By Heron Marquez Estrada
The Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS, M.N. — When businessman J.B. Ball asked a doctor at Walter Reed Medical Center what he thought U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan might need, the answer was quick but not obvious: golf carts.
While the military has plenty of Humvees, jeeps, tanks, armored personnel carriers and supply trucks in and around battle zones, it doesn’t have a fast and easy way to transport injured and wounded soldiers on bases and to and from field hospitals.
That is about to change.
Thanks to Ball and the Minnesota non-profit group “Tee it up for the Troops,” a modified golf cart will be sent this week to Afghanistan for use as just such a medical transport vehicle.
“The doctor, who had been in Afghanistan, said a lot of the [soldiers] were ‘getting their bell rung’ but didn’t necessarily need to be shipped all the way to the States for medical attention,” Ball said. “He said they were struggling at the moment with an issue of how to get them to the hospitals for follow-up or treatment.”
Tee it up for the Troops, founded in 2005, has raised about $2 million for veterans and their families, largely through golf tournaments and events held in 30 states. Finding a military use for golf equipment is a new twist.
Ball, who runs a Burnsville financial services company, said it took a lot of calls to cut through the red tape, but ultimately the military bought into the idea that a modified golf cart could be a possible answer to the transportation problem.
“They were very surprised that somebody would stand up and do it,” Ball said.
Company in Savage modified cart
The golf cart was modified by Versatile Vehicles Inc. in Savage using a standard cart that the company sells by the thousands in the Midwest.
But it is intended to operate more like an all-terrain vehicle, especially given the rugged ground and gruelling territory where it is expected to be deployed, said Gaby Accad, president of Versatile Vehicles and a native of Lebanon.
“It is dear to my heart,” Accad, who was in Beirut when U.S. Marines were killed there in 1983 by a suicide bomber, said of the cart project. “I’m so appreciative of what this country has done for me and what the troops are doing. We want to help in any way we can.”
If the vehicle passes muster, it could be the first of many such vehicles that Tee it up for the Troops will be sending to military bases, Accad said.
“The is the first, the prototype,” he said. “We see it as a starting point.”
Made to look like a combat vehicle, and in line with military requirements, the cart is painted dark colors with the Red Cross symbol on all sides. It can hold six passengers, and the seats can be converted to carry someone who needs to stay on a stretcher.
Like most golf carts, it runs on an electric battery, so it is almost silent. Accad, who grew up in Lebanon, said the main modifications he made were to use a heavier-duty battery and upgrade the tires to make them hold up in rough terrain.
“We tried to make it as versatile as we could,” he said. “We think they are going to love it.”
The golf cart is ready to go and is being prepared for transportation by truck to the East Coast, probably Dulles, Va. From there it will be flown to Kandahar, Afghanistan, and trucked to near Kabul.
Jennifer Gouette of Logistics Planning Services in Mendota Heights, which is coordinating the trip, said the cart should take about a week to get there.
“I’m glad the military was willing to accept this and that we are helping them out,” said Gouette, whose daughter recently completed Army training and is headed for military duty in Korea. “We as a company have a heart for the troops. Now, with my daughter, I share my heart with the troops.”
Time and space
The cart and others like it could be a good fit for the way U.S. military bases are laid out.
Ball, who has traveled extensively to bases in the Middle East and elsewhere, said the lack of space is one of the biggest challenges in military medical care.
Most bases are set up as rectangles with showers and latrines at the corners and hundreds or thousands of tents in tight rows in the middle. Military vehicles often have to travel around the perimeter to get from point A to point B.
But the tent and base facilities often do have a few feet on either side of the rows in which to walk or maneuver. It’s enough room for something — say, the size of a golf cart — to zip through easily enough to cross the base, saving everyone time, Ball said.
Those few minutes could be especially precious at mobile field hospitals or bases, such as at Forward Operating Base Shank in Afghanistan, one of dozens of such bases there.
When it will arrive is still not certain, although Accad hopes it will get there before Christmas. It will be shipped by the USO, fully assembled, so it can be put to immediate use, said Cara Koski, a board member of Tee it up for the Troops.
“This was not a priority item” for the military, Ball said. “This was like a wish-list thing. But how do you wish for a golf cart in the middle of a war? It’s not one of the boxes you usually check off when filling out a requisition form.”
Copyright 2010 Star Tribune
All Rights Reserved