Serving Overseas

Photos courtesy of Linda Barber

Taylor, an operating room nurse, takes a break between patients.

Maj. Karen Taylor poses for a snapshot in Kirkuk, Iraq. The building in the background is the E-Med building, where wounded are brought to be stabilized.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Karen Taylor, 58, identical twin sister to Linda Barber of Moneta, is what one might call a military "retread" or someone who is on active duty for the second time. Taylor has 30 years of military service under her belt, and uses skills acquired during nearly six decades of life experiences.

After an initial active duty assignment as an Air Force pharmacy technician, she went on reserve status for 13 years, earning a nursing degree from Manatee Community College in Florida during that period. Taylor returned to active duty in 1996 and was assigned to Eglin Air Force Base near Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Her current posting to Kirkuk, Iraq, began in July and is expected to last about six months. Taylor is the operating room nurse for the hospital at Kirkuk, where wounded U.S. military personnel, contractors and other allied forces are treated and are often stabilized there for transport to other hospitals in Europe or the United States.

"We also treat Iraqi nationals and even some insurgents," Taylor told her sister. "As you might imagine, that creates some mixed emotions."

"I'm very proud of my sister, who is one of the most compassionate people I know," said Barber.

Choking back tears, Barber related an example from Taylor's first deployment to Iraq.

"An Iraqi lady arrived at the base gate. She'd been injured in an attack that took the life of one of her two daughters. Even though there was a language barrier, Karen realized that the patient was struggling with religious and cultural modesty issues -- the idea of being disrobed for treatment was causing her great anxiety. So Karen found her fresh clothing and made sure she was fully dressed when she awoke from her anesthesia.

In addition to two deployments to Iraq, Taylor also has served overseas in Desert Storm and for a brief period in Haiti in 1994. She served aboard the USNS Comfort before being transported by helicopter to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to complete her assignment with the Aeromedical Evacuation Group.

In addition to her twin sister Linda and younger sister Lisa Swilley of Clemmons, N.C., others anxiously awaiting Taylor's return home include her husband, Lt. Col. Michael Taylor, who is stationed at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Fla., daughter Chele Pfost, 34, and son Nick Barnett, 35, of New Port Richey, Fla; and 6-year-old granddaughter Skylar Barnett.