November 2004

DC serves nation and profession in Iraq

On Nov. 12, 2002, the Reilly Chiropractic office opened. Two months later, it became the "Reilly Chiropractic Mission: Iraqi Freedom."

"When I first got the call, all I could think of was 'What am I going to do with the practice?'" Doug Reilly, DC, said. His landlord cut his rent in half for the first 12 months and he closed his doors in Pennsylvania only to open them a few days later at Fort Dix, NJ.

"I took a portable table and in Fort Dix I adjusted a couple of people," Dr. Reilly recalled. "The kicker was that our commander had sciatica. He heard that I was a chiropractor and asked if I would take my tables. I said certainly and about a month later, they flew with the ammo on the plane to Iraq."

After Reilly established a good working relationship with one the physician's assistants, it was agreed that he could establish hours to adjust soldiers serving in mission Iraqi Freedom.

From 8‑10am, Reilly served his country as a chiropractor. From 10am to 10pm, he served it as a soldier. While in Baghdad, his office hours changed and he worked as a soldier from eight in the morning until eight at night, and then saw patients until 10pm. He even made house calls, periodically packing up his table and going out to the prisons to adjust soldiers.

His new "practice" in Iraq was similar to the one he opened at home, in that he didn't need to advertise. Soldiers found out about him through word‑of‑mouth. By regulation, chaplains met in one local place periodically and one particular chaplain became Reilly's best referral source.

"He had been a chiropractic patient for years and he told everybody," said Reilly. "If I would have to go out on a mission, there was a line of people complaining and waiting for me when I got back." Most were US soldiers, but also in the queue were Italian soldiers and Kuwaiti interpreters (one, the son of a princess).

In other ways, what he jokingly called his "satellite office" was obviously much different. "We were in a blown out building so I was in the same room with all the medics. You had people passing out from dehydration within five feet of someone I was adjusting."

Reilly also missed not being able to gown his patients or have x‑rays. "When I got home and I saw x‑rays, it was beautiful," he admitted. "It felt like I had gloves on the whole time I was over there because I didn't have x‑rays." (Through the efforts of friends, Reilly did get a knee chest sent over mid‑way through his tour of duty.)

Patient education also took a back seat as he had to focus on pain relief more than he did in his home practice. However, Reilly did manage to convince the physician assistant he worked with of the importance of chiropractic.

One soldier voiced a familiar concern. "He said to me, 'this is good for now but am I going to have to go three times a week for the rest of my life?' I assured him that was not the case and now he drives and hour and a half to see me."

Part of Reilly's mission as a reservist in the military police battalion was to transport prisoners around the country. In a Kuwaiti City bus, with 30 prisoners and two armed MPs, he periodically drove through the middle of Iraq. During a period when Iraqis were dropping bombs from overpasses, soldiers were warned to change lanes as they went under the overpass.

On one drive across Baghdad, as his co‑driver noticed an Iraqi bus attempting to keep his bus in one lane, Reilly "nailed it and got out of the lane."

Reilly said he will especially remember the prisoners who "were understanding in talking with the interpreters and understood what we were trying to do." A few times the prisoners actually helped them fix the city buses when they would break down. Mostly, he recalls when Saddam Hussein was captured. Seeing that happen so close made Reilly felt like "we actually did do something, we did accomplish the main part of our mission."

He says the one thing he'll remember most was "whenever we got to release prisoners that were found not guilty. We released them next to this Iranian statue and to see their reactions as we released them is what I will remember most. It did make me homesick to see that they were getting home and I wasn't... One of my buddies had no family, no girlfriend, nothing. It was nice to know I had people back here supporting me. That kept me moving forward."

He knew most of his fellow reservists from working weekends with them in the States and now he was with them on a daily basis. "It's tough going from being 29‑years‑old, running your own business to living in a tent with six 18‑year‑olds. Talking to them about their priorities ‑‑ mainly getting a truck and loading it down ‑‑ and listening to what they want to put their money in was crazy," Reilly said. Yet, the inter‑generational talks had a positive side. "I am very hip now," he joked. He even encouraged one reservist who was considering a career in chiropractic.

With the bonds of his reservist friends strengthened, Reilly keeps in touch more frequently, just as he did with the people back home while overseas.

Although he had only periodic Internet access, Reilly kept in touch with family and friends, checked on the chiropractic world through the Gonstead Seminar website and the Palmer College website, and kept up to date on his beloved Philadelphia Eagle football team.

"Dr. Fred Barge's death shook me because I saw him as one of our last links to the past," Reilly said. "Then, all the rumors and the sudden resignation of Riekeman, I wondered what I was going to come home to."

While serving in Iraq, there were few satellite TVs and soldiers didn't have much time to watch. News on the home front was difficult to obtain. "We were always wondering how, as soldiers, we would be welcomed back," said Reilly. "You hear about Vietnam, you hear some celebrity speaking out, the French's opinion, and you are just concerned."

Now back home after more than a year's service, he said he has received lots of anonymous letters and gestures and many older people in his community have stopped in to thank him. He recently joined his local VA and is the youngest member by 30 years.

Reilly Chiropractic ‑‑ the one in Plumsteadville, Penn. ‑‑ is open again and Reilly has started to rebuild it with his long‑time sweetheart, Dr. Anne Tobin. "Not too many things have changed," he said.