The chances are good Airman 1st Class Joshua Henry will never forget his first deployment.

Nebaa, a 10-year-old Iraqi girl, certainly won't.

That's because the two are forever linked in life, as the 21-year-old airman from the 62nd Security Forces Squadron at JBLM-McChord Field performed emergency care on Nebaa after she stepped on an improvised explosive device in July 2009 outside Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

Henry and another airman's stabilization efforts ultimately helped save Nebaa's life.

For his heroic efforts, Henry was awarded the Red Cross Mount Rainier Chapter's Real Hero Military award in December. Lt. Col. Robert Kafka, 62nd SFS commander, accepted the award on behalf of Henry at the awards ceremony, as the airman was still in Iraq. The squadron recently held its own ceremony at a commander's call to acknowledge Henry, who returned from his deployment on Christmas Day.

"It was a standing ovation," Senior Master Sgt. Jennifer Kersey, the squadron's superintendent, said of the ceremony. "His peers think very highly of his leadership."

Just 20 days into Henry's first deployment, after the girl and her family had just attended a Joint Base Balad-sponsored clothing-and-toys distribution for local children at an entry control point to the base, the airman and his team heard a blast in the distance.

A truck then came racing up to the entry control point, and men transported the girl from the truck onto a stretcher. After leaving to drive back to the command post, Henry and his fellow airmen turned the Humvee around and raced to the scene. While medical personnel had been radioed, it was up to Henry and his team to stabilize the girl until help arrived.

Henry's initial diagnosis of the girl wasn't encouraging.

"I didn't know if she was going to make it," the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. native said.

Assessing Nebaa's injuries revealed a deep wound to her abdomen, serious lacerations and burns to her arms and legs, and several small shrapnel punctures.

"My main concern was the puncture wound (in the abdomen)," Henry said.

The airmen focused their attention on bandaging the open hole in her midsection, and then began trying to provide emergency intravenous therapy using the needles and catheters in their kits. After realizing they needed smaller needles, Henry sent another airman to get more supplies.

"It was taking so long (for the medical teams to arrive)," Henry said. "I felt like I was there for 30 minutes."

In reality, the ambulance arrived about 10 minutes after the initial call. The medics took her straight to the Joint Base Balad Air Force Theater Hospital, where she was met by a trauma team in the emergency room. The medical team removed a thumb-sized piece of shrapnel from the girl's intestine and sewed up her wounds. They also performed neurosurgery on a partially severed finger, returning it to functionality.

"When the medical team got her, they were amazed with how perfectly wrapped everything was," Henry said.

Just five days before the incident, Henry and his fellow airmen graduated from the combat lifesaver course at the Jameson Combat Medic Training Center on Balad; they were taught how to provide emergency treatment beyond standard self-aid and buddy care, keeping a wounded victim alive until paramedics arrive.

Nebaa made a full recovery and Henry was even able to see her on several occasions as she underwent physical therapy.

"Being able to see it happen, then see her in physical therapy, and then see her walking around like a normal kid is the coolest thing," he said.

Information from an Air Force article was used in this story.