Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
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As the only surgeon in a camp with lim- ited medical facilities, Ehrlichman longed to put the full range of his skills to work. A sup- portive colonel arranged for him to spend one day a week at Afghanistan's National Medical Military Center. For security rea- sons, the day of the week always varied and an armed escort accompanied him. Here, Ehrlichman felt the full impact of the war, operating on grievously wounded Afghan soldiers. "One had been dragged out of his car by the Taliban," he says, "shot five times, and set on fire." Ehrlichman quickly earned the trust of local physicians who were developing the country's first medical school, and helped them write the surgical curriculum. His full reward, though, came through an initiative run by the soldiers at Camp Phoenix. They called it "Operation Outreach Afghanistan." The operation's purpose was to gather and deliver school supplies weekly to impover- ished schools (where Ehrlichman saw no girls in attendance), and to provide medical care to children without any. Mohammed It was through Operation Outreach's visits to Marastoon Orphanage that the surgeon learned of Mohammed Ali, the 13-year old who had suffered acute burns at age eight, leaving him with a severe contracture in his right hand. Ehrlichman knew the condition was correctable, and – despite his unit's 61 winter 2012/2013 | WellesleyWeston Magazine