16 March @ 11PM

Nothing too exciting today. The ER was actually quiet today. For awhile. Then we got 2 traumas- M-RAP IED and 4 more on the way from another base through the aerovac system. I spent a lot of time doing routine commanderly stuff like reading email, editing a medal, writing a civilian appraisal for back at Shaw. I helped fold the roof of a tent. Spent awhile eating lunch. Spent a while eating dinner. Took my predecessor to the PAX terminal to get on an airplane home- yay for him! Ran 4 miles this AM. Tried to pick up my laundry, but they were closed at lunch- argh! Walked around and met some new people in my squadron. Tried understand the aerovac system and make sure the number of missions we do now will be adequate this summer when we get busy (it won't) and they we can get more when we need them (we can) and that we have enough people to enter all the stuff in the computer to get the pts on the airplane (we don't) but that they had a plan to get more people trained (they didn't) and helped them understand how to do that (they do now!). I've also come to learn that having only a certain number of beds does not mean that we are full. They will keep coming and we will put cots all over the place and call more airplanes to come get more patients and they will come- we have about 30 going out tonight. They go out in the cargo hold of a military plane. You know how you complain when you can;t sleep in a regular hospital? Or your pillow is not so fluffy? Or the food sucks? Picture being in the dark, in the cargo hold of a plane, with ear plugs in so you don't go deaf. Maybe in ICU status. One guy had a heart attack and is on drips and stuff. Others have had surgery just a few hours before. Or they have a concussion. Or maybe they just have knee pain and are going to Landstuhl to get looked at. Anyway- it's a 7 hour flight- yuck.


I talk to tons of people- that I sit next to at lunch, stand next to in the BX. The outside the wire guys are pretty nonchalant about what they do. One Army guy is here waiting on his ride home. He has been here 9 months and his job was to be in the lead M-RAP as his Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) goes around village to village. He is lucky- the walls around his turret went higher than most. Good thing, because as they drove through towns, the roofs of the buildings were slightly higher than him. So they could look down on him- how scary. The PRTs are supposed to have a team called a clearing package. They clear the way, look for mines, take the first IED, etc. His team did not have one, so he was it. He had these things on the front of the vehicle called the rollers- they would roll over pressure plated IEDs and explode them. One of them was so strong it blew the roller right off. Another time, an insurgent fired an RPG at him and it missed. He said he learned a new tactic that day- Aug 27th last year- the guy jumped and ran ahead to another one he had placed. This time, he didn't miss. The turrent went up in flames. All my new friend got was some shrapnel in his knee, although he couldn;t believe he was still alive. Probably what kept it from being worse was the RPG cage around the vehicle- they get stuck in there before the full force hits the skin of the vehicle. He got hit 7 times in 9 months. Now he's here. I started talking to him because he had 3 Red Bulls in his hand at the BX. He said they became his best friend out on missions. Now he is safe, and he is tired all the time. I think his body must be in rest mode. It's had enough excitement and it wants to chill out. Amazing stories and I'm sure I'll hear more of them.


If I can figure out how, I'll post some pics I took recently.