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Paul Berry

Operation Desert Storm | 514th Ambulance Company, 36th Medical Battalion

Paul Berry was looking for the French Foreign Legion. It was pitch dark and his destination was a post on the Saudi side of the border with Iraq. He was leading a convoy of ambulances when, suddenly, they were confronted by a lot of men waving AK-47's. (Caution: strong language) (5:52)
Paul Berry's squad from the 514th Ambulance Company was attached to a POW camp for Iraqis. It was just across the border in Saudi Arabia and they were there to provide medical care and triage the incoming prisoners. He always asked anyone he examined if they spoke English. One soldier said in perfect English, "No, I don't speak English." This started quite a scene. (7:11)
While treating Iraqi prisoners during Desert Storm, medic Paul Berry had a couple of experiences that really disturbed him. One was having to peel the skin from a badly burned soldier. The other was when a group of children were brought in. They had been hit by a cluster bomb. (Caution: strong language) (5:42)
They were supposed to be getting eight bodies but twelve body bags came in. Paul Berry was in the Saudi desert next to the Iraqi border and he was fortunate he didn't have to deal with those extra four bags. (3:08)
It was a bad sandstorm. It blew away all the tents and injured one soldier's cornea. For Paul Berry it was just another fact of life in the desert, like scorpions. His ambulance company was the designated "dirty" company that kept going in case of a chemical or nuclear attack and, as the youngest private, he had a special duty that no one would want. (Caution: strong language) (8:43)
As his unit's role in Desert Storm was winding down, Paul Berry received a mountain of mail and gifts in a long overdue mail call. It was so much that he came up with something nice he could do for everybody. (Caution: strong language) (4:37)
Not long before he left Saudi Arabia after Desert Storm, Paul Berry created a lot of trouble for himself when he did something he thought was no big deal. He called his mama. (6:13)
Paul Berry saved a few t-shirts from his time in the Army but there is one that is special. From the Desert Storm deployment with the 514th Ambulance Company, a shirt that only a select few have. (5:49)
Education is something that Paul Berry eagerly embraced in the Army. It got him cushy jobs and kept him out of dirty ones. Especially valuable was the esoteric science known as typing. He also absorbed all the medical knowledge and skills that he could. (10:07)
Paul Berry was at Fort Polk opening his clinic at 0600. It was just a normal day until someone yelled to put the TV on CNN. As people gathered, the second plane struck the Twin Towers. Then the alarms began to sound around the base. He heard the Sgt. Major yell to get your gear on. Our gear? What are we going to do? (3:29)