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Air Force Surgeon General accepts Afghanistan painting

  • Published
  • By Kevin M. Hymel
  • Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs
Air Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Mark Ediger received a one-of-a-kind painting honoring Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) medical personnel in Afghanistan at a ceremony at the Defense Health Headquarters in Falls Church, Va., Nov. 27. 

The artwork, painted by Ms. Judy Blomquist, depicts an incident in Kandahar from June 6, 2012, when AFMS medical mentors helped the Afghan National Army respond to a mass casualty incident that killed 22 people and injured more than 100. Two suicide bombers driving motorcycles detonated their bombs minutes apart in a crowded market area. The mentors assisted soldiers from the ANA’s 205th Corps treat the wounded at the Kandahar Regional Medical Hospital. Four separate images tell the story in the painting, showing hospital administrators, administrative technicians and biomedical repair technicians, in various care giving actions.

Ms. Blomquist, a retired civil servant, painted the work in Utah, and donated it to the AFMS. It will hang on a wall in the DHHQ.