Toy Needles

A few days ago my squad "rolled up on" an accident on the local roads in Diwaniya. The "pedestrian vs. truck" incident involved a boy around 6 or 7 years old and was my first patient in the field. We stopped, dismounted to see what was happening. As we were pulling up I already had my camera out and took a couple shots before I was summoned by the squad leader.
As I came to his side I could see one leg was stiff and sticking strait out but he later relaxed. As well, he had a good size bump in the middle of his forehead. He was conscious but appeared groggy and didn't want to do anything but lay down. I checked his arms and legs for trauma, but could feel nothing through the thickness of his t-shirt sweater and coat. I tried to get access first on the back of his hand, but he jerked away in pain just as I got a flash. He had a strong distal pulse, warm skin, and with the pain response I felt he wasn't in shock, but he had a look about him that said he needed a hospital.

A spine board arrived. from off one of the back of a Humvee and we loaded him in one of our trucks and dashed off Code 3 to a local hospital. I cut off his shirt, inspected for further injury and finished my pre-hospital assessment and felt he had a concussion and maybe internal injury. He needed a saline lock (IV access) at least before we arrived, but he jerked his arm away two more times as I tried his right AC. I felt bad and like I was making him feel worse off than when I found him. The needles were freaking him out (the high speed, siren, and soldiers probably didn't help either.) With the language barrier being an issue I gave him the mini-teddy bear that I kept in my bag just to show I was not trying to hurt him.
So yesterday, I see a little boy in the same neighborhood playing with two syringes. I have no way of knowing where they came from, and appeared to have capped needles attatched. The two other boys he was playing with didn't seem to notice or care, but I felt a deep sense of irony and dismay. To grow up in a place where you can run in and out of the street, get hit by a car, play with needles, walk barefoot in donkey, goat, and dog shit, let alone terrorism...it's still beyond my comprehension. But the heart of a child still shines through the smiles I see everyday.
In this last shot you can see, almost step-by-step, left to right, the smile fading as kids here grow older.