For four months, BGSU graduate Carly Sutton ’01 was deployed to Balad, Iraq, as a nurse for the U.S. Air Force.

As a BGSU nursing student, Carly Sutton never imagined, or even considered the possibility that her education would eventually take her into a war zone. The 2001 graduate left BGSU and started her nursing career at Ohio State University Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit. However, in 2003, she became an active duty Air Force officer. She was deployed to Balad Air Base in Balad, Iraq, which was Saddam Hussein’s training site for his air force and his country’s Olympic teams. Situated just 40 kilometers north of Baghdad, the 332nd Contingency Air Staging Facility’s mission was to receive and prepare for flight out of Iraq those injured soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen who were injured and heading to Kuwait or Germany.

She was responsible for transporting patients to the flight line and boarding them on the Air Force cargo planes. During her four-month deployment, her unit moved approximately 3,300 patients. As one of the few nurses assigned to the Contingency Air Staging Facility, her duties included being in charge of the nightly missions to the flight line, and ensuring the safe and efficient transport of patients to the aircraft. She also performed basic nursing duties on the wards.

The base, which is located in the southern portion of the Sunni Triangle, was mortared almost daily, she recalled. However, because the insurgents don’t have modern rockets and mortars, many of them were reported as incoming, but did not detonate. “That did not take away from the anxiety that we were vulnerable all the time to being near a round that did explode,” she said. They learned just to go about their business, continuing to work as though nothing was wrong. “We had to,” she added, “because we had the life of our fellow soldiers in our care. We owed it to them to get them out as fast and safely as possible.”

The experience of living in a war zone certainly opened her eyes and broadened her perspective on how good and how bad humans can treat one another, she said.

“I saw miracles and tragedies every day that I was in Iraq. I am amazed at how hard it can be for countries to attain freedom. Our generation here in the U.S. has NO concept of how incredibly lucky we are to live free, without fighting for it,” she said. She went on to praise the Iraqis who are fighting for democracy and freedom, hoping they find it soon and without civil war.

Once she left Iraq, she had the feeling that no matter what brought the U.S. to Iraq, there were positive changes taking place.

Currently, she is a neonatal intensive care unit nurse at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, where she is the transport coordinator for the base’s worldwide neonatal transport program. She plans to move to Germany this spring for an adult flight nursing assignment, transporting patients around Europe and the U.S.

Though her time in Iraq was stressful, she says it also allowed her to reflect on what she’s learned and how she’s utilized her experiences to advance her career. She had known that her BGSU education allowed her to grow, gain independence and learn her own strengths and weaknesses. It wasn’t until her time in Iraq that she truly needed to apply those skills in order to succeed each and every day.

She remembers one of her “incredibly inspiring professors in nursing school,” Dr. Elisabeth Wolfe, who taught and encouraged Sutton to strive for excellence in nursing and in life. “Through the tough times in nursing school, she encouraged me to stay focused and maintain my professionalism in my career. The changes she instilled in me are a direct link to my success in the military,” Sutton said.