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One of Maj. Bormanis’s duties was to provide veterinary
medical care to Uday Hussein’s lions. It has been
widely reported that the Iraqi dictator’s son fed
dissidents to this lion. Photo courtesy of Scott Bormanis
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Caring
for
Animals in Iraq
By Randy Mertens
Maj. Scott Bormanis, who received his doctor
of veterinary medicine in 1994 from MU, was awarded the Bronze
Star award for his Army service in Baghdad.
“Maj. Bormanis’ contributions
to Operation Iraqi Freedom 2 have been substantial,” the
citation reads. “As the Unit Maintenance and Movement Officer,
he was the leading force in reconstituting and preparing all of
the detachment’s rolling stock, equipment, and supplies
from its previous deployment to ensure a high state of readiness
for the detachment’s year-long deployment. His extensive
efforts ensured all rolling stock and equipment passed inspections
on the first try and were shipped on time with only 96 hours notice.”
Just prior to deployment, Maj. Bormanis assumed
command of the 248th Veterinary Medical Detachment when the commander
was unable to deploy, and successfully led the deployment of 37
personnel and 87 tons of equipment from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina
to ten different locations within Iraq without injury, loss, or
damage. He also led a three-day convoy from a Kuwait staging area
to forward areas in Iraq through hostile territory, and without
armed escort. Upon arrival, Maj. Bormanis strategically placed
veterinary teams in key locations to include support to the 1st
Marine Expeditionary Force.
The citation also noted how Maj. Bormanis
orchestrated the establishment of high-quality veterinary care
to more than 230 military working dogs throughout the theater,
of which 180 were previously without support. “Maj. Bormanis
superbly accomplished these feats with limited resources and assets
that doctrinally would support only 60 working dogs. Additionally,
Maj. Bormanis played an integral role in the planning and execution
of renovations and furnishing of the Central Veterinary Treatment
Facility, which established the first Level-I, -II, and -III care
fixed facility in theater, thereby dramatically increasing theater
veterinary capabilities and greatly reducing the need to evacuate
working dogs out of theater.”
As the assistant theater veterinarian, Maj.
Bormanis developed and implemented plans which streamlined veterinary
operations and greatly reduced veterinary public health threats
to over 140,000 US and Coalition personnel.
The citation also detailed how Maj. Bormanis
renovated the theater’s medevac transport procedures, and
designed and constructed in-theater veterinary treatment facilities.
He also developed a customized Rabies Submission plan. That plan,
the citation noted, reduced the number of soldiers required to
undergo rabies prophylactic immunization series.
In addition, Maj. Bormanis played an integral
role in reconstruction projects for the Baghdad
University College of Veterinary Medicine, the Baghdad Zoo,
and the Baghdad Police Academy Working Dog Kennels by coordinating
with US veterinary schools, and other agencies in the United States
to secure funding for construction projects and acquisition of
thousands of dollars of critical equipment, supplies, and educational
material. Furthermore, he worked with Baghdad CVM faculty to completely
redesign the college’s 25-year-old veterinary curriculum
which greatly enhanced and modernized the college’s future
education of new veterinarians.
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Last Update:
March 12, 2007
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