Mal de Mayo

the closing ceremonies to mark the conclusion of our humanitarian efforts. Despite the oppressive, unrelenting heat, stifling body odor, the poverty surrounding us, and our longing to be reunited with family, the soldiers and airmen of Combined Joint Task Force Bravo were extremely proud of their accomplishments after months of being in El Salvador. This task force had been deployed to El Salvador as part of Operation New Horizons 2006, which is undertaken every year at multiple locations in Central and South America. As an Army physician, I had been assigned to be the task force surgeon. The mountains of the northern Morazán region had been devastated by 14 years of civil war. But thanks to our task force, at least in part, this devastation was now softened with new schools and clinics in some of the most inaccessible areas of this nation. The backdrop for today’s celebration was a newly christened clinic devoted to gynecologic and maternal health. It seems I had left my comfortable professional environment at Duke University and traveled 1,700 miles to help construct clinics similar to those to which my civilian career was dedicated. After the US ambassador’s remarks, I would enjoy attempts to communicate with some of the local physicians and nurses who had attended the ceremony. Despite the language barrier, we were able to communicate at a level that superseded our mutual difficulties. The happiness and hope of these professionals, of the local families present, and of the scores of uniformed school children who had been escorted there for the festivities validated our hardship and sacrifice. My thoughts turned back to the past several weeks. I had arrived on May 17, 2006, coincident with the beginning of Central America’s rainy season. The ride from San Salvador to Camp Morazán took 31⁄2 hours and included an afternoon torrential rainstorm followed quickly by temperatures in excess of 110°F. Our engine overheated, and we were briefly stranded alongside the only hard surface road in that region. Upon arrival at our base camp, I reported to the Sergeants Major on duty and quickly discovered that urogynecology is not the preferred medical specialty for con-