A former medic with the 82nd Airborne Division and a Special Forces qualified medical sergeant, Captain Gregory McCrum was commissioned in May 2002 after graduating from the inter-service physician assistant (PA) program at Fort Sam Houston. Assigned shortly thereafter to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment - part of 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division - in Vilseck, Germany, McCrum (roughly two years later) found himself in Iraq as the battalion PA preparing for what became known as Operation Phantom Fury (Al Fajr): the combined-joint assault to retake the city of Fallujah. In this interview, he discusses his simultaneous provider and command and control responsibilities, as well as all aspects of the medical support given to the soldiers of Task Force 2-2 during this decisive urban fight. Among the many topics covered include the measures he took to ensure the task force was as self-sustaining as possible in terms of medical supplies; the layout, capabilities and movements of the forward aid station; the at times non-doctrinal innovations employed; and the emergency care administered to those who were critically, some ultimately fatally, wounded. "It takes an emotional toll," McCrum said, "and you don't get to process that information while you're in a battlespace. You just have to lock it away, throw it somewhere else and think about it later when you get back out." He also speaks in great depth about the predeployment training he instituted back in Germany - from mass casualty situations and evacuation drills to litter carries and doing trauma patients - which, he said, "paid me back in spades 100 times over during my time in Iraq." About his medics, McCrum hails them as "some of the finest Americans I've ever known."

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