Pinay Army PA Featured in Latest Article

I've been given another 15 minutes of fame when a Mobile Public Affairs team came to our location and interviewed me on my experience a couple of weeks ago. Here's the article in it's entirety with a few modifications for anonimity of the writer and mine. There was also a picture that came with it but my name on my uniform was showing. I hope this gives you a little taste of what I'm doing here.

Pinay Army PA goes down range
By Army 1st Sgt. David FXXXXX

XXXth Mobile Public Affairs Detachment


Middle, No Where -- On a small base in the Middle of Nowhere, physician assistant Army Capt. Pinay Army PA provides care for the soldiers here engaged in fighting extremists.

Just a few weeks ago, Pinay Army PA was providing care for service members at Camp XXX in . Now, she is treating soldiers wounded in battle at Forward Operating Base in the Middle of No Where.

Taking care of soldiers engaged in the fight is exactly what Pinay Army PA said she wanted when she requested to go down range. She treated 11 casualities after a fire-fight not long after she arrived.

"Everybody needs a taste of FOB XXXX,” she said. “The things you see here you will not see anywhere else."

But life on a forward operating base is not the same as in Kabul. The facilities on a FOB are primitive. There are some conveniences such as a gym and basketball court. However, the soldiers here don’t have many of the luxuries of other bases.

"What is here is what you get,” said Pinay Army PA. “If you don't like the chow you can't go to a different chow hall.”

Although working at Combined Forces Command - XXXX in XXXX was rewarding, getting to see first-hand what it is like on the front lines is something Pinay Army PA wanted to experience.

"You would not see this type of trauma anywhere else," she said.

The experience Pinay Army PA has gained at FOB XXXX has been rewarding, but something far more important has been established. A bond between warriors has been forged with the soldiers fighting here. Pinay Army PA has a deep respect for her fellow soldiers.

"This is the heart of the military -- the infantry guys here," she said.

Volunteering for assignment to a FOB has fulfilled a desire to make a difference for Pinay Army PA. That is the reason she entered the medical profession. And the reason she became a soldier.

"I am proud to be in the Army and I am proud to be here," she said.