Bustling medical unit gets seasoned boss

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This has never been a one-weekend-a-month gig.

After 25 years and six deployments as a military reservist, Frank Robinson has long since come to accept that fact.

Nonetheless, as he prepared to take the helm of Utah's largest Army medical unit on Saturday afternoon, the Army colonel was feeling a bit besieged by the enormity of the job ahead of him.

"There's no doubt this is a full-time job," said Robinson, a Sacramento emergency surgeon who grew up in Salt Lake City and attended the University of Utah. "I'm responsible for all of these units -- for all of these soldiers. To be honest, it's a little overwhelming."

Among the duties Robinson assumed as he took command of the 328th Combat Support Hospital at Fort Douglas: Ensuring that a group of soldiers recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq adequately adjust to civilian life. Meanwhile, he'll be charged with making sure a second group that is headed to Afghanistan is ready for combat.

There was a time, not too long ago, that it was not uncommon for officers -- especially reservists -- to slip into command without ever having deployed to war themselves. But Robinson has walked in his soldiers' boots. He has completed tours of duty in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The most recent trip took him to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where he was charged with caring for military prisoners, a job that often puts soldiers eye to eye with the enemy. Having had those experiences, Robinson is able to identify with a group of 85 soldiers from his unit that recently returned from Iraq, where it helped provide medical care for 4,500 detainees at a new military prison in Taji, north of Baghdad.

Although that mission didn't place the soldiers of the 328th on the front lines of combat, it did put them on the front lines of the war for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

"For most of the detainees, it was the first real medical care they ever had," explained Andrew Cole, of Clinton. "They were very grateful."

Fellow soldier Josh Watts remembered patients who had suffered from minor medical conditions for years whose conditions were cleared up within days or weeks of being taken prisoner.

"I think, for some, it changed their perspective," he said "Over time, you could tell that some of the people didn't look at us just as soldiers anymore."

As he prepares to send the 934th Forward Surgical Team to war in Afghanistan, Robinson is mindful of the many ways in which they'll be able to serve their nation.

"It's good for people to see Americans in this way," he said.

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