Major Mary Jo Burleigh: Staff Nurse Anesthetist 

Major Mary Jo Burleigh’s deployed to the Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, where she administered over 300 anesthetics to critically wounded Afghan Army soldiers.

Major Burleigh quickly recognized the factors contributing to the local Afghan hospital’s high casualty rate, including the lack of logistical support and practice of Civil-War era anesthetic techniques. Major Burleigh dispersed cultural fears of using narcotics for pain; previously, no Afghan patients received pain medication during or after surgery. She assisted the overwhelmed Afghan surgeons, taught anesthetists, and managed eight mass casualty events while enduring more than 40 rocket attacks and Taliban insurgents freely roaming the facility.

On one particular day, Major Burleigh received an urgent call; an interpreter, shot through the pelvis by an AK-47 at close range, was in critical condition. While in surgery, the interpreter lost most of his blood. Unfortunately, the hospital lacked a single pint to transfuse. The interpreter’s condition was grim, and the Afghan surgeons had given up on him. Realizing the severity of the situation and urgent need for blood, she initiated a walking blood drive, transfusing over 20 bags of blood donated from US service members from the adjacent forward operating base. She worked on him for over 9 hours until he stabilized, then stayed with him around the clock until he could be safely removed from the ventilator, a task that Afghan medics could not perform.

The next day, Major Burleigh identified other life-threatening injuries, arranged his transfer to the NATO hospital, and provided anesthesia for another six-hour surgery. Just three weeks later, he miraculously walked out of the hospital.