Rengel is assigned to the 88th Air Base Wing Medical Center’s surgical operation squadron at Wright-Patterson.
The patient, an Afghan soldier in his 20s, arrived in critical condition last month at Bagram Air Base Hospital in Afghanistan with what appeared at first to be a typical war injury: metal shrapnel from an improvised bomb lodged in his head.
A radiologist quickly determined the object was an explosive bullet primed to go off.
Maj. John Bini, a trauma surgeon with experience treating homemade-bomb injuries, immediately evacuated the operating room. Only Rengel, who put on body armor, was left to watch the patient.
Rengel spent 30 minutes prepping the patient. All electrical devices were turned off. Rengel used a manual blood pressure cuff and battery-operated device to measure the patient’s heart rate and oxygen content.
He also manually counted the drips per minute of anesthetic.
“It was taking anesthesia back about 30 years,” Rengel said.
Bini, wearing body armor, returned to the room along with a bomb squad technician.
Bini removed the bullet and put it in a bomb disposal bag carried by the technician.
The patient, who was not named by the doctors, has since been discharged from the hospital at Bagram and is recovering.
Although the patient has brain injuries from bone fragments, Bini said the Afghan was able to walk, talk and eat on his own.
Rengel is scheduled to return to Wright-Patterson next month.