CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Capt. Robert Bryant is a member of the 437th Medical Group and has been stationed at Charleston AFB for five years.
He is currently deployed on a 365-day tour to Afghanistan where he serves as the embedded transition team leader with the 201st Afghan National Army Corps. As an embedded transition team leader, his duties include providing medical care to more than 8,000 Afghan soldiers. He also works to increase the level of care for all Afghan soldiers and to motivate the medical staff to provide the best care possible.
Captain Bryant said he contributes to Team Charleston's mobility mission by living the mobility mission from the time he left for training at Fort Riley, Kan., until he returns to Charleston safely in February 2009.
"Every day is simply unreal," said Captain Bryant. "Recently, I treated an Afghan NCO who had his ear bitten off by his commander. The general response from my counterparts was, 'what did you do to provoke your commander?' It took 72 hours to get the commander removed from command and arrested."
This "warrior of the week" hails from Ware Shoals, S.C., and enlisted in the Air Force more than 20 years ago to serve his country and also for the job possibilities. His future career goals are to land a job in readiness or deployment training.
Captain Bryant said this deployment wouldn't have been possible without the support of his wife and children and the support of his unit and Americans.
"Captain Bryant is a consummate professional and represents the best of the Air Force," said Army Capt. Todd Sweet, 201 ANA Corps medical operations advisor. "He has provided medical coverage to U.S. forces as the sole provider on 15 mounted combat patrols and by working 300 hours in the Camp Blackhorse clinic to ensure seamless care during the most recent medical staff rotation. Captain Bryant has also offered his expertise to assist the counter insurgency mission in Afghanistan. He has travelled to a remote location in Kabul Province to assist the Afghan National Army in providing medical care for 276 very poor villagers without integrated medical facilities."