When American troops are injured in the war in Iraq, there’s a team of doctors ready to treat them. In 2007, a Chippewa Falls surgeon was among that specialized group.

Dr. Peter Cochrane is a general surgeon with the Marshfield Clinic Chippewa Center.

But last year, he put his life on hold to share his medical talents with the 399th Combat Support Hospital. He spent 3 months at the Al Asad Air Base Hospital in Iraq.

"The hospital functions essentially like a hospital back here,” he said. “There's an emergency room physician, there are internal medicine doctors like a family doctor. We even had a gynecologist."

The 49-year-old helped care for American troops – but he says most of his patients were members of the Iraqi Army and police force.

"Most of the severe injuries were caused by IED blasts,” Dr. Cochrane remembered. "It was always easier in some sense to take care of someone who wasn't an American. It was always difficult to see any of the Americans injured."

Still, despite his hand in saving lives, Dr. Cochrane says he doesn’t think of himself as a hero.

"I just got to do what I normally do in my day-to-day work -- but in a dusty, dry, far-away place,” he said. “It was very difficult to feel you were doing anything heroic when you saw folks in their teens and in their 20's lugging around 75 pounds of body armor, their weapon and all their gear in the 110 degree heat."

During his “boots on the ground” rotation, Dr. Cochrane says he saw a high level of commitment from American troops. He also says his employer – Marshfield Clinic – was very supportive of him during his deployment.

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