Local Unit Gets Ready

At McGuire Air Force Base Monday, a military medical unit is preparing to head to the Gulf.

In a storeroom at the base located in Wrightstown, N.J., doctors, nurses and emergency technicians were busy checking equipment. Last week, these people were civilians. But they were called to active duty and they are now part of a medical evacuation team bound for the Gulf.

"We actually turn our airplane into a mobile hospitals, and we continue to care for either stable or stabilized patients," said Lt. Col. Mary Beth Bartko.

Most of these people have been to the Gulf before.

"(In the Gulf) it was 130 (degrees) and bone dry," said Rick Moore of Palmyra, N.J.

For Moore, things are different this trip

"I'm newly married. I just found out my wife is six weeks pregnant," Moore said.

Doris Rosado was in the Gulf 12 years ago and a lot of things have changed.

"I have a 6-year-old son this time, and it's a little hard trying to gather my thoughts and try to explain to him what Mommy has to do," Rosado said.

Rosado is a New York City policewoman.

"There's a little bit of anxiety. If any soldier out there doesn't have a little bit of anxiety, they are probably lying, " Rosado said.

"You know that knot you get right here? It's there. And in your stomach ... the rumble? It's there too. I don't think anything can really prepare you," Bartko said.

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