Well here is another post. How's everyone doing? Here, not too bad although I don't feel real well today. Have a headache and so forth. Today was rather fun though. Several of us had the opportunity to train some Iraqi medics/nurses and civilian medical folks on medevac procedures. Afterwards, we took a flight around Baghdad. Pretty cool. I flew last year on my Balad deployment with the Charlie Co. medics so this was a refresher. Got some great shots. Hopefully, if my internet will cooperate, I can send some via email. Stand by for that because internet is really spotty around here most of the time!
Life here at Sather: Well it varies really. Some ground rules are that we can't travel off base without weapons and ammo, our Body Armour, and a buddy. We don't have to carry weapons around here all the time so they stay locked up in the armory. Our medical facility has sick call hours from 0700-1100.
OK, so we just took incoming fire and we have to get into ready positions. I'll write more later.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Deployment to Sather AB, Iraq - 9
04March09
Well, sorry folks, its been a long time since I wrote here, but hopefully that will change. I am on my own laptop now and can connect to the net a little more than before, so keep tuned to the blogs!
I stated in my last blog that we would discuss some of the good we are doing here in Iraq, particularly the things you may not hear about. One is the rebuilding. We are helping to not only build bases, supply routes and so forth for our own military use, but also schools, hospitals, refurbishing even mosques. Landmarks that have been around for thousands of years are part of this. We are teaching things to the Iraqis such as agriculture, business, government, human resource management, and even census. These are all things that don't show up in our "playbook" but we are doing them and more. We had a group of surgeons from the states here not long ago to teach the Iraqi physicians surgical techniques to include trauma. So when you hear about all the bad things on TV, please remember the good things that are being done.
Well things around here have been a zoo. Very busy to put it differently. We are still working a million hours a week trying to keep up and move ahead at the same time. Some changes and developments coming down the pipeline are a main focus and prep work for that is insane! I cannot really discuss it at this point, but trust me, its a big move. We are also preparing for a new group of people coming in and some others of our group leaving. That happens in the next couple weeks. We have also been moving around our living quarters quite often lately as well. Some of us in tents are waiting for the permanent trailers to be made ready. The tents we are in now are being torn down and sent to Afghanistan. One war to another. Even the tents are doing it.
I am now 4 days smokefree. I decided I was done with it and ready to make a clean break. It hasn't been easy, to say the least! Sunday and Monday were horrible. I had a short temper and concentration was minimal at best. I found, however, that the following 2 days went very well. It was relatively easy the 3rd and 4th day. That was a relief. For anyone wanting to quit smoking, stick it out a few days and you'll have it made. Trust me, if I can do it, you most certainly can! My main problem wasn't the habit or really the nicotine addiction. Its simply that I love to smoke. Despite the money, health, etc as reasons to quit, I just really love to smoke. Hopefully that goes away and I can enjoy the money and better health even more.
I have also started the process of going back to school to get my RN degree. Yes, even over here, you can go to school. Its a great benefit even in a deployment zone. I should be underway in a couple weeks. Thats a relief. Its great to know that even in a deployment zone, we can do so much to better ourselves. Better health, saving money, going back to school, etc. It's what you make it here. It can be 6 months in hell. Or it can be productive.
Next time, I will go into more detail on what life is like here. Stay tuned and I hope all is well!
Ricky...
Well, sorry folks, its been a long time since I wrote here, but hopefully that will change. I am on my own laptop now and can connect to the net a little more than before, so keep tuned to the blogs!
I stated in my last blog that we would discuss some of the good we are doing here in Iraq, particularly the things you may not hear about. One is the rebuilding. We are helping to not only build bases, supply routes and so forth for our own military use, but also schools, hospitals, refurbishing even mosques. Landmarks that have been around for thousands of years are part of this. We are teaching things to the Iraqis such as agriculture, business, government, human resource management, and even census. These are all things that don't show up in our "playbook" but we are doing them and more. We had a group of surgeons from the states here not long ago to teach the Iraqi physicians surgical techniques to include trauma. So when you hear about all the bad things on TV, please remember the good things that are being done.
Well things around here have been a zoo. Very busy to put it differently. We are still working a million hours a week trying to keep up and move ahead at the same time. Some changes and developments coming down the pipeline are a main focus and prep work for that is insane! I cannot really discuss it at this point, but trust me, its a big move. We are also preparing for a new group of people coming in and some others of our group leaving. That happens in the next couple weeks. We have also been moving around our living quarters quite often lately as well. Some of us in tents are waiting for the permanent trailers to be made ready. The tents we are in now are being torn down and sent to Afghanistan. One war to another. Even the tents are doing it.
I am now 4 days smokefree. I decided I was done with it and ready to make a clean break. It hasn't been easy, to say the least! Sunday and Monday were horrible. I had a short temper and concentration was minimal at best. I found, however, that the following 2 days went very well. It was relatively easy the 3rd and 4th day. That was a relief. For anyone wanting to quit smoking, stick it out a few days and you'll have it made. Trust me, if I can do it, you most certainly can! My main problem wasn't the habit or really the nicotine addiction. Its simply that I love to smoke. Despite the money, health, etc as reasons to quit, I just really love to smoke. Hopefully that goes away and I can enjoy the money and better health even more.
I have also started the process of going back to school to get my RN degree. Yes, even over here, you can go to school. Its a great benefit even in a deployment zone. I should be underway in a couple weeks. Thats a relief. Its great to know that even in a deployment zone, we can do so much to better ourselves. Better health, saving money, going back to school, etc. It's what you make it here. It can be 6 months in hell. Or it can be productive.
Next time, I will go into more detail on what life is like here. Stay tuned and I hope all is well!
Ricky...
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