Commander Sean Barbabella helped care for more than 1,200 trauma patients, mostly Marines wounded in combat, during seven months in Iraq last year.

Barbabella is one of more than 1,670 medical personnel from Portsmouth who have deployed overseas in support of the U.S. military since 2003. The group includes nurses, pharmacists, dental technicians and corpsmen.

Capt. Craig Bonnema, the medical center's deputy commander, said service members wounded in war are heroes, but their caregivers also deserve recognition.

Recently, several were honored during a ceremony for Warrior Care Month.

Lt. Cmdr. Sara Pickett left behind ten-month-old and three-year-old sons in August 2007 to serve as a nurse in a surgical unit at Camp Fallujah.

Though she missed all the "major holidays," Pickett said she was energized by the teamwork and camaraderie of the deployment.

The job varied widely, from accompanying critically injured troops on helicopter rides to other bases, to caring for a military dog that ate explosives. The dog was fine.