wfn.org | UMNS# 05112-National Guardsman helps Iraqis walk again

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National Guardsman helps Iraqis walk again

Feb. 23, 2005	 News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470*
Nashville {05112}

NOTE: A UMTV report and photographs are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

By John Gordon*

MONROE, La. (UMNS)-Capt. Steve Lindsley was certain his days would be
full, arranging logistics for a military police battalion and dodging
mortar fire, rockets and snipers while deployed to Iraq.

He never imagined he would have time to help children and a legless
Iraqi veteran walk again.

Lindsley, a member of the Mississippi Army National Guard's 112th
Military Police Battalion, made the most of the 14 months he spent away
from his home and family. With the help of his employer, Methodist
Rehabilitation Center in Jackson, Miss., Lindsley volunteered his time
and skills to open a prosthetics clinic in Baghdad.

"(I) saw a lot of ... folks walking around ... on crutches or rolling in
a wheelchair because they didn't have an artificial limb," said
Lindsley, who makes and fits artificial limbs at a Methodist
Rehabilitation clinic in Monroe.

"So we decided that we needed to do something and see if we could help
with that."

Lindsley got the idea while on patrol with his unit. He saw two
amputees, Ali, 14, and Taleb, 20, walking together on crutches.

Ali lost a leg when hit by a truck seven years ago, and his widowed
mother could not afford an artificial limb. One of Taleb's legs was
amputated because of complications from cancer.

"We just pulled over and flagged them and asked them if they would like
to have a prosthesis-(an) artificial limb-and both of them got excited,"
he said. "So those were our first two patients."

Lindsley brought up the idea of opening a clinic while visiting his boss
during a visit home. But opening a clinic in Baghdad would be anything
but easy.

He enlisted U.S. companies to donate more than $500,000 worth of parts
to make artificial limbs. The first difficulty was getting the materials
to Iraq.

The initial shipment, delivered by the Army, took six weeks to arrive.
Five of the 14 boxes were lost.

Later, Federal Express stepped in, donating the shipping and getting
materials to Iraq in about a week.

Still, Lindsley often had to improvise.

He needed an oven to heat the plastic sheets for molding artificial
limbs. So Lindsley pressed into service a pizza oven that came from
Saddam Hussein's family.

"I daresay ... we put it to a lot better use than Saddam did," he said.

Lindsley also used a disarmed mortar tube as a base for riveting the
straps and parts onto the artificial limbs he was building. He finished
the first two for Ali and Taleb.

Ali learned to walk again after two hours of coaching.

"We dropped him off at a military checkpoint about two miles from his
house," said Lindsley. "And he walked the last two miles and totally
forgot his crutch; he left it in the vehicle."

The clinic grew quickly, with nearly 70 patients. One was Fallah Ali, an
Iraqi veteran who lost both legs fighting in the war against Iran.

"He actually crawled out of a burning tank, tied tourniquets on each of
his legs, and pretended he was dead when the Iranians were searching the
battlefield," Lindsley said. "He ended up crawling a couple of miles to
safety, or actually to get medical care."

Fallah Ali was fitted with Iraqi-made prosthetics, but they were old and
beaten. Now he walks with artificial legs made at the American-run
clinic.

"I am ... very, very happy. And I want to thank Mr. Lindsley for his
help," he told Armed Forces News.

Lindsley is back home in Louisiana. The Iraq clinic is being run by
Staff Sgt. Chris Cummings, who also has a background in prosthetics.
Cummings, from Miami, serves with the Army Reserve's 478th Civil Affairs
Battalion.

The clinic is scheduled to stay open until at least June. United
Methodist Mark Adams, president and chief executive officer of Methodist
Rehabilitation Center in Jackson, hopes the operation can be turned over
to Iraqis.

"Ideally, I think it would be nice for us to have an ongoing
relationship with the clinic, to be able to bring some of those folks in
Iraq over here and train them to be orthotists and prosthetists," Adams
said.

Lindsley's supervisor, Chris Wallace, said the clinic has done more than
help the patients.

"We certainly hope that it made an impact on the relationship and the
thought of those civilians over there toward American citizens," Wallace
said.

Lindsley said he missed his family and friends during his deployment,
but called his experiences with the clinic "extremely satisfying."

"Everywhere we are, each day, we have opportunities to help other
people," he said.  "And I just happened to be in a position there where
I could help in a way that stood out."

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*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer in Marshall, Texas.

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org