people.

But for local doctor Sam Ali, it was a “privilege”.

Dr Ali, who has lived in Port Pirie for 19 years, travelled to Afghanistan for six weeks last year to work as a military

surgeon.

He was based in the Uruzgan province, deemed an extreme security risk by the United Nations, and worked as a general surgeon with the Australian Army.

Dr Ali said he treated any patient who was bought to the military hospital by the army – enemy or ally alike.

“I never asked who was enemy and who was not,” he said.

“I was providing my services to whoever the army bought to me to be treated.”

Although Dr Ali was never under direct enemy fire, he said he was “well prepared” by the military to deal with trauma.

“The army does an absolutely fantastic job looking after your well-being,” he said.

“The Australian Government has bent over backwards to care for our troops.”

Dr Ali could not talk about exact details of his time in Afghanistan, but described the trauma as “totally different to what you would see here”. “Some of the trauma was extremely severe,” he said.

He described days where “mass casualties” would arrive at the hospital at the same time.

“The team worked very well to deal with this because we were prepared so well,” he said.

“The experiences I had over there have been invaluable.”

He was posted to a Dutch military base with people from many countries.

He said the accommodation and medical facilities were “very well equipped” with adequate drugs and comfortable quarters.

Dr Ali has also worked as a military surgeon in East Timor and Kuwait.

When asked what motivated him to travel to a war zones to help others, he replied: “The desire to give back to this

country.”

A United States-led military coalition invaded Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks to fight terrorist group supporter, the Taliban.

Eleven Australian soldiers were among the 1618 coalition military troops killed in the war.