FOB KALSU, Iraq (Army News Service, April 25, 2008) - While on a joint mission with Coalition forces Jan. 10, an 8th Iraqi Army Division soldier was struck by an improvised explosive device as he crossed a pedestrian footbridge on the east side of Route Minnesota in the Chaka Four Region.
At about 12:46 p.m., everything changed for the IA Special Forces platoon leader. First Lt. Mohy Ali lost his right foot and sustained trauma to his right wrist in the attack.
A little more than three months later, Soldiers from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, are helping the 42-year-old IA soldier get his life back to normal, one step at a time.
Capt. Jacob Turnquist, the 4th BCT surgeon, identified a clinic near the Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, where Mohy was originally treated, that specializes in getting prosthetics for Iraqis. The IA Surgeon General's Office Prosthetics Clinic is run by Iraqis with American civil affairs support.
Turnquist contacted the clinic and spoke with Chris Cummings, a retired Army medic and a prosthetist in the clinic. Cummings, who is also an adviser for Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, assisted the unit with providing Mohy a prosthesis.
In order to get to the clinic, Mohy was linked with Coalition forces in his area with the help of Staff Sgt. Alfonza Chatfield, a medic with the 31st Military Transition Team, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, in al-Hillah, Iraq.
Chatfield escorted Mohy to the prosthetics clinic in the Green Zone, Baghdad, April 21.
Cummings checked Mohy's limb to ensure it had healed properly, and then manually measured different parts of the limb. Using a computer-aided design program, he created a three-dimensional view of Mohy's limb. Cummings generated a close representation of the limb with the data from the manual measurements and the design program.
With the information gathered from this first trip, Cummings will create a prosthetic foot for Mohy, which will be fitted during the next visit.
"I'm a commander and I want to get back with my soldiers," Mohy said. "I want to be able to walk and run again."
(Sgt. 1st Class Tami Hillis serves with 4th BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. Public Affairs Office)
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