“And you’re nervous as well — not as sure of yourself as you may be later on in the tour and I definitely saw that in myself,’’ he said.

McCormack, 30, says he and others in the Canadian military medical team that started their tour in early 2008 in Kandahar were accorded the luxury of hitting the ground with a relatively light volume of patients before gradually ramping up to reach at times dizzying numbers in the summer months.

He was a trauma team leader serving as head physician for a group of nurses, medical technicians and other physicians.

Collectively, their job was to use the Advanced Trauma Life Support system to assess patients and give treatment to trauma victims. All the while, McCormack served as a family doctor running a clinic for Afghans who came in with a host of non-conflict related ailments, common fair like a sprained ankle or the flu.

The routine of that practice, though, would regularly be rattled by the fallout of war with people suffering from blast injuries and shrapnel wounds common to patients of the trauma hospital.

McCormack, who is expecting his first child in September with his wife Michelle, tended to quite a number of children. He says treating the young injured in Afghanistan’s ongoing war struck a raw nerve with many at the hospital.

“I know when children came into our facility, definitely you could see the difference in people in terms of the hospital staff,’’ he said.

“More intense — and a lot of the medical staff there would also have children at home so that definitely hits home.’’

Fortunately, no children died at the hospital, nor did any arrive in very serious condition.

However, many adults — soldiers and civilians alike — were carted in to the trauma hospital far more bloodied and damaged. When IEDs and other enemy weapons were doing their greatest harm, McCormack would see as many as 12 to 15 patients at one time.

“You would be just basically going from one patient on to the next,’’ he said.

“Those would be long days.’’

Trying times, too, would be when wounded Canadian soldiers were brought in. Medical staff invariably would be more on edge.

“Something about seeing the Canadian flag on someone’s shoulder,’’ he said.

The most common injuries among Canadian soldiers seen at the trauma hospital, not surprisingly, resulted from IED blasts. Some of those soldiers died at the hospital while McCormack was working there.

Seventeen Canadian soldiers in total died in Afghanistan during McCormack’s seven-month tour. He attended 12 ramp ceremonies, each one carrying the accumulated weight of all those that came before.

“Often times my thoughts were kind of with the family back home and how they are going to receive that message that their loved one has passed away,’’ he said.

“I couldn’t imagine putting my wife or my family through that.’’

McCormack did not have great concern for his own safety while being stationed at the heavily secured Kandahar Air Field -- Canada’s main military base in Afghanistan – but nor was he immune to the odd rocket attack.

“I felt very safe where I was,’’ he said.

Yet Colleen McCormack of Souris Line Road never felt fully at ease until her son’s tour came to a close. She and her husband Mike were proud of their boy’s work in Afghanistan but at the same time terrified over what could happen to him in such a troubled country.

“Scary, very scary…it was really hard,’’ she said. “I pray he may never have to go back (to Afghanistan) but if it happens we will be there for him, for sure.’’

McCormack kept in regular contact with his parents and with his wife while he was in Kandahar. When he touched base by telephone or email, he never saw the need to go into any detail of the harsh daily realities of his work.

“But I would definitely say to my wife ‘I had a hard day today or a busy day today,’’’ he said.

“That is all she needed. She is a physician herself.’’

He says the intensity of his work on more frenzied days weighed heavily on him physically, mentally and emotionally. Fortunately, numerous opportunities were presented to ease the stress of his demanding medical job in Afghanistan.

McCormack, for instance, joined other soldiers in going to the gym, playing floor hockey and watching movies.

“However,’’ he said, “the most important way to deal with stress and a hard day at work was to sit down and talk with my friends that I worked with at the Role 3 trauma hospital or loved ones at home about the day and how I was feeling. That was very important to me.’’

McCormack says he enlisted in the military post 9/11 in 2003 knowing a tour of duty would most likely be in the offing. He went to Afghanistan set on helping others while determined not to mess himself up in such a dramatic theatre.

“I think I went over there knowing who I was, knowing what I wanted to do over there,’’ he said. “If you do that, I think you can still keep a measure of who you are.’’

Home now for nine months, the tour has had a profound impact on McCormack. He has a greater appreciation of what Canadians have. He also feels a sense of satisfaction in playing a positive role in Canada’s effort in Afghanistan.

And he is thankful his time served in such a draining role has not changed him for the worse. By all accounts, McCormack has maintained his healthy and pleasant disposition well.

“He’s still the Terry that we knew and loved,’’ says mom. “He’s just a wonderful guy…He’s definitely done himself proud.’’

McCormack, in turn, says members of the military like himself would not able to perform their duties effectively if they did not have the support of their loved ones at home.

“My wife and my family have been fully supportive of my work as a military physician and have made numerous sacrifices to allow me to do this work,’’ he said. “During my deployment, having my wife and family behind me allowed me to focus on my job in Afghanstan and I could not have done it without them.’’\

McCormack quick facts

Here is a quick snapshot of Capt. Terry McCormack:

- Son of Mike and Colleen McCormack of Souris Line Road, Terry grew up in P.E.I.

- Enlisted in the military in 2003 in his last year of medical school after completing undergraduate study at UPEI, medical school at the University of Ottawa, and family medicine at Queens University in Kingston.

- Military runs in McCormack’s family blood with a grandfather having served in the Second World War, another grandfather having served in the reserves and a great uncle having served as an Air Force pilot.

- He is trained as a flight surgeon – a physician who takes care of aircrew and is trained formedical evacuation and flight crash investigation. He is based in Winnipeg with the 23 Canadian Forces Health Services.

- On the Afghan people, which he calls respectful, stoic and resilient: “They have been involved in conflict for decades. This is all they have known. It’s constant conflict but still they try to forge a life for themselves and strive for something better…they still have hope for something better.’’

- On Canada’s military role in Afghanistan: “I know a lot of people may not support what we are doing over there but my opinion has always been if you don’t support what we are doing over there at least support the people that are doing it.’’

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard