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Ignorance is Bliss
By Sgt. James (Jim) O. Young Jr., USAF (Ret.), LP, CP, FAAOP 
It was another day at the office with me seeing patients in the
morning, giving a speech at noon at the Department of Labor, seeing
folks in Albany, Georgia, in the afternoon, and finally getting
back home to Macon in the late evening.
The Invitation
Pam, my office manager and the love of my life for the past 20
years, fielded a call on October 11 from Wayne Mosley, MD, from
Vidalia, who asked if I would like to speak at a conference on
October 23-24. Knowing my problem with saying no, Pam told him,
"Yes, he would be happy to." As usual, she was correct.
The conference was being held at the Ashur Hotel on Lake Dukan.
Wow, it sounded nice, and it was. The only snag was that the
location was a little "out of the way." Lake Dukan is a sleepy
little resort town in northeastern Iraq. Oh, and by the way, I
would have to pay for this on my own.
I would be speaking to a group of 30-35 physicians, physical
therapists, and prosthetists (they call them orthopedic
technicians) about lower-extremity prosthetics, transtibial and
transfemoral components, socket designs, and biomechanical
objectives.
Getting There
After nearly 20 hours on planes and in airports, I had less than
two hours to either make a crazy connection in Istanbul or wait two
days for the next plane to Erbil, Iraq. Two days later—still in
Turkey—I finally got my lost luggage and was ready for the
following day of travel to what I was told is the safest, most
stable part of Iraq. On the day I was scheduled to arrive, that
peace and stability part was challenged when members of a Kurdish
separatist terrorist organization known as the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PPK) crossed the Turkish border and killed several people.
Turkey, as one might suspect, retaliated. The natives were restless
on both sides of the border, and the chest-bumping contest was
on.
Flying to Erbil was tense. Looking out the window was great
except every time I saw a puff of smoke, I thought to myself that
the impact of the surface-to-air missile would at least be a fast
way to go. Self-induced stress and fear is almost crippling, but
after a bodyguard and a driver picked me up from a fortified safe
house near the airport and took me on a more than 160-mile road
trip to the conference, complete with mad swerving, horn honking,
and overtaking cars on hillcrests, it really wasn't that bad.
The Conference and What I Learned
Because I was a day late for the conference, the agenda was
shuffled around to allow Dr. Mosley to speak (he was a day late as
well). I spoke for nearly two hours before the attendees had to
leave so that they could be home before curfew. They said they
learned a lot in a short time and invited me to come back for a
week or two next year. I was, as of that moment, noncommittal.
I may have been in Iraq to teach, but I received more education
than I handed out. Here are a few things that I learned:
- These people need and want our help.
- Not everyone is trying to kill me.
- There is no infrastructure (postal service, clean running
water, a reliable electric grid, etc.).
- Doctors working at the hospitals make $400 a month.
- There are prosthetists in Iraq who may know how to create and
build the best prosthetic devices available, but, like in the
United States, someone has to pay for them. Unlike the United
States, they have no real healthcare system.
- Successful military campaigns during our nation's history have
taken around three generations to achieve economic, social, and
governmental stability for the folks we say we are liberating. We
should not screw these people. If we want to bring troops home,
let's start in places like Japan and Germany—where doing so will
not destabilize a country.
- One person can make a difference.
To follow up on the trip, I am going to attempt to secure
funding to produce an educational DVD series on prosthetic care at
various amputation levels, which will include the initial contact,
evaluation, fabrication, and alignment. Ideally the DVD will have
several language options, and I will set aside Q&A time via a
conference call or chat room periodically.
Jim Young Jr., LP, CP, FAAOP, is the sole proprietor of the
Amputee Prosthetic Clinic Company, with locations in Tifton,
Albany, and Macon, Georgia. He can be reached at joylegs@aol.com 
Table Of Contents - December 2007
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