A Soldier's Story part 5

Editors Note: This is the fifth of a six-part series of first-hand accounts written by Sgt. Raymond Murray, a Norwich student on leave to serve as a medic in the U.S. Army in Kosovo. He will serve as a medic treating army personnel and Kosovo citizens for several months. Ray Murray is a Norwich communications major who also served last semester as the The Norwich Guidon sports editor.

By Ray Murray
Norwich Guidon Correspondent

In country: one week.

Driving into Kosovo was like driving into a movie. I could count the number of buildings that were not blown up or burned on one hand. The roads have all been intentionally destroyed, and there is trash and refuse everywhere. I didn't think it was possible to live the way the Serbs and Albanians do.

Inside the compound is like being back in the States. Looking through the fence and wire is always a blast of reality, though.

Since we've been here, I've seen 13 deaths. The patients come to us from the Kosovo and Macedonian Border, where the good weather is bringing the fighters out of their holes. Most of the patients are young Serbs and Albanians, usually between the ages of 16 and 35, who are going out of their way to hurt one another. In one day we lost two 16-year-olds. One got a grenade thrown at him and the other took four shots in the back from an AK-47. We were placing him on the x-ray table when he died.

I'm not sure if these people know what they're fighting about. We had our first international event today. A British reporter was shot and killed while trying to take pictures at the border. He died in our hospital. Rob Murray and I walked his wife, who is seven months pregnant, to our chaplain. It is by far the hardest thing we've had to do since we arrived here.

I know this is short, but we don't get much down time. Time to get back to work. We have three patients coming in by helicopter; they are Polish troops working the border.

Editors Note: Ray, mistakedly believing he had missed the Norwich Guidon deadline for this issue, sent the following e-mail to Norwich Guidon Advisor Prof. Ken Bush, which we also wanted to share with our readers.

Sir,

I'm sorry you haven't heard from me in so long, but we have had no access to any sort of e-mail since we arrived in country. It's not for lack of trying or availability, but things here the last two weeks have been nothing short of crazy.

I'm sure you're wondering how things are here and what is happening; things are not what any of us expected. I now have an access account and a computer terminal in my clinic where I'll be able to check my mail daily. When we arrived, things were exploding at the border between Macedonia and Kosovo, and because of this we've had more causalities than I ever expected; it's only been a week.

Gunshot wounds, mortar and grenade wounds are a daily affair. In fact, I was covered in blood not 10 minutes after arriving from a soldier that was riddled with shrapnel from a mortar.

The Serbs and Albanians really hate each other; I don't even think they know why. I'll e-mail you soon.

They just brought in an Albanian war criminal that needs a tooth or two pulled.

Ray

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