HURRICANE OF HURT

By Vintage55

It was Monday, and Captain Boggs' day did not begin on a promising note. He had just received a radio message from a British field hospital located some 90 miles from Ras Tanura. The commanding medical officer there told him that four of Boggs' soldiers had been seriously wounded by German artillery rounds the previous day. They had been found by an Aussie patrol, but the condition of all four soldiers was critical. Two were currently in surgery, but the surgeons were out straight, and had not yet been able to stabilize the other two. Troy and Pettigrew were in dire condition, with multiple serious wounds and blood pressures that were still very low; Moffitt and Hitchcock were also critical, but stable enough to be brought into surgery.

Captain Boggs sighed. Given the risks the Rat Patrol took on most missions, the news was not a surprise, but Boggs' eyes were watering, all the same. He decided to talk with the doctors on staff here at Ras Tanura, to see if he could loan a couple of surgeons to the Brits, at least for a few days. Boggs knew he had a thoracic surgeon on staff, several orthopedic surgeons, and a neurosurgeon. Things were quiet at Ras Tanura at the moment and Boggs knew that top-notch surgical care was crucial for badly wounded soldiers. He walked over to the base hospital and approached Major Holloway, the head surgeon. As he explained the situation, Holloway suggested they contact the British base by phone. He needed a better appraisal of the Rats' injuries and prognosis before he could give the okay to Boggs to loan out a couple of the American surgeons.

Sergeant Moffitt had a sizeable abdominal wound, but had responded well to initial resuscitation efforts. After three pints of whole blood, he was taken into surgery. Private Hitchcock had been peppered with multiple smaller pieces of shrapnel, one of which appeared to be in his left kidney, but blood, IVs, and pain meds had worked wonders, and he was talking as he was wheeled into surgery.

Sergeant Troy had a head injury, but could briefly respond to questions. Private Tully Pettigrew was not doing as well. Despite transfusions, he was still only semi-conscious and his blood pressure was 60/40, dangerously low. Tully had a serious thoraco-abdominal wound that continued to bleed, and several shrapnel wounds in his throat and upper chest that also needed urgent repair. He was intubated and on a ventilator to help him breathe.

Major Holloway sighed. "I remember Tully; he was the one that somehow survived being tortured by the Germans four or five months ago. When we took him into surgery at Ras Tanura, we didn't think he was going to make it, but he looked up at me with tears in his eyes and whispered around the breathing tube, "Do what you can, Doc." Tough guy, that's for sure, but it doesn't sound too good for him this time around. I was the surgeon who patched him up then; maybe I could be of some help to him now."

He sighed. "Captain Boggs, would I be able to get a plane ride to the British hospital ASAP? I'll bring a nurse anesthetist and a couple of critical care nurses with me. That way, if Ras Tanura gets a new load of casualties, the rest of our surgical staff should be able to handle things."

Captain Boggs set about making the phone calls and staffing adjustments that would get the Major to the British base to help the wounded Rats. Then, he shut his office door and said some prayers for both the wounded and the healers.

When Major Holloway and the nurses arrived at the British base two days later, they found Mark Hitchcock and Jack Moffitt in adjacent beds on the Post-Op floor. Both were sleeping, but the British nurse said that they were doing better, with their conditions upgraded to "fair."

Sam Troy had a fractured skull, but the wound was not depressed into any brain tissue. There was minor bleeding, but the heavy hemorrhaging had stopped. Troy was conscious at brief intervals, mildly confused as to what had happened, but now, 2 days post-op, seemed cognitively intact. He was aware that Tully was in the bed next to his, and Troy sensed that Tully was in tough shape – there was no matchstick hanging out of his mouth, no humorous commentary as to what was going on around him – just the constant hiss of the ventilator help him breathe and the drain near his liver and the chest tube in his right lung. He was still receiving plasma, periodic local anesthesia injections to make it less painful for him to try to breathe on his own, and continuous monitoring of his vital signs.

Troy could hear occasional moans and grunts, and he could tell when Tully was in pain because his free hand would clutch at the bedclothes and occasional tears would slowly slide down his face. In typical Tully fashion, he did not make his discomfort known, as it was difficult to talk with a breathing tube still in place, and he had very limited energy. But the fact that he was still reluctant to ask for more morphine was an indication of both his fortitude and his own determination to overcome tough situations.

Major Holloway had stopped by Troy's and Tully's beds, softly speaking to each man as he shook their free hands. He plopped down onto a chair between the two beds, and read their charts.

"Tully, it's Major Holloway from Ras Tanura. Do you remember me? "

Tully slowly nodded his head.

"Well, the good news is that the lacerations to your trachea are healing nicely. If it's okay with you, I'd like to try and remove the breathing tube tomorrow, and I think we can take the chest tube out, too. Very little drainage at this point., and I want to get you out of bed!"

Tully Pettigrew smiled at that plan, and gave the Major a thumbs up. Sam Troy tossed a deck of cards to Major Holloway. "You'll have to ask Tully for the matchsticks if we're going to play matchstick poker." (As they had after Tully's previous life-threatening wounding.)

Without saying a word, Major Holloway handed Tully a large box of wooden matchsticks that he had brought with him from Ras Tanura.

"If all continues to go well with you and Sgt. Troy, there may not be any further need for surgery, but you both will need to be hospitalized for another two weeks or so. Sgt. Moffitt and Private Hitchcock are healthy enough at this point that they'll be able to return to Ras Tanura in a few days," said Major Holloway. You two won't be too far behind them, I just don't want you to have to deal with a long motor trip before you're ready to handle it, and anyone who's had recent breathing issues shouldn't fly if it's at all avoidable."

Later that evening, Major Holloway phoned Captain Boggs with the good news that the Rat Patrol was healing fairly well, and that all four Rats were expected to survive.

Boggs was happy to hear the good news, and especially thrilled that he would not have to send any telegrams to their families, and would not have to tell his female courier, Charley, who was married to Tully, that she was a widow. The Rat Patrol would live to fight another day, and hopefully, to survive the war and have a future. That would be good news for all of them. The Rat Patrol could drive him crazy at times, with their unorthodox methods and determined independence, but Boggs knew they were the most effective combat team he had. Thank you, Lord, he prayed, for giving them to us and for giving them the skills and the continuing ability to survive the many hurricanes of war.

- The End -