DOCTORS OF INTEREST
The ARMY SURGEON
Dr. Michael Walters relaxes in his Port St. Lucie office. A major in the U.S. Army Reserve, Walters recently returned from his third tour in Afghanistan and
expects he will be asked to return again for humanitarian missions with local doctors.
As American military involvement in Afghanistan
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winds down, Army surgeon Dr. Michael
Walters expects to be deployed for a fourth tour,
treating U.S. soldiers, Taliban and civilians as
part of a humanitarian mission.
During his 10 years in the Army Reserve, Maj. Walters has
served tours of three, six and three months in forward operating
bases in Afghanistan. When he is home in Port St. Lucie,
Walters is a general surgeon at St. Lucie Medical Center,
where he’s starting a treatment program for morbid obesity.
“Afghanistan is about as different from America as Mars,”
said Walters. “My first two tours we did a lot of humanitarian
work, but this year we were not allowed since we are drawing
down.” When an Afghan soldier needed an appendectomy,
a local doctor was brought in to observe the procedure.
In another case, an Afghan doctor brought in a girl with
badly burned hands. He was going to amputate because it
was all he knew to do. “He watched as we saved her hands.
He felt comfortable coming to see me. We improved her quality
and quantity of life. And hopefully he is a better surgeon.
It makes you feel like you have done something good there,”
Walters said.
And then there was Elbow Bob. “We couldn’t pronounce
his name,” he said. “He was a well driller and he fell into a
GREG GARDNER
well and broke his right arm. We repaired his artery, reset the
bone. Two months later he had the full use of his right arm
and he went back to work.”
When asked what is most difficult about operating in a war
zone, Walters responded without hesitation. “The hardest
thing is doing surgery on kids who have been caught in the
crossfire. That is always difficult.” As much as possible the
American and NATO surgeons bring in local physicians to
allow them to observe and improve their skills.
The trauma units in Afghanistan, the equivalent of MASH
facilities seen on TV, are secure, but not immune from frequent
— and fortunately, usually inaccurate — rocket fire.
The Taliban often use kitchen timers to launch the rockets so
it’s useless to go after the source, Walters said. When Taliban
prisoners are treated there is always an armed guard before
they are handed over to the military police, CIA or Afghan
security forces.
Although he carried a pistol, “the Army didn’t hire me for
my shooting skills,” Walters said. He performed about 500
surgeries during his three tours. In 2010, his team treated
three casualties a day for three months.
There was one unorganized attack with rocket-propelled
grenades and AK-47s at the main gate of Forward Operating
Base Fenty. FOB Fenty is named for a soldier killed early in
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BY GREG GARDNER
Treasure Coast Medical Report