Chapter 13 – Team As Family
Jane had joined the US Air Force right after she graduated from high school. She told her cousin, Arianna, "I have wanted to be a police officer, more specifically a homicide detective since I was younger. By joining the Air Force, I can earn my money for the police academy and get some law enforcement experience under my belt. The Air Force has already told me I can join the security forces. Normally you don't get your career assignment until you are at basic training but they were able to secure security forces for me and it is part of my contract joining the Air Force so they have to honor it."
Jane graduated from basic training and technical school with honors. Her first duty assignment was a two-year tour of duty at an Army base in Germany working with the Electronic Security Command that was located there. She had never been to Germany so she was really looking forward to it. It was not that unusual for Air Force personnel to be stationed on an Army base. At the time there was approximately 300 Air Force personnel on the base where she was stationed.
After a short period of time, she proved that she was a hard worker and had gained the trust of her 8-person team. As the end of her two-year tour was approaching, she asked to be extended. She wanted to serve her remaining time in the Air Force at her base with her flight. Her extension request was approved. She continued to work with B-Flight. A few of the squadron personnel changed but for the most part, most of her flight remained the same.
During her last few months in Germany, her flight, the eight-person team that she had worked with for the last three years were sent on a joint deployment with the Army. They were sent to Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base, Kuwait. Jane and her flight were there to provide security for the NATO troops and equipment that were there in support of Operation Desert Fox.
The deployment was set to last for three months and Jane was set to automatically extend if she was not back in Germany prior to her separation date. She had already packed up her apartment as she knew she would be separating from the Air Force upon her return from the deployment. It was time for her to go home to Boston and become a police officer with BPD.
Each of the four-vehicles in the convoy were assigned two airman, one for days and one for nights so Jane had to work with Army personnel. She didn't have a problem with this as members of the Army from her base that she knew were also on the deployment. She was assigned to work with MPs that she knew.
They were performing nightly patrols and occasionally they had to clear buildings. On her second month in country her four-vehicle convoy was ambushed. They were able to return fire and return to base but several of the vehicles and personnel were hit by sniper fire. Jane was hit in the left shoulder and she still managed to keep firing her M240 machine gun on the enemy ultimately helping to save the lives of the members of her vehicle.
She was in great pain as she was left-handed but she kept shooting. She knew that the lives of her team depended on it. The driver had been hit and he was pulled out of the driver's seat and another member of their team took over driving the vehicle while Jane kept firing. She took a second bullet to the same shoulder but didn't stop firing the machine gun.
The new driver got them turned around and returned them to base. All four of the vehicles returned to base but over fifty percent of the personnel had been shot, some multiple times. Two members died during the ambush including the original driver of Jane's vehicle who was shot in the head. Jane lost consciousness on the way back to base. She had lost a great deal of blood. There wasn't a medic in her Humvee but one of the sergeants provided the best first aid he could with what he had available in the vehicle.
He knew if Jane lost too much blood she would die and he didn't want to lose another member of his team. He knew Jane was a strong-willed woman so he kept telling her to fight and come back to them. They had been working together for two months now. He liked Jane and knew that if their roles were reversed, she would do the same for him. He told the driver to drive faster. He radioed into base that they would need immediate medical assistance for Jane.
He covered Jane's wounds and tried to get the bleeding to stop. He knew he needed to stop the bleeding that was the first thing they always say about a gunshot wound, stop the bleeding. He took off his shirt and ripped it to use the material to help cover the wound. He applied as much pressure as he could while also trying to radio in their situation, he gave his sitrep (situation report) and went back to working on Jane. He kept talking to Jane even though she was unconscious. He knew that there was a strong possibility that she could hear him.
There were sixteen personnel on that convoy trip. Four in each of the four vehicles. Two members were confirmed dead and ten others had been shot at least once. Jane was shot twice. The sergeant didn't know if that was good or bad that the second bullet had hit the same shoulder. He just wanted the driver to get back to base as soon as possible so they could save Jane. He prayed and held onto Jane and kept talking to her. The driver was driving a vehicle with a flat tire but he didn't care he drove as fast as the vehicle would let him.
The base sent out helicopters to combat the enemy troops that the convoy had left behind. The helicopters came in guns blazing and shot up the whole area where the ambush had happened. It had not been a suspected area of concern but the convoy had been alert. You could not be complacent in a combat zone. Your life and the lives of your fellow team members depended on you being alert at all times while on patrol. Jane knew this very well and took her job seriously.
The Army personnel that she worked with loved her work ethic. The guys stopped teasing her about being a girl after her second day there. She won their respect and they had her respect. Her team worked well together and that camaraderie was important in a combat zone. Your team was your family and family took care of family.
As they approached the gate for the base, the barrier flew open they were allowed in without checking over the vehicles. The vehicles drove well over the base speed limit and headed straight to the field hospital. The doctors were waiting to triage all the personnel. The sergeant that was looking after Jane made sure Jane was taken right away. He knew it was critical that she receive blood right away. Jane would die if she wasn't tended to right away. She had lost a significant amount of blood. He had done the best he could it was up to the doctors now.
The doctor looked at Jane's injuries and took her into surgery immediately. They needed to get the bleeding stopped and get the bullets out of her. He looked carefully to ascertain if any major arteries had been hit or if the bullet had fragmented at all. Jane had been hit with a high caliber bullet but it didn't strike any major arteries in the shoulder. One of the bullets missed the clavicle and hit the trapezius muscle. The other bullet hit the deltoid muscle. They were able to stop the bleeding and remove all the fragments of the bullets. The staff then prepared her for evacuation.
It was standard procedure as the field hospital was not set up to take care of patients like Jane. They basically triaged the patients and sent them on to the bigger hospital if needed. Jane was in luck that the doctor that treated her was a trauma surgeon so he was able to assist her and perform more than just triage on her. He had limited equipment but he had seen these types of wounds before and he knew what he was doing. Right now, he was saving this airman's life.
While Jane was in surgery a member of the PERSCO (personnel in support of contingency operations) team contacted her next of kin. Arianna Rizzoli, her cousin was listed as her next of kin. They called Arianna and informed her that Jane had received multiple bullet wounds to the left shoulder and she would be air evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany in the next few hours. Arianna said she would check into flights and be there as soon as she could.
The personnel clerk said they were notifying the Red Cross so that they would officially notify her but they wanted to give her a heads up so she could start making arrangements. They felt it would be a great benefit for Jane's recovery to have a family member present and Arianna agreed with them.
Jane and Arianna were both in flight to Landstuhl. Jane would get there before was reevaluated upon arrival. New x-rays and a CT scan were taken. The doctors wanted to make sure that her previous surgery hadn't miss arrived about 12 hours after Jane and was immediately taken to see Jane. Jane was a little out of it. She thought she as seeing things. How was Arianna in Germany? Jane knew she was in a hospital in Germany and that she had been shot but that was all she knew. She had been out of it pretty much since shortly after she was shot.
Arianna gave Jane a hug best she could. She had to be careful not to disturb any of the tubes that were plugged into Jane. She held Jane's right hand as she sat next to her and talked with her. Jane asked her what happened and Arianna told her as much as she knew.
The next few days would tell them what course of action Jane would need to take to recover from her injuries. Jane would also find out what happened to her. She needed to know about her injuries and if this would prevent her from joining BPD. They were holding a slot for her but if she couldn't qualify or use her left arm, she wouldn't be able to join BPD. She was a little worried. She was at the end of her four years in the military and had plan to exit and join BPD. Everything was up in the air right now. Her whole future was yet to be determined. She was happy that Arianna was there with her though so she didn't have to deal with all of this alone.
Jane spent two more weeks at Landstuhl. Arianna was there the whole time with her. The doctors thought her shoulder was progressing well. They were ready to discharge her. Technically she was still assigned to her base in Southern Germany so that is where she and Arianna went to once she was discharged from the hospital.
The doctor at Landstuhl had recommended that she not pursue physical therapy (PT) until she saw the doctor at her base in Augsburg. Her shoulder needed more time to heal before she started aggressively moving weeks later, Jane and Arianna went to Jane's appointment. The doctor looked over all of Jane's treatment and looked at her shoulder. He had them take new x-rays and scheduled another CT scan. He wanted to make sure everything was okay with her shoulder.
She was able to get the CT Scan that afternoon and the doctor looked at the scan immediately. He didn't want to have Jane wait, she had been waiting two weeks already. The scan showed that the shoulder was healing. He scheduled PT for her and said she could be placed on light duty. After several more weeks, Jane was cleared to return to full duty and thus was able to be discharged from the Air Force.
She and Arianna flew back to Boston. Two weeks later Jane started at the Police Academy. Jane quickly formed a study team with two fellow recruits, Lorenzo Marino and Joseph "JJ" Jones. They met each night at the library to review the material they had learned during the day. They wanted to make sure that they fully understood what they had learned.
Jane thought about her study pattern and came to the conclusion that prior to being in the Air Force she probably wouldn't have formed a bond like she had with Marino and Jones. She would have tried to do everything on her own. The Air Force taught her about being part of a team and relying on your team. She was thankful for that.
With Marino and Jones' help, Jane graduated at the top of her class. Marino and Jones were right behind her, placing second and third, respectfully. She had found a team that became a family with them and that team/family meant the world to her. Korsak attended her graduation and she started as a patrol officer with BPD the following week. She was on her way to reaching her dream of becoming a homicide detective with BPD.