the heart-rate of a Nicaraguan girl at the preventive medicine clinic outside the moutain village of El Coral. York and 31 other members of Company B participated in Operation New Horizons, a joint training exercise operated by U.S. Army Southern Command to humanitarian aid to people who cannot afford medical assistance.

Thirty-two members of the Georgia Army Guard's Company B, 161st Medical Battalion, participated April 12-28 in a humanitarian mission to bring needed medical care to people of the Central American country of Nicaragua.

The 161st, stationed in Marietta, is a part of the Guard's 1st Battalion, 78th Troop Command in Kennesaw. Lt. Col. Dennis Brown, who commands the first of the 78th; Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Bender, the organization's command sergeant major; and Maj. Gen. David B. Poythress, Georgia's Adjutant General, paid Company B a visit, April 18-20 to get a first-hand look at what the unit's soldiers were doing.

"What I saw really impressed me," Bender said after returning from Nicaragua. "Real-world missions such as this provide our people the opportunity to build on the skills they have gained as citizen-soldiers, while providing needed medical assistance to people who might otherwise not be able to afford it.

"It also builds a trust and understanding between our two nations that can only grow and prosper," he added.

Company B did its annual training this year as participants in Operation New Horizons a U.S. Army Southern Command sponsored joint field training exercise. New Horizons uses Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine assets to provide engineering and medical assistance to nations in the U.S. Army South area of operations. It involves an engineer task force (Task Force Chontales), as well as three medical readiness-training exercises, one of which was run by the 161st.

The Georgia Guardsmen were among an estimated 3000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines involved in this year's operation.

Joint Task Force Chontales, where the 32 medics ate, slept and worked, is based in south central Nicaragua, east of Lake Nicaragua, in the State of Chontales. El Coral, just one of the villages visited by Company B, is 130 miles from the capital city of Managua.

Each day, unit personnel, accompanied by host nation (Nicaraguan) medical and USARSO personnel, will deploy
Capt. Blake Aasgard, a physcians assistant with Company B, 161st Medical Battalion, gives a shot of Novicane to a Nicaraguan suffering from a broken tooth that has abcessed. Blake a short time later removed what remained of the tooth.
to a remote work site to provide basic sick call, dental, and preventive medicine services to local residents.

"Many of us back home take the high quality of medical care we receive for granted because it's so readily available," said Pfc. Claudia Dowling, a medic who lives in Atlanta. "If people (Americans) could see what we have seen in the past two weeks, I believe they would better understand just how well off they really are."

Through Operation New Horizons Company B soldiers received an excellent opportunity to build on their skills, while providing people of another culture with needed preventive medicine, dental and eye care.

"I hope we'll be involved in more missions such as this," Dowling said. "It's always great to know we can treat our soldiers when they need medical help, but to be able to reach out and touch people's lives the way we have here is so rewarding."

The mission in Nicaragua is the first time Company B has deployed to overseas duty training. When asked if she and her soldiers were ready to get back home, Capt. Donna Lang, Company B's executive officer, said she was not.

"This has been one of the best missions I have ever been a part of," she said. "I love being involved in work such as this, as I know all our people have."
At right Spc. Charles Barton (standing), a medic with Company B, 161st Medical Battalion, works with a Nicaraguan soldier to take personal information and the temperatures of a woman and her two children at the preventive medicine clinic outside the mountain village of El Coral in Southwest Nicaragua. Barton, who lives in Stone Mountain works as surgical assistant for Compass Surgical Associates.
At left, Private first class Claudia Dowling (seated left) works with a Nicaraguan woman wanting medical care for her four-year-old daughter at the preventive medicine clinic just outside the village of El Coral. Watching them are Thomas Garza (left), U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua, and Jose Adan Guerra. Garza and Guerra were visited the clinic April 19, 2002, to get a first-hand look at the work being done by American and Nicaraguan military members attached to Joint Task Force Chontales.
At right, Staff Sgt. Charles Blackwell, a Cobb County firefighter and a member of Company B, 161st Medical Battalion, helps a Nicaraguan woman choose a pair of glasses at the preventive medicine clinic in El Coral. Many Nicaraguans have trouble reading because they don't have proper eyeware, Blackwell said.
An aireal view of Joint Task Force Chontales base camp outside the village of El Coral. It's here that Guardsmen from Company B, 161st Medical Battalion based in Marietta call home during their participation in Operation New Horizon. Inside the camp, Company B and other occupants had several comforts including hot showers, two hot meals each day and plenty of recreation to occupy their off-duty time.
Photos by Sgt. Roy Henry, 124th MPAD, Georgia Army National Guard
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