MedicMinutes

Missed Postings

2005-12-17T19:29:00.000+03:00

It has been a while since I have had the time to write a post, so I will do my best to catch everyone up on what has been happening for me the past week or so.

The 13 year old kid whom I was treating turned around and made a full recovery. After his flight to Baghdad and back he was only inpatient for a couple more days and then was released back to his work and family. It was really gratifying for me to see him well again. He even stopped by the aid station a couple of days ago to say hi to me and to let me know that he was doing well. I know that it will not always be the case, but this time all really seems to have turned out for the best. Somehow I know that this young man will be in my mind for the rest of my life.

In general life has been really busy for me over the past couple of weeks. With some of the members of the platoon on leave we have had to make some adjustments to our manning. Basically I have had to do a lot of the work of the platoon leader, including going to the daily briefings to the colonel and weekly command and staff briefings. Although it has been a lot of additional work for me, I feel like I have definitely been making a real positive influence on 'the powers that be' and have made our section as a whole look more competent. It feels good that I have received several complements on the briefs and slideshow presentations that I have given.

Things are really starting to settle into a routine. I still have not been able to find much time to reguarly exercise, but hopefully I will in the next couple of weeks. We had a PT test the other day. Although I was not really looking forward to it, I did alright, especially considering all of the dust in the air.

Classes for the semester are officially over for me. I just sent in my final exam for my math class. Really, though, it doesn't matter too much how I did on the final for that class. I already got back my grade for my history class as well -- 100 on the final and 95.2 in the class. I think that I have decided to take two classes again next semester. I know that I need to continue to work on my arabic, but I think that it will really help get me ready for my final semesters at U of I to take two classes again.

Life is good; I don't really have anything to complain about. I am looking forward to hopefully getting to come home on leave in a few months.

A Bad Day

2005-12-05T10:10:00.000+03:00

5 December 2005
1930

Although in most resects the past couple of days have been good for me, I must say that I am really upset that the kid I operated on started getting sick again. He had been doing great for two days. On the third day apparently he became very sick again and the surgical center called me and told me that the child was going to have to go to Baghdad for CT scan and that he was really scared. On top of that, they didn't really have anyone there who could speak Arabic, so they were having a hard time communicating with him. I probably spent four hours or so over there with him, just trying to keep him company and reassure him. I wanted so bad to accompany him to Baghdad and make sure that everything turns out okay for him. I knew that I would be denied, but I couldn't help but ask. This poor, smart, scared child was flown to Baghdad last night all by himself. I have spent the past two days overanalyzing everything about this kid's case. I guess I just have to realize that I did the best I could, and that I can't be responsible for seeing every patient in from intake to release. I will feel better when I hear from the hospital in Baghdad as to his condition.

A Great Day

2005-12-05T10:09:00.000+03:00

1 December 2005
2303

Today was probably one of the best days I have had yet on this deployment for me. This morning we had a thirteen year old local national come into the aid station complaining of abdominal pain. After a quick evaluation it was apparent that he was suffering from appendicitis. (As a side note I actually found out quite a bit about this kid. I am not even sure that it is appropriate to describe this boy's situation on this public blog. Suffice it to say that this 13 year old boy displayed responsibility well beyond anything that I have ever seen. Hearing his story really brought a tear to my eye). We brought him over to the surgical center and I asked the general surgeon there if he would let me scrub in on the surgery.

I know that this particular operation is not probably the most challenging in the world, but it was really exciting for me to get to take an active role in the procedure. Later this evening I ran into the kid in the dining facility and saw him. He was eating and talking and feeling great. There is just nothing quite like the resiliancy of the human body.

A Beautiful Day

2005-11-30T15:15:00.000+03:00

November 29 2005
2145

Today was one of the most beautiful days we have had here in Iraq in recent memory. It probably got up to about 80 or so for the afternoon without a cloud in the sky or a bit of wind. Wind is always a problem here because it kicks up the dust into the air and makes for difficulty breathing. After I got off at the aid station me and a couple of the guys found a volleyball court and played a couple of games, trying to enjoy one of the last pleasant days outdoors.

I have a pt test coming up this week, so I don't think that I am going to be working out at all until afterwards. I do plan to get back into a regular daily running and lifting regime, but I feel it would be best to wait until after I pass the test. I have had a chest cold for about two weeks now, and I imagine that my congestion along with the dust in the air and my asthma may make my run a challenge. I just don't think that right now would be the best time to try to start a new workout regimine.

I ran into the 1SG the other day. He told me that he thinks that my chances are good for getting to come home on leave in february. I know that nothing is for certain, but hopefully I will get to come home for a full R&R sometime before the end of the deployment. SFC B told me that since my leave was not a sure thing that he was going to try to get me a Qatar slot if he can. The battalion gets a limited number of three day passes to Qatar for soldiers. I don't really know what they have to do there, but I imagine that it would be a nice break from the routine.

I wish that they had radio here. I have a ton of music on my computer, but I feel like I have listened to all of it over here so much. There is just something nice about being able to turn on the radio and not have to think about changing cds or making playlists. Its the simple things, right? I think that sometimes its the little things that make this place so alien. Somehow it is easier to get used to with the sounds of bombs and gunfire than it is to acquaint myself with living without radio. On the same hand, it is often the little things that strike me from time to time that I miss. Obviously I miss everybody at home. Not a day goes by that I don't think about Sarah and my family and friends. Sometimes thought I really just feel like I want to cook a meal or go for a walk. I guess that this experience will just help me to appreciate the things that I have when I get back home.

I have talked with the Chaplain's corp on the post, and I have a meeting scheduled for next monday. Supposedly signs have been posted all over the post. I don't know if anybody is going to show up, but I feel that at least I have done my part and now I just have to wait and see what happens. Like someone in life that I really look up to told me once, all I can do is try to do the right thing and let the cards fall where they may.

Current Address

2005-11-28T20:38:00.000+03:00

Hey everyone
Just a quick note. Mike posted a comment on my blog requesting my address. Apparently I have forgotten to post my most current address, so here it is:

SPC Rosenberg, David M.
TF 2-130 INF Medical Platoon
APO AE 09381

I will try to post another entry here soon.

To the Gym

2005-11-25T21:30:00.000+03:00

Well, I finally got at least a little bit of a workout today. I actually made it out of the BAS by about mid-afternoon and went back to my can. I changed clothes and walked over to the gym all excited about finally getting back into the gym. Naturally, of course, the gym was closed for the day (for cleaning). Murphy's law, right? I ended up going for a run, which was good because I hadn't run since I had been here. Let me tell you, the dust and cold in the air really kicked my ass. Back at liberty I was averaging about five miles a day. Today I did maybe three or so before I really just felt like I couldn't breathe anymore. There scenery is much nicer here. There was a cool chill in the air, and only a few trucks came down the road at all. It was very poetic, running off into the sunset along a vacant desert road.

It was good to run. Hopefully I can make these runs a regular thing here. Well, looks like I have to go. Apparently "the internet is broken" again, so I have to head back up to the aid station.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T21:56:00.000+03:00

I want to begin this entry by first wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving that I didn't get a chance to personally call today. Know that all you at home, friends, family -- you were in my thoughts today. I look forward to getting to be home again long before this time next year.

The dining facility tried to do a nice Thanksgiving meal for us today with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, etc. The reality was that the change in hours for the special meal wasn't really well posted. Ultimately there was about an hour wait to get into the chow hall, which really kind of messed up our scheduling at the aid station. Still, it was a nice effort, and I think that it was appreciated.

Other than that, today wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. We treated patients and continued to work towards getting our building set up. We are really trying to get heat and rainproofing on our building and tents. This morning when I came in, I could see my breath inside! Any day now the rain could start and we want to be ready. I still spend a fair amount of my time doing network administration type tasks and running/tracing cables over/under/through the building.

Slowly but surely life is beginning to find a routine of sorts. Life is good, and everyday I am one day closer to coming home.

Spiritual Development

2005-11-22T10:23:00.000+03:00

I have been in kind of a funk for a lot of the day today. Though, as I have said before, self-psychoanalysis is inherently flawed, I believe it may be due to the realization that recently I have let my spiritual development slowly recede from my life. I know that the past couple of weeks I have been really busy, Also, I have been told that there are no meetings here on TQ. Still, after everything that I have been through, I need to remember to be vigilant in the defense of my spiritual well-being. I talked to SGT R today about posting some signs over the post to try to start a meeting here on TQ. With the number of people here, there most likely are at least a couple of people who would be interested.

Working back in the aid station, it seems like all of our conversations are 'shop talk,' we talk about patients and our jobs, but don't spend nearly enough time talking about ourselves. It is very easy in this environment to become single-minded enough to forget about things that are important but not immediate. Maybe 'forget' isn't the right word. Perhpas, in the name of prioritization, such things as personal development never take the front seat.

What I think that I need to remember is that spiritual development and growth only exist holistically. By trying to divide my life up into separate sections and then dealing with each individually I will never have time for everything. I need to work on my spirituality in the things that I do day to day. Instead of reading more medical reports in my free time, I need to read more things that give me something more. I dunno, I guess I am kind of 'train of thought rambling' right now. Realistically in life is something of a continuum that waxes and wanes with time. Just as positive changes don't occur overnight, neither can we lose our achievements without time. Perhaps the best thing that occur to me, then, is that I can notice that I am letting my growth wane and act to correct the problem.

Okay, now I got that all out of my system. Really, all that being said, I am still doing quite well. I turned in the final assignment for one of my classes today. The only thing that I have left in that class is the final exam and a final project. The other class has a bit more left in it, but still not a whole lot. Unless I make some profound mistakes in those classes, both should be As at the end of the semester. I have also been studying my arabic daily again. Really, the only things I need to work into my schedule here are more time for daily reflection and regular workouts. Though the work load may pick up again over the next couple of days, within a couple of weeks it really should get down to the 'sustainment' level.

Incidentally, me and SGT R celebrated (if that is the right word) four years in the army yesterday. It was four years ago yesterday that I drove SGT R to St. Louis for the two of us to sign up for the National Guard. In many ways, that seems like a long time ago, but in others it seems like it couldn't have been four years already. Anyway, I am going to get going to bed here in a few minutes.

First time at SSTP

2005-11-21T20:53:00.000+03:00

Today was certainly an interesting day for me. I went over to the surgical center (called the SSTP -- Shock/Surgical Trauma Platoon) to help out with some casualties that they got in. I am not sure exactly what happened to cause the casualties, but they had quite a few banged up guys in there. Specifically the guys that I got to work on had some very serious burn injuries.

It was a very different experience for me. Me, CPT F, and SPC D went over there immediately after a call came in over the radios requesting medical assistance to deal with the casualties. All in all, I was incredibly impressed with the quality and speed with which the care was provided to the guys over there. The reality is that most of the trauma care I have been providing up until this point has been in a field setting; this was very different. In the three minutes in took me to get over to the SSTP they had already intubated the patients and were preparing the central lines and foley catheters. Despite the look of chaotic scene I saw as I walked in, bandage wrappers and supplies litterly flying about, everything moved like a well-oiled machine. I asked the first guy in the doorway where I could help, and he handed off the first patient's airway to me and immediately began working on something else. I know that airway management isn't the most challenging part of patient care, but I was still pleased that I got to just walk in and take up an important role (I knew that with the swelling in that guy that if that tube became dislodged in all of the patient's movement that we would never be able to get it back in).

I am not really going to bore the rest of you with the details of patient treatment, but suffice it to say that as a whole our team did good work, and we got our patients on the birds (helocopters) alive. Afterwards, I talked with the trauma sugeon and the general surgeon on staff there. They invited me to come back any time to scrub in for surgury with them. I took it as a strong complement, especially seeing that I was unfamiliar with the surroundings there and that I don't have anywhere near the experience that all of their guys do.

Certainly it is a horrible thing that happened to the individuals that I treated today. I feel terrible that they had to go through what they did, and I pray that they all survive their wounds. Still, it was comforting to see how skilled and competent the trauma center was. Additionally, it was a great learning experience for me, and helped me to feel better about some of my skills that I don't often get to practice. Hopefully I will get a chance to go over there and do some more work sometime.

Finding a routine

2005-11-17T22:07:00.000+03:00

Well, I am finally starting to settle into a routine here at camp TQ. I know that as the unit we are replacing begins to move out that life will get a little easier, but on the whole my daily schedule probably will not change much.

I start my day around six in the morning. I get up, shower, shave, and get dressed before I make the walk through the dust pit over to the aid station. I have a little bit of time when I get there in the morning to do paperwork and cleanup from the previous shift. Not long after I get there the first sick call shift of the day begins. Depending on the patient flow, I will see several patients during this period for either chronic injuries or acute illnesses. After the majority of the sick call clears out I will usually complete the charts of the people that I treated that morning, and make a couple of notes for myself.

After writing up and reviewing all of my morning patients I will usually try to get a head start on writing the daily reports. If I get a chance, I will try to clean up the clinic a bit so that it doesn't look like a bomb went off in there. I then will take a relatively early lunch with one of the other medics so that we can all eat before the afternoon sick call.

In the early afternoon I will get to my list of 'things to do' that covers general goals I have set myself for the week, but that are not so urgent that they have to be done right away (i.e. run some cable under the building, set up record storage, etc). I usually have about an hour or so to really get some good work done before the afternoon sick call rush begins. I will again see a couple of patients during the rush and get myself backed up on write-ups. Once the afternoon sick call is complete I will rush through my reports and try to get them all completed and sent off before the deadline, and I will brief my highers on anything pertinent. After this I again get to play catch-up on my charts, and make sure that everything I did that needs a doctor's signature gets one. Usually by the time all of that is done it is time for dinner. I will go eat with some of the medics at the chow hall, and come back more or less on my own time. In the early evening I will clean up my area and the treatment areas, restock items as needed, and assess our medical supply readiness. If needed I will prepare orders for medications and supplies that we are lacking. I will then finish my day by printing out any necessary assignments or worksheet for myself, and hopefully get back to my room by about eight.

Once I get back to my tin can (that is what we are calling our rooms) I will take out my computer and get working on my homework and arabic. On a good night I will have enough time to write a blog entry or read something for pleasure. If nothing else, I try to get to bed by 11:30 or so before I get up to start it again.

Hopefully somewhere in that day I will have found the time to write some emails back home or even get over to the phone bank to call home. The way that everything is set up now, it is conceivable that in the near future I will not have to spend nearly as much time up at the aid station as I do now. If all goes well, within a few weeks I should be able to make daily phone calls home and begin to go to the gym regularly.

I hope that my description of a usual day wasn't too boring for all of you. In many respects what I am doing now is not all that much different than some civilian jobs. I know that what I have been doing here in TQ is vastly different from the Iraqi training I did at my last post, but I think that this is going to be good for me. I am getting a chance to get a lot more patient contact then I did working out on the line. The providers here know me pretty well and have given me a lot of latitude to treat patients as I see fit, which feels good. If nothing else, the huge difference between what I was doing and what I am doing now will help to make the time pass faster.

Getting Sick

2005-11-16T22:27:00.000+03:00

Today has been a very productive day in terms of getting the aid station set up to receive patients. We are continuing our process of taking over more and more of the aid station tasks until the 56th guys are out of here. I am pleased to report that I have got to spend more time with patients today instead of just doing administrative work. Hopefully as time progresses I will get to divide my time equally between administraive tasks and patient contact. Hopefully both skills will aid my in my future. At the very least, this deployment will have taught me a variety of skills which will come in handy for the rest of my life.

The big negative to report today is that I am coming down with a cold. I must say that I am not surprised. There is so much dust and sand flying all over the place -- it can't be good for our lungs. A lot of the docs here are very aggressive in their antibiotic treatment. Their theory is that in this particular environment that it is more important to get as many people well as quickly as possible due to the extreme nature of a soldier's job. I am not sure how I feel about this, but I can definitely see where they are coming from.

Other than that, I don't really have a whole lot new to report. I really have been meaning to get around to borrowing a camera from someone and taking pictures of the base. This place really is desolate in a lot of ways and I think that it reminds me a lot more of what I expected Iraq to look like.

I think that the rainy season here is nearly upon us. It was cloudy and overcast all night last night and throughout the day today. We even got a light dusting of rain this afternoon. Unfortunately, a lot of the cover we have set up is just for protection from the sun and will not afford us any safety from the downpours that are sure to come. I can only imagine what kind of mud pit this place is going to turn into once the rain is truly upon us.

Other than that, I don't really have a whole lot new to report. I am just trying to get back into the habit of posting daily to this blog. Hopefully the rest of my time here can be as dull and monotonous as this (when my day is dull, that means that not many people got hurt or sick).

Taking Over

2005-11-15T22:00:00.000+03:00

The past couple of days have been quite busy with my platoon slowly taking over for the unit we are replacing. I have been spending most of my time setting up all of the computers and networks for the aid station. In the near future the unit we are replacing will be totally gone and we will have total responsibility for the mission.

I have been putting in 12-14 hour days up at the aid station, but I still have been able to work on my classes and my arabic at nights. I have not gotten a chance to get back into a workout routine, but I think that as we get settled into our new surroundings and mission that I will have enough time. As per my preference, I am going to be working on the day shift and have the evenings off.

Mentally, I am doing well. Even though I have been putting in long hours at the aid station, I think that in reality my current job is just less stressful than my previous one. As I have said before, keeping myself busy really helps to pass the time.

Posting Again

2005-11-12T20:49:00.000+03:00

12 November 2005
2049
Posting Again

Well, I am back after not posting to this blog for some time. I apologize to those of you who were reading this regularly for the absence of my writing for several months. I had to have my blog approved by the Army for public viewing. Basically there has been concern in the armed forces about soldiers accidentally giving out information or pictures that they were not supposed to on their blogs.I have been given the okay to write again.

So much has happened since my last post that I am not sure that I can even remember all of it right now. For the time being, I will just write about where I am right now, and what I am doing.

Our whole Battalion has just recently moved to a new location, and we are just getting settled in. My MiTT team thing (training/working with the Iraqi Army) is officially complete, and I will be spending the majority of the rest of my deployment working in the Aid Station. CPT F has told me that I will basically be filling the role of the field medical assistant, which is the normal title of the medical platoon leader. Many of my main tasks will be administrative in nature, but will nonetheless be a good experience. Already I have spent a considerable amount of time doing reports and configuring all of the network software and hardware for the aid station. I have been promised that I will get to spend time working over at the surgical center. Additionally, I will be in the aid station whenever serious casualties or interesting medical patients come in. I guess that I am really in the best position that I could be in: I get to work on as many patients as I like while not having to deal with the daily treatment of coughs and colds. I also know that being in the Aid Station will provide me ample time for my classes and studies of Arabic.

Speaking of studies, my classes are drawing nearer to a close. I ended up taking one math class from the University of Illinois and one history course from the College of DuPage. Both classes are going quite well -- I have solid A's in both. I have already started looking at what classes I am going to take next semester. There are three classes that I am looking at, although I am not sure that I am going to take all three. I guess that I probably should make a decision hhere soon while the classes are still open, but I would like to see how things go here on a day to day basis before I commit myself.

The weather here is getting pretty cool. The days really are quite beautiful - 80s or so - but the nights and early mornings have been getting cold. They keep telling us that the rainy season is almost upon us and to get ready for it. Apparently sometime in December it will rain for about two weeks straight.

In any case, I am going to go take a shower before I go to sleep. I will try to keep everyone at home posted as to how things progress.

Regular Routine

2005-08-26T19:41:00.000+04:00

Not a whole lot new to report at this time, but I felt that I should post something as I have not written anything in a while. Right now I have pretty much settled into a routine here, going out on missions during the morning and afternoon, and then doing my homework, studying, and working out at night. Although my classs haven't officially begun as of yet, I have begun to do some of the work for them, figuring that with my situation it can't hurt to get ahead. Should we end up moving at some point, there may be a week or more when I am unable to do any work on my classes. I am kind of anxious for the classes to get started so that I can turn in the homework assignments that I have already done and see how they are graded.

At this point I am not entirely sure what my future has in store for me. I think that in all likelihood I will be going back to the aid station soon to finish out the rest of my deployment. While I will be sad to say goodbye to the Iraqis that I have been working with for the past three months, I am sure that everyone at home will be happy to know that I will be spending my time in a much safer environment.

All in all I feel very well. I am starting to think about and look forward to coming home on leave, which will hopefully be sometime in december. Although I got sick last week (probably from eating on the local ecomony), I physically feel great. I have been running about five miles a day, and am in the best shape that I have been in for some time. Mentally, too, I think that I am doing well. As I said, I have really settled into a routine that keeps me busy, which really makes time fly. As long as I can keep myself occupied, I think that I will come home better than I left.

Back on Guard Duty

2005-08-15T13:19:00.000+04:00

Well I am back out here at camp constitution for another 24 hour guard shift. I know that right now I am just being used to fill in for people who are not here right now, but frankly I don't really care. This gets me 24 hours of time to relax and take life a bit slower. The rumors are still just flying around about what is going to happen to us in the near future. I have heard everything from we are moving north to we are moving south to we are staying here to we are going home. The reality is that no one really knows what lies in the future for us, and that we will just have to continue to wait until we know.

As I have said before, it is a near certainty that the MTT mission will be complete within the near future. It feels to some extent like we are already wrapping up our training with the IA. I have two medical classes that I am supposed to give to the IA later today, and an indeterminate number of classes to give tomorrow. Basically I intent to introduce these guys to the basic concept of first aid. I think that it will be beneficial to focus on hemorrhage control and airway management. I guess that any training will be better for these guys than just to watch their buddies bleed out on the street, which seems to be the method they currently employ.

As I have continued to state I am doing well both mentally and physically. I am looking forward to receiving the materials that I need so that I can begin taking the online classes that I signed up for.

Rumors of Moving

2005-08-12T10:19:00.000+04:00

The most interesting news I have to report is the possibility that my unit might be moving from Camp Liberty in the relatively near future. They are telling us that there is about a 50% chance that we will have to move out of our current billeting in the trailers to some entirely different camp and live out the rest of our deployment in large multiperson tents. Obviously, no one is very excited about the prospect of moving at all, let alone out of our relatively comfortable trailers. There are a lot of factors affecting the possibility of this move including the arrival of the 10th MTN DIV and 101st ABN DIV troops and the requests of the 48th BDE to have us back under their command. They have told us that from now on when we go on leave we have to have all of our bags packed and ready to move. Everyone seems to have their own personal version of the story that they have heard 'from the source' saying that we are moving to this base or this base or this other base. Everyone seems to be certain that they know what is going to happen, but unfortunately no one can seem to agree on it.

What is almost certain is that in the immediate future we will no longer be working the AO that we work now. We will probably be given a different AO (area of operations) for a time and continue to work out of Liberty while the powers that be decide if we are indeed going to move. More personally, this means that quite soon the MTT team mission will be over, and my team will get released back to the companies. For me this means that I will most likely spend the rest of my deployment working in the aid station where I was originally slotted to work. As much as I enjoy working with the IA, I think that most of you at home will be glad to know that I will be back to working in the relative safety of the BAS (battalion aid station). Ultimately I think that the change will probably be good as it will allow me more time to study and work on my classes.

In preparation for ending our MTT team mission, I met with the doctor for the Iraqi Army two days ago and gave him two truckloads of medical supplies. I spent a good deal of time talking with him about how to set up an aid station, and what he still needs. Mostly, though I got a good feel for him as a medical provider. I have stated before that some of the Iraqi doctors seem a bit backward in terms of knowledge and technique (some still practice bloodletting), but this man seemed to be with the program. He asked me intelligent questions that demonstrated a knowledge of pharmacology, pathology, and common sense. I think that by getting him properly outfitted with medical supplies we probably allowed him to save many, many lives. He told me that “Allah will have mercy on you” for being kind enough to acquire him everything that we did. How often do you get thanked that profoundly back in the states?

Taking Classes

2005-08-05T20:00:00.000+04:00

I have been very busy the past week or so between going out on missions with my team and signing up for classes. I have decided to take two courses for college credit in the fall semester while I am here in Iraq. I found some online classes that have good accreditation at most universities that I think will keep me busy and out of trouble. The first class is from the University of Illinois in Urbana entitled MATH 415 Linear Transformations and Matrices. I recall hearing that it is not as difficult as a lot of the upper level math classes, and the course description describes the classes as going over a lot of material that I am already pretty familiar with from other math classes. My hope is that this class will get me used to using that part of my head again before I dive into any more intense mathematics. The second class that I intend to take is from the College of DuPage entitled HIST 1140 US history since 1865. All of you at home who know me know that history classes are not something that I particularly enjoy, but I need a US history course to get my degree, and I think that taking this one from COD will probably be easier than any other option. I should not have to pay for either one of these classes as I am going to be using my Illinois National Guard grant money to cover the tuition. This will leave me with 7+8+8=23 semesters of free college tuition left in the state of illinois, which is more that I can possibly hope to use (which is why I don't feel guilty about using a semester of tuition for a 7 hour semester. I think that the classes will be good for me all around.

By now I am sure that the news of all the recent service member's deaths is common knowledge. Really this week specifically has been particularly bad for US forces. Any personal impact (to me) aside, I seriously wonder how these strings of bad news are affecting the public opinion of the war. I guess I should count myself lucky. I am lucky. So much of this, there just is no rhyme or reason to it all. Who lives, who dies, who walks away without a scratch – its not really anything I can do. Just some folks are lucky, and I guess some aren't. Most of the guys who have handled things well seem to take a fatalistic approach: “I guess it was just his day to die.” Somehow, that doesn't seem right to me, although I must admit that I have no superior argument. I guess that mostly I would just like to think that there is something I can do.

All that being said, I am really doing as well as can be expected. I continue to be in good spirits despite the blistering August heat and sad faces around me. I will try to write more regularly as I am sure that there are things that I have forgotten to write about over the past week.

Operation Thunderclap

2005-07-30T20:54:00.000+04:00

The past several days have been exceedingly busy for me as we have been spearheading a major offensive against the insurgents in the area called operation thunderclap. Today has finally been one of the first days where we have gotten to get some much needed rest and recovery time.

During this operation over the past several days we have been taking in many detainees daily. Of course, I sometimes wonder if all the people we bring in are really bad people, but I force myself to believe that the vast majority of those we detain/arrest are indeed 'bad people' and that we are doing good things by removing them from the streets. I did have one find the other day that I believe was highly beneficial. In searching through a house I found some materials that were almost certainly used for the training of terrorists and insurgents. I probably should not go into much more detail, but suffice it to say that this was an excellent find, perhaps the best that our team has found yet.

Yesterday I lost a patient. We were out on patrol, and another of our trucks apparently fired upon an insurgent. He was hit with two rounds from the M240B machine gun: one through the shoulder and one through the face. I kept him alive until I turned him over to the Iraqi doctor and got him loaded in the back of the ambulance (he was still breathing at this time). I turned around to start cleaning up my stuff and noticed about a minute later that the ambulance was still there. I walked around back and saw the doctor just sitting off to the side. He said that he didn't think that there was any point in working on the patient. Enraged, I yelled at the guys around me to pull him back out as he had stopped breathing. I did everything I could to keep him alive, but I lost his pulse about five minutes later. Maybe under different conditions or with different equipment he could have been saved.

Now, this is not the first time I have seen a patient of mine die. This time, however, I really thought that he could be saved. I know that I did the very best that I know how, but I can't help the feeling that this patient should have survived. He should have made it. Now he is dead. I just can't keep from thinking to myself the what-ifs. What if I would have had RSI drugs and intubated right away? What if I would have had suction? What if I would have called in a medevac bird and not opted for ground transport? What if I had performed a cricothyrotomy instead of intubation? Still, I wouldn't say that I feel guilty, per se. I think that I did the right things, given my situation. I think that were I presented with a similar situation today, I would not do anything differently. I guess that is all that I can hope for and all that can be asked of me.

Pictures of Me

2005-07-26T11:30:00.000+04:00

Here is a little snippet of me on Military.com

Here is another picture of me

Victory South

2005-07-25T20:40:00.000+04:00

I did not go out on a mission at all today, so other than doing RTO (radio-telephone operator) duty for about six hours I had the rest of the day to myself. My big effort for the day was to go with SGT S down to Victory South and take a look around. We drove out there this afternoon with the initial intent of going to the pool. After about an hour of searching we finally found the pool which of course was closed for the day (Algae content was too high – the pool looked like green gatorade). Still though, it was very interesting to get to see all of the beautiful buildings and architecture that typify the residences of royalty. The largest of the castles here was a home of Uday Hussein (one of Saddam's sons) not too long ago. Unfortunately we are not allowed to go inside the palaces without some kind of pass that no one seems to know how to get. I did get some excellent pictures, though, which I will try to post up here in the next few days.

I think that I might have to take it easy on my knees and ankles for a couple of days. I have been running 3-6 miles everyday now for a while, and I think that my joints are beginning to show for it. Its funny, but here in this unbearable desert climate my asthma is much, much better than it was back in the states. In fact, I am finding running to be so enjoyable that I have been seriously considering stopping smoking. So far today I have had less than half a pack (which for me is great – I was at two packs a day my first month here). I know that I have tried to quit in the past, but I think that trying here would be something different. About half of the non-smokers here have already picked up in the two months that we have been here. I think that, although it is prideful, I would like to be able to be the guy who actually quit smoking in this environment. Perhaps this is an aspect of the human tenacity which I alluded to in one of my previous posts: that despite (or even because) of the fact that this is one of the harshest climates on earth, that society as we know it first began here. It was through this blinding heat and perpetual drought that humankind first developed written language and agriculture. Indeed maybe we should all take a lesson from these distant ancestors. More to the point, I am not totally ready to commit to quitting, but I will say that it has been very much on my mind.

Nothing Exciting

2005-07-24T21:40:00.000+04:00

Nothing Exciting

24 July 2005

2140

Today has been another relatively uneventful day for me, which is a good thing. Remember that for me to do my designated job that means that somebody has to get injured. In the early afternoon we drove out to Constitution and had a meeting with the officers of the Iraqi Army. Basically we tried to get a feel for how they are assessing their performance and what else we can do to help them. As expected, they told us (again) that they are not doing anything wrong and that they are ready to take on the world. Upon further questioning, however, we did actually get them to admit that there are 'a few' things that could use some work. I don't know if it is cultural, or if it is a product of living under a regime where imperfection was a capital offense, but these guys don't like to admit their mistakes and do not take criticism well. I get flavors of 'security through obscurity' when I try to review things with them: if they don't talk about a problem, it is like it was never there.

Other than that, my day was pretty relaxing. I built some bookshelves for myself out of some spare lumber that was lying around and cleaned up my room. I am still doing well and feeling at the top of my game.

Combat Stress

2005-07-23T20:09:00.000+04:00

Well today has brought to my attention just how bad some people are getting in terms of combat stress. After I checked my email at the aid station tonight I was walking out and saw a humvee pulling up towards the aid station with great speed. It stopped in front of my and the driver asked me if I was a medic. I went around to the back of the vehicle and found a man (a boy really, he was only 20) unconscious and unresponsive. I picked him up and carried him into the aid station and began treatment.

Apparently the individual had been having problems at home severe enough that he had his friends worried about him. Earlier today his 1SG had taken his weapon away from him. Tonight his buddy had left to get him some food from the chow how and his roommate had left their room as well, leaving him alone for a couple of minutes. He took his combat tourniquet and tightened it down around his neck until he passed out. This soldier was undoubtedly and seriously trying to kill himself. We were able to revive him with some effort, but the future doesn't look bright for him. Between whatever medical problems he has created for himself and the consequences he is going to face from the military, he is going to rue the day that he made this decision.

I guess that we should be happy that he is still alive. All I know is that this event has served to remind me to be ever more aware of the mental condition of those around me.

2005-07-20T20:22:00.000+04:00

Some pretty good finds

2005-07-20T19:35:00.000+04:00

Today has been one of the longer days in recent memory. I got up at 2:45 this morning to go out on a cordon and search operation with the Iraqi Army. The way that the teams were broken down today, me and one other American, SSG L., took a platoon of IA and searched through a sector of the objective. In all, there were probably 70 houses that we hit total; my team's portion was around 12. Since my rifle is still in the maintenance shop pending repairs, I was the breach man today, carrying a large ax for getting into locked doors and buildings. All in all we were probably on the objective for about 5 hours today.

I must say that I feel like the operation went off as well as any that we have had so far. The IA lieutenant led the platoon with me did an excellent job keeping his guys together and on task. I came to find out later that this lieutenant is relatively new and that today was his first time with this platoon. My team personally arrested and detained three individuals and found a small weapons cache. Mostly I was impressed that the IA actually stuck to the plan as it was briefed and stayed in communication with each other. It felt a lot more like an organized military operation today than a bunch of guys with weapons running around in every direction. Of course the down side of personally detaining individuals is that there was quite a bit of paperwork that I had to do when I got back to Liberty.

Other than the mission this morning, I have nothing really of importance to note. I am still in good spirits and hope that everyone at home is doing well.

Mob Scene at Constitution

2005-07-17T18:26:00.000+04:00

My mission this morning turned out to be about the most chaotic scene that I have seen to date. It started out well enough. Our mission was to go out to camp Constitution and provide security through a TCP for the recruiting drive; a mission we had done before with no major problems. Upon arrival at Constitution, however, it was clear that this was not going to be an ordinary day. At least 1,000 people were standing outside of the gate, waiting to be let in to sign up for the Iraqi Army. Neither the Iraqi Army nor our 14 man group was equipped to deal with this kind of crowd. Last time about 150 people came through in the course of a day while this morning we had in excess of a thousand people simultaneously. All I could think about was that there was no way we could protect this large of a group of people, should any enemy forces hear the ruckus going on. To top things off, they were not letting people in to sign up and the recruits were becoming agitated.

It was less than a half an hour of this limbo before either fear, courage, or lack of foresight transformed the crowd into a mob. They were pushing, shoving, yelling, and in general make a scene right in the middle of the street. The IA has not been trained in how to deal with these kind of mobs. They responded by pushing and shoving back which quickly digressed into massive amounts of gunfire going off into the sky (at least I hope that it was all skyward). The mob didn't back off at all and the scene just degenerated quickly into mass chaos. Potential recruits were scaling the walls and jumping into the camp, people were getting dehydrated and passing out; for about an hour there was just no control. In response to this the Iraqi general canceled the recruiting drive for the day. We spent the rest of the morning just trying to clean up the mess and get everyone sent on their way home. I treated some casualties among the recruits (and a broken arm in an interpreter), but I fear that many of the injured just left untreated or were carried away by the fleeing mob.

The only positive thing that I can say about the morning is that we were not attacked by insurgents during the chaos because we were just sitting ducks. I cannot imagine the damage that some errant mortars or an car bomb could have caused. This is the second time in that the recruiting drive has been canceled by the IA, and I know that is not good for future recruiting. The more dejected these potential recruits feel, the more likely they are to turn to the only other well paying job in town (working for the enemy). Additionally, if these kind of things keep happening, I can easily see these recruits showing up with weapons and shooting at us or the Iraqi Army if they are turned away again. I know that this issue is going to be driven into the ground well above my rank, but I can't help but worry what is going to happen in the future.

Other than that, I am still doing quite well. I am healing up quite nicely and continuing to 'do my things.'

Strange Days

2005-07-16T21:01:00.000+04:00

Again I have been lax in writing for the past couple of days. The first thing that I want to note is the stroke of luck that I came upon the other day. I was at the ice point, grabbing a couple of bags of ice when I ran into none other than my battle buddy from AIT (advanced individual training – medic school), SPC Kenny Rogers. He is currently with the 256th BCT, a national guard unit out of Louisiana that is just finishing up their tour here. Although we didn't have a whole lot of time to talk, he said that he would stop by here some time and see me. I just think that it is crazy that I would just randomly run into him here. He looked and sounded good – really no different than the last time that I saw him – and seemed very happy to see me as well. Hopefully I will see him again in the next couple of days.

Of course, to compliment that good luck I also had a stroke of bad luck as well. I had yet another external thrombosed hemmorhoid pop up on me. I had it incised and drained (I&D) yesterday, and now it feels much better. Still this will be the third one that I have had in the past two months. I know that hemmorhoids are a product of genetics, diet, and all the sitting I do, but I still hope that this doesn't become a recurring problem. I guess that if this is the worst thing that happens to me while I am over here, than I am doing alright.

I have noticed that several of the guys around me are starting to experience symptoms of combat stress. In the past few days five guys have come up to me and told me that they couldn't sleep at night and asked me to help them. One guys came up to me and said that he had been taking Ambien every night to help him sleep for weeks and that it isn't helping anymore. I know that what we are doing is mentally and psychologically taxing, but I guess that I am a little surprised at how fast this is coming up. Combat stress is basically PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) except that it is during the stress rather than after it. I had been told that combat stress is the biggest injury seen in this theater, but I guess it didn't really sink in until people starting pulling me aside to talk to me about how they have been feeling. I consider it a compliment that my guys trust me enough to come up and tell me how they are feeling, honestly, but I wish that I could do more for them. The army is a very machismo place that is not necessarily conducive to real human being to human being relating, but that doesn't mean that I have to be. I think that from the life experience that I have had I believe that I may be particularly well equipped to help my soldiers get through the hell that is war.

Recruiting Drive

2005-07-13T21:36:00.000+04:00

The past couple of days have brought more of the same types of missions for me and my team, which I have elaborated in previous entries. We have done more TCPs and raids, although the TCPs that we did a few days ago felt much more purposeful than those prior. Apparently one of the Iraqi Army recruiting stations was hit by a suicide bomber that killed 23 people. As a result, Camp Constitution was designated as a recruiting center for several days during which time we provided security with a TCP. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people that showed up during the recruiting drive to sign up for the Iraqi Army. I know that to some extent it is the only gig around in a town with a 90% unemployment rate, but still I found the show of solidarity to be good.

On other fronts, it has been exceedingly hot here the past two days. If I had to venture a guess, I would say that it probably got up to 130 or so for a while this afternoon. Additionally an underground water main burst in front of my trailer last night leaving us with no running water (again) and a veritable lake outside my door. On the positive side of things, I have finally acquired some of the medical diagnostic equipment that I feel is necessary for me to do my job. Also, I have been continuing my workout routine and studies of the Arabic language.

I have nothing but the utmost respect for the interpreters that the army has contracted out to work with us. They seem to get the short end of the stick on a lot of things here in the camp because they are local nationals and few people trust them. While we live in comfortable, air-conditioned trailers they reside 200m away in an old tent with intermittent power. They cannot go anywhere on post without an escort. On top of this, most of their families don't want them to be here. Two of the translators just quit and went home yesterday because their families were threatened by the insurgents. The rest of the translators don't use their real names for fear that someone might recognize them and kill their kin. Despite all of this, they work with us everyday, long hours so that their country can be whole and strong again.

Improvements in the IA

2005-07-10T14:56:00.000+04:00

The past several days really have been quite busy for me. We have been going out on a lot of big missions with the IA, with most of the rest of the battalion going out to support us. Most recently we did a raid of a residential area and searched through about 130 houses in a couple of hours. Although this mission was not terribly successful in terms of contraband found and personnel detained, I did definitely feel that the IA put on one of the better performances. They are getting better at showing up close to on time. More importantly, they are getting much better at following our directions and sticking with the plan. Certainly they still have a long way to go to be where we would like them to be, but they are getting there. Unfortunately they have had some animosity towards us recently due to the actions of another MTT team from a different battalion that happened about a week ago. Not surprisingly, we have to constantly work to make sure that they trust us completely.

As I said, the raid itself did not turn up a whole lot, but that is more a function of incorrect intel than that of us doing poorly. I must say that I don't think that I will ever feel good about going into people's houses like that and searching through their stuff. I know my job is mostly to make sure that all medical aspects are attended to and to make sure that no detainees are beaten and no personal property is stolen. Nonetheless, I would be upset if someone came into my house in the states, searched through my belongings, and asked to see my papers. Most of the people are cooperative and don't cause any trouble, but I don't think anyone likes getting woken up at 3am for something like this. Additionally, I never feel fully safe venturing into houses of potential enemy. I know that I have all the support in the world behind me, but there is a feeling of uncertainty every time I cross through one of those doorways.

That being said, I am still in good spirits. I am doing my job to the very best of my abilities, and I think that my patient's are better for my having worked on them. I have completed the Pimsleur language program I was studying and am now searching for new materials from which to continue my studies of Arabic. I have gone over to the tent where the translators live the past couple of days to have them help me with my pronounciation and differences in regional dialects. I have also been able to go to the gym most days and work out, which always makes me feel better. I know that quite a few guys are feeling depressed here. I heard one of the contractors who was a Vietnam vet say that he would take Vietnam over this place hands down (Interesting note: more Americans have died in this two year war in Iraq than died in the first 6 years of the Vietnam war). I think that by keeping my body busy and my mind active that I am doing much better mentally than the guys who just lie around when they are not working. I will endeavor to keep it up.

Chaos lives up to its Name

2005-07-07T22:17:00.000+04:00

Well, our team certainly lived up to its name today. The MTT team, called internally Chaos, went out on another major raid today with the Iraqi Army. Although the mission seemed to be clear enough, within minutes of arriving at the scene almost all control was lost. Objectives were skipped over, phase lines were crossed, and Iraqi soldiers were seen everywhere. The company which was providing our outer cordon was scared stiff that the IA was going to start firing on them. Really it seems that almost everyone except my team is afraid of the Iraqi Army. The citizens of Iraq, having lived under Saddam for so long, are deathly afraid of their soldiers. The Americans who don't regularly work with the IA just know that they are not very good shots and that they shoot at everything. Needless to say, this battalion level operation did not go smoothly and definitely did not uncover as many bad guys as we hoped it would.

I am doing well, all things considered. I guess that everything else is just status quo for me. I am studying Arabic as much as I can in my free time and am able to get over to the gym almost everyday. Information flow seems to be a problem for me, as I am rarely informed before 2300 what I am doing the next morning. My predicament with how to deal with the IA soldiers in terms of medical care seems to be less of a problem as well, mostly because I am not living out there with them right now. I think that it is still unclear whether we are going to be moving back out to FOB Constitution or not. As it stands now, no one seems to be looking the other way when I treat an Iraqi out on a mission who has an injury that is not LLE (life, limb, or eyesight) threatening.

Bad days continue

2005-07-05T22:24:00.000+04:00

Well, the bad days for 2-130th INF seem to be continuing. I went out this morning to do another TCP with the IA. While we were out there, apparently another company from my battalion got hit pretty hard with two IEDs and heavy small arms fire. Simultaneously we took some relatively insignificant small arms fire from the direction of the major fighting. No one near me was seriously injured, but I know that the IA took some significant casualties. We tried to move to screen the exfiltration of the enemy while they were being flushed out by reinforcements, but to now avail. Now, hours later, I know that some significant fighting is still going on not too far outside the wire. Many people from my team are still out on patrol, although I am back in the rear as per our work/rest cycle. During all of the fighting today I know that some injuries were sustained by my battalion, although I do not yet know the extent of them. I am sure that tomorrow will bring more fighting as we try to clear out the area again and pick up the pieces from today. I do not know what my mission will be yet tomorrow, but I think that it is fair to assume that I will be going out early in the morning and that tomorrow will be another long day.

All that being said, I am still in relatively good spirits. I know that today has not been a good day for my guys, but I am not focusing on it. I have found that when I come back from a day like to today that it is best for me to concentrate on other things that are going well. I went to the gym and read a book which helps to get my mind off of things. Some of our guys are having a pretty hard time with some of the stuff that we are seeing out there, but I want to assure you all that I am still doing well.

Biggest Operation Yet

2005-07-04T14:55:00.000+04:00

Today has been probably the most challenging day that I have had so far in my deployment. I was just getting back to my room last night, around 2000, when 1SG called me and told me to get my stuff together and that we were moving out to Constitution n immediately. We moved out there and got a couple of hours of sleep before 'the big operation' began this morning. At about 4AM we got up and staged in our vehicles for the big raid and search that we all knew had been coming. Our entire battalion was involved in the operation, but my team and the Iraqi Army were the lynchpin of the operation, so to speak. We rolled out to our objective with more people than I have seen in one place since I have been here.

Unfortunately I cannot talk about the details of what went on today – let me at least say that we left a big impression. I don't know how many insurgents that we captured in total today, but I know that it was more than just a few. For about five hours this morning I walked around with all of my gear on, searching out the enemy and watching my buddies backs.

At one point we heard gunfire and turned to see about five guys firing upon us with AKs. The Iraqi Army quickly returned fire, scaring off all of them but the one that they caught with their first volley of fire. The injured enemy was quickly brought forward and I ran up to him with my aid bag. He had taken a 7.62mm round right through the front of his neck. All I can say is that he is either one very lucky or one very unlucky human being. I just started writing the details of his injury and my treatment, but I now realize that most of you probably don't want to hear the gruesome details of what happens when a bullet goes through a guy's neck. I can say that I did the very best I could for him, that he was alive when he left my care, and that I think that there is a very good chance that he will survive. Again, like so many experiences of this deployment so far, I am not really sure how I feel about this experience. I guess that at this point, it is still kind of a surreal experience: coming back here, showering his blood off my body and throwing my clothes in a plastic bag. I am certainly anxious to find out whether he makes it or not. I guess that I am glad that my first real experience treating a combat casualty came while treating an insurgent, and not a friendly. Oh, and to top it all off, I had two combat cameramen right behind me. Apparently the whole thing is on tape and has been photographed. I think that it will be good for me to be able to go back, see exactly what I did, and find out what I can improve upon.

Now, for a complete change of pace, my team is having a barbecue in an hour in celebration of the fourth of July. We have bought some steaks and found a grill, and we are going to go have a good time. To be honest, I think that I would probably be just as happy going to the gym and resting, but I know that it will be good for us as a team to be able to sit down and try to forget what we are doing for a while.

Bad day for 2-130th

2005-07-02T20:29:00.000+04:00

I will start by describing my day, which has been quite a bit different and a good change of pace for me. I started the day by getting up very early in the morning and going out to FOB Constitution to do physical training (PT) with the Iraqi Army. I think that it was a very good experience for both us and them. Although the majority of them are not in nearly as good of shape as we are, it really seemed to get them pumped up that we came out to do PT with them. Many of them almost seemed to be trying to show off for us and there was definitely a competatitve spirit in the air. Several of them challenged me to a 100m dash, which I had no choice but to accept. I must say that I am proud of myself that I actually held my own against their best sprinters. Only one of them beat me – and I did squats last night at the gym. Additionally, it really seemed to please the guys that I was working with that I could speak and understand most of their commands and numbers. As I have said before, my knowledge of Arabic is definitely improving. I am actually starting to wonder what I am going to do when I complete the courses I am on now, as I only have a few lessons left.

The next thing that we did today was put on a class for one of their companies on close quarters battle (CQB). CQB consists of techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) for fighting individually and as a small team in an urban environment and includes skills such as room clearing and nonverbal communication. We only had a couple of hours out there today to work on it, but I think that I saw definite improvement in many of them. We are hopefully going to get several more periods of time this week to reinforce and build on the introduction that we gave them today. We ended our training by having the guys clean up the area that we were working in today. I know that to some extent it is a cultural difference, but they really do not seem to grasp the concept of cleaning up or picking up trash. We were briefed before arriving in Iraq that the philosophy of the Iraqi people is that 'the desert will reclaim everything.' Basically everybody in this country just throws their garbage down wherever they happen to be. I know that I cannot change the entirety of their culture, but I have to think that it is possible to instill habits such as throwing away garbage.

Things did not go nearly as well for the rest of the battalion today. As of this writing, four of our convoys have been hit with improvised explosive devices (IEDs). One of the blasts occurred just two minutes after we passed it on the road. I don't know what the casualty counts are now, or who was involved. I do know that CSM F's vehicle was the most recent one hit. Every explosion occurred on a road that I regularly travel, sometimes multiple times daily. The only two thing that I can say about that is that there is no accounting or replacing luck, and god bless up-armored trucks. Knowing, however, what has already happened today, it may very likely turn into a long night and a longer day tomorrow. I don't care what anyone, anywhere says, this insurgency is still alive and well. The casualty counts for the last month are the third highest of the war. This month is certainly not looking any better at this point.

Birthday

2005-07-01T18:58:00.000+04:00

Today, which happens to be my birthday, has turned out to be one of the easiest days that I have had since I have been here. We were originally supposed to have a mission early this morning, but it got cancelled, leaving my team with no missions for the day. Again, today was mostly devoted to 'recreational activities' such as reading and studying Arabic. After my dinner settles down in my stomach I am going to head over to the gym and then call it a day. I guess that there is nothing else really to speak of today, so this journal entry will be short.

My Last June in Iraq

2005-06-30T23:11:00.000+04:00

Well, I can safely say that this is the last journal entry I will be writing from Iraq in the month of June. I will almost certainly be home come next year this time. All said and done I have now completed about a month and a half of my tour of duty in Iraq. Additionally I am about halfway to my first real 'break.' In the course of my tour I am supposed to get one fifteen day leave period and two 3-4 day passes. As it stands now I am actually going to be coming back to the states for my fifteen day R&R leave in the month of December. I know that everything is subject to change in the army, but it would be nice to think that I could be home for the holidays and when Sarah is not in school.

Today I actually did not go out on a mission. I stayed on Liberty today and did some office work and administrative tasks. I got one of our new vehicles fixed up and cleaned, although it is probably not going to be allowed to leave the wire as it has a hack-job for armor. Our team now has a total of ten vehicles, though our personnel count seems to be in constant flux. A couple of weeks ago they cut our team down to 20 personnel and have been slowly adding people back in, mostly to provide security and to help our guys get the occasional day off.

There was a major raid that my battalion participated in today, but I was not a part of it. As I and many others suspected, the raid did not seem to really accomplish anything. Three hundred people were out on the raid today, and only two people were detained. No shots were fired, and nobody was hurt. I know that the citizens of the area tell us that we have been more pleasant and less intrusive than the battalion we replaced, but I can't help but think that these ill-conceived raids are going to hurt our image.

I still don't know what I am going to be doing tomorrow. I know that we have a group going out on a very early mission tomorrow, but I still don't know if I am going to be a part of it. I guess that I will just go to sleep and that they will call me if they decide that I am going.

Exhausting Day

2005-06-29T17:18:00.000+04:00

Today has been a thoroughly tiring day for me. I got up this morning and went out on yet another TCP with the MTT team. We were all set up and things were going just fine with about an hour left to go when we heard a thunderous boom. Just to the side, off of the road an IED (improvised explosive device) blew up: we had been hit again. Apparently luck was on our side today as no one was hurt and none of our vehicles were damaged in the explosion. Immediately after the blast a couple of the Iraqi Army said that they saw a blue truck take off across the road into an apartment complex. We tried to get everyone together and to move up on that vehicle which most likely carried away our attackers, but we just couldn't get picked up quickly enough. By the time we started searching the complex, the enemy was already long gone. Still, I am counting my blessings as that IED could easily have seriously hurt or killed us.

Back at FOB Constitution things seemed to be about status quo. I finally got some pictures of the IA developed at the PX on Liberty and distributed them to the IA soldiers, who were greatly appreciative. I probably got to spend a good hour and a half talking with them today. There was a huge article in the newspaper here recently about how some of these Iraqi security forces personnel have been insurgents and/or have turned against their American trainers. Although it seems like those problems are more confined to the Iraqi Police than the Iraqi Army, I still think that anything easy I can do to make them like me more is probably best for my safety. I also got to talk to the IA translator, Arcom. He said that my Arabic is improving greatly, and that he has a book for me that he will give to me tomorrow to help me learn Arabic. He even suggested that I could work as a translator in Iraq if I wanted. I know that I have no interest in staying in Iraq longer than possible, but that he thinks that I am speaking Iraqi Arabic so well is encouraging.

Yesterday's early morning TCP was fairly uneventful. I did take a look at an Iraqi woman who was walking down the street, though. Her heart rate was definitely tachycardic and her breathing was labored at best. I thought that she might be having a heart attack and was about to begin treating her when her family came and took her away. They were taking her to the Iraqi hospital and were afraid to leave her with the Americans. I only hope that the Iraqi doctors did what they needed to for her. I also got to walk through the Abu Garib market yesterday with SSG D. We both but a traditional Iraqi robe of linen for $5. Although I have heard them mockingly referred to as 'man-dresses' I think that such an item will be a worthwhile memory for the princely sum of $5 American.

Running Errands

2005-06-27T17:36:00.000+04:00

Today has been yet another relatively easy day for me as I did not go out on mission. We only had a couple of guys from the team go out on a TCP today while the rest of us either were on guard duty or had the day off. Since I spent the day on guard duty yesterday, I was in the latter group. I did run around and do a couple of errands today. I went to the motor pool a couple of times to pick up weapons, ammo, and vehicles. Also, I spent a couple of hours in the office as the 'staff duty' guy. Staff duty is the person who is present in an office so that it is not empty if someone from that office is actually needed.

I have used to rest of my time today to get caught up on other things. I went to the post office today and mailed out a couple more picture cds to my family and friends back home. I also went to the PX and got prints made of a couple of the pictures that I have taken while I have been here. As I have said before, all of the Iraqis want to have their pictures taken, and I finally got about 20 of them developed so that I can give them to them. I think that such a gesture will make them very happy; all they want is to be able to give their families a picture of them. Other than that, I guess that I have just done my regular 'leisure' activities. I studied my Arabic, read a little bit, and did some writing.

Guard Duty

2005-06-26T23:34:00.000+04:00

Today was a long day, although it was not terribly difficult. We met at 0700 this morning and drove out to FOB Constitution where we were to be a security detail for the day. Nothing eventful happened during our eleven hour guard shift, we just sat there and passed the time the best we could. In the course of the day I read two books, cover to cover. The first was Timequake, by Kurt Vonegut, which was typical Vonegut insomuch as it was a dark, humorous postmodern statement on society. The second book was Night, by Elie Wiesel (spelling?), which is the account of a twelve year old Jewish boy living through the holocaust and all its horrors in concentration camps such as Auschwitz. No one can argue that the holocaust wasn't one of the worst acts of humanity ever. Still, in reading this book I couldn't help but notice that in times of great strife, it seems that both the very worst and, more surprisingly, the very best traits of humanity come to the surface. It is in such times of sorrow that humankind is perhaps capable of its greatest acts of compassion, which is what I took from the book. So is it for persons engaged in the activity of war.

In the course of the day, among other things, I did learn a couple other, much more superficial lessons. Lesson One: A heavy coat of dust and dirt on your skin does not work well as sunscreen. Lesson Two: Camo netting also does not work to protect you from the effects of the sun. Lesson Three: The Iraqis are persistent in asking for medical assistance. Even for the little things, they rarely take 'no' for an answer.

At this time it looks as if I will have tomorrow morning off. I am going to try to go to the PX and get some of the pictures I have taken printed so that I can give them to the Iraqis. I also plan to catch up on my Arabic, and post these past few entries to my site.

Busy Days

2005-06-25T16:09:00.000+04:00

I fear that I have been lax in writing the past couple of days, but indeed the optempo (operational tempo) has been such that I have not been afforded much free time. Most of the time that I have had has been spent trying to catch up on sleep.

The day before yesterday I went out on a major mission that lasted about 14 hours, which is a long time no matter who you are. We started by thinking that we were to go out and set up a TCP with the IA, but were informed upon departure that our mission had changed and that we were to do a dismounted patrol of a neighborhood of Baghdad. Not long after we left FOB Constitution, one of our vehicles broke an axle half-shaft and had to return to base, leaving us with only two vehicles and a minimum of personnel. We got to the area and I began to walk the neighborhood on foot with the IA, looking out for anything out of the ordinary, questioning and searching the locals, and generally looking for trouble. The area itself appeared to be at one time an affluent area that had since grown into a state of disrepair. After questioning a few of them, we heard a couple of vehicles driving around, honking their horns. Now, we have heard this many times before when we have entered into areas. Usually this preceeds us being attacked by at least small arms fire, if not worse. What I think happens is that once we are seen in the area by insurgents, that they canvass the area, honking their horns to warn other enemy that we are present and either to get out of the area or attack us. Never before have we been able to catch one of these perpetrators. That day, however, I saw one driving within 100 meters or so of us. We yelled for him to stop, but were separated from him by a deep ravine. I took a knee, drew up a bead on the guy's radiator, and flicked my selector switch from 'safe' to 'semi.' We were not going to let them keep doing this. Fortunately, I did not have to fire, because one of the IA somehow got across the ravine and stood right in the road with his AK-47 and stopped the gentleman.

After hours of dismounted patrols, we were then directed to mount back up and travel to a different location and set up a traffic control point. The TCP was uneventful except for the two wedding parades that drove by, inciting all the IA to fire off their weapons into the air (I keep wondering, where do all these rounds come down that they keep firing straight up in the air?). As we were getting ready to leave, I saw two men on a rooftop with weapons about 300 meters down the road. After I saw them, they quickly disappeared again. We called up to our higher headquarters to find out if we had any friendlies up on that roof, and were told that we did not. Me and one of my teammates jumped into a truck from another team with their gunner, driver, and a translator, and headed off for the building. The front gate to the complex was no match for the push bar on the front of the truck, as the humvee just flew it, throwing it clear off its hinges. Me and my teammate, SSG D, kicked in the front door, and set about clearing the building. I have to say, clearing that building gave me feelings of fear, excitement, and something else I cannot quite put into words. I just kind of knew that everything was going to be okay, at least this time. By the time we got to the top of the building, there was no sign of anyone left. Apparently, we found out later, that there had been an observation point set up in that building, and that who I saw may have been them.

One day prior to that our team had been hit at a TCP in the Abu Garib market by a combination of mortars and small arms fire that left one civilian KIA and one civilian with a non-lethal bullet wound. I am not sure that I should talk about this much yet, but I will say that all of our team survived okay.

Today we went out on yet another long TCP, this time at a major highway intersection that we have used before. Although nothing major happened today, we did take some small arms fire towards the end of the time we were out there. It is very frustrating to know that you are being shot at and not know where the fire is coming from. Worse, sometimes we hear AK-47 fire and can't even tell if it is friendly, hostile, or just celebratory. This works both to put you a little on edge at all times and to simultaneously make you complacent in the sound of weapons fire. I don't even look or think twice now if I hear only a single shot fired. I know that we have to stay vigilant at all times. We are always being watched, and when we let our guards down, that is when we are vulnerable.

A Slow Day

2005-06-21T17:02:00.000+04:00

Today has turned out to actually be a relatively slow day for me. Although we were doing things most of the day, the actual pace of the work was relatively easy. I got up this morning and actually got myself a hot breakfast at the chow hall for once. I then helped put up an OE-254 (30 foot radio antennae) at our new temporary headquarters. I then spent the rest of my morning getting together office supplies and such for us. This afternoon we had a 'weapons cleaning party in our new area.' We received a bunch of new weapons that had been sitting in a connex for the past several months and were therefore very dirty. We just put some music on, and bullshitted while cleaning the new weapons for a couple of hours. As I write this, I am now on guard duty, guarding the pile of new weapons while most of the guys go eat dinner. In an hour I will be off to go eat dinner and probably for the rest of the night.

In the meantime today I almost finished reading Naked, by David Sedaris. I must say that I have found this book to be very entertaining. It is a dark, twisted, somewhat autobiographical book that reminds me of flavors of On the Road (Note to Sarah: I think that you would like this book). I hope to be able to get over to the internet tonight to post these past few journal entries and to go work out at the gym before I go to bed. I almost certainly have a mission to go on tomorrow.

Moved back to Liberty

2005-06-20T23:24:00.000+04:00

The past couple of days have indeed been very busy for me. Along with cutting the MTT team almost in half to 20 people we moved back into Camp Liberty today. We will be here for an indeterminate period of time while the engineers fix up the facilities that we were staying at Constitution. I know that it is nice to be back here with all the facilities, but I have to say that I now feel like something is missing. I think that being in an area such as this can lead to a false sense of security whereas living in the conditions we did at Constitution breeds an attitude of vigilance.

Today we also began working with the ITA team (the SF guys) on patrol. We did a dismounted presence patrol today with the ITA team, the Iraqi Army, and a new translator we got named (I kid you not) Shaft. The guys seemed to be very good at what they do, and the translator seemed to be very honest with us. I think that this change in our manning and structure can only be good for us, despite the frustrations associated with such changes.

Okay, about care packages

2005-06-19T15:26:00.000+04:00

Okay everybody, this is not a true journal entry, but an answer to everyone's questions about what to send in a care package. Know that none of you at home should feel any obligation to send me anything, but since so many of you keep asking me what to send, here are a couple of ideas.
Baby wipes/facial wipes
Batteries (AA and 3V lithium flashlight type)
dry weapon lubricant
individually wrapped candies for the iraqis
books
dvds/divx movies
just a card or a picture
anything else you feel inclined to send
Now, as a requirement, if you send me a care package, you must include the two following things:
1. Your email address, as i seem to have lost many of yours.
2. A couple of ideas of what to get you for souvenirs from Iraq.
Thanks everybody, as I have said before, your love and support makes all the difference to me in this place.
Dave

More Changes

2005-06-18T20:22:00.000+04:00

Today has brought many more changes to light in terms of how the MTT team is going to be constructed and worked for the remainder of the deployment. For one our team is going to be cut down from 38 people to 20, which I view as a positive. I think that we will eliminate quite a few of the unnecessary personnel and streamline the way our team runs. Additionally we will be working with or under another group called the IAG or some such. It is a group consisting of mostly special forces/rangers that specializes in this sort of work. Additionally, this group is very top-heavy in terms of rank, which should help us to get a lot more stuff done. Along with this change come several others that are much less certain. There has been talk that some or most of us may move back to Liberty at some time in the near future either temporarily or permanently while these grounds are renovated. We are supposed to find out tomorrow if that is actually going to happen. Also, we are nearly certain at this point that our mission with this IA battalion will not last the entire 12 months that we are here. What happens after we are done with them is less clear. We may move on to another battalion, we may take a different mission, or we may ultimately dissolve as a MTT team and go back to our respective companies. For many of these questions, only time will tell.

In other news I now know why everything is so unclear on treating the Iraqi Army soldiers who come to me. Due to the youth of the Iraqi government, we do not yet have a SOFA (status of forces agreement) with Iraq. What this means is that I do not have any assurance of legal protection should I provide treatment an Iraqi soldier that produces an undesirable outcome. Basically, to treat them outside of the preservation of life, limb, or eyesight would endanger not only me, but MAJ W, CPT F and CPT F. I have, however, been given a direction to go in order to get a special exception agreement made so that I am at least able to deal with non-life-threatening injuries sustained by the Iraqis while they are on patrol.

Today itself actually turned out to be quite a busy day for me. It was supposed to be my day off, but I spent the majority of the day running around trying to get jobs done on short notice. We took two of our vehicles in to get RF jammers installed on them, escorted a truck of water and food to and from constitution, tried to get our vehicles cleaned, and took care of some medical supply issues. For being a day off, it sure felt like I was doing a lot of work.

It is looking like tomorrow will be a busy day as well. I understand that there is to be a fairly interesting early morning mission with the IA, which I will most likely be on. If not, I will probably spend the day driving back and forth between Liberty and Constitution taking the guys who got cut from the team back.

Growing Tension

2005-06-16T21:44:00.000+04:00

Growing Tension

16 June 2005

2144

Today has been another relatively slow day. I only went out on one mission today that was both short and relatively easy. I went on another escort mission to the downtown area. Again I got to see a lot of the beautiful architecture that typifies the area. I also am becoming more keenly aware of the social differences in the different geographic areas. Abu Garib, for example, appears to be a much more socially conservative area where men and women are usually seen in traditional garb. The downtown areas, however, tend to be much more progressive. The women there don't even wear the traditional headdresses. Additionally, the downtown area appears to be much more upscale with art and commerce everywhere.

As time passes it seems that the question of what care I can and should provide to the Iraqis seems to becoming more important and likewise more confusing. Unfortunately much of my command is telling me that I am not supposed to provide care to the Iraqis unless I am preserving life, limb, or eyesight. Additionally, I have been told that I probably shouldn't be treating the detainees of the IA. I must say that I think to take such a position is wrong. Medicine here is barbaric at best; it seems that bloodletting is quite the norm for treatment of infections. I just have a very hard time sending someone off to an Iraqi hospital when they have an injury or illness that I know is within my grasp.

That being said, today was still a pretty good day. There has not been much in the way of gunfire or explosions here recently, and we even have a new temporary guard of American soldiers. Although today did seem very warm, I think that I have lost all ability to judge the temperature. Two days ago I thought that it seemed nice out when apparently it was about 115 degrees. Today, did seem warmer, and it was, at 125 degrees and humid. I think that I drank about 2 gallons of water and a gallon of gatorade today to compensate for my sweating.

I guess that I really don't have much else new to say today. Hopefully it can stay this quiet for a couple of days.

Back to the rear again

2005-06-15T12:37:00.000+04:00

I must write this entry quickly as I am going out on mission in a few minutes, but I wanted to write something before I took off for the mission. The past two days have been good for me as I got to go back to Liberty for a day and get some much needed rest. I was able to gather some additional medical supplies. Even more exciting, more of my personal gear arrived from the states: I now get to change clothes regularly!

I must say that I was lax in studying my Arabic and writing journal entries for the day and a half that I was in the rear, but I think that with everything else going on, a day to just sleep, eat, and rest was well deserved.

There have been some other interesting goings on here, but none that I can share with you now. I will inform you as I am able. I am thinking of you at home all the time.

A long day

2005-06-12T21:30:00.000+04:00

Today has proven to be a long day with one big plus and one big frustration. I went out on two missions today that lasted a total of nine hours alone. Both missions were setting up checkpoints at the Abu Garib market, which seems to have become a regular mission for us. Both missions went off without a hitch, although for some reason I felt like something was off today. I know that there has been quite a bit of activity in that region recently, but we have yet to take any major contact there.

My big positive for the day was getting to spend a good deal of time talking to the interpreter. He went out with us on the earlier of the missions today and he came over this evening to talk to us some more. Basically he made himself available to us should we have any questions about the language or the culture. Apparently he learned his English in school and through watching American movies. In any event I think that he will be an invaluable resource to us while we are here.

The negative for the day has to do with my confusion in how I am supposed to treat the Iraqi Army's wounded which they keep bringing to my doorstep. Today they brought a 19 y/o male who fell off of a truck and fractured at least two ribs on his back. After examining him and packaging him up for transport my first sergeant asked me what I planned to do with him. My inclination was to send him to an American hospital for evaluation. Ultimately we let the Iraqis take him to an Iraqi hospital for examination. The conflict is this: if I feel that a patient's life, limb or eyesight is in jeopardy, I am required to have them transported to the best facility to save them. On the other hand, my team simply does not have the resources to evacuate every Iraqi that gets hurt. My first sergeant told me that I had better come up with a decisive set of regulations to prevent any confusion in the future. I guess that I would just feel a little better if I knew what kind of medical facility this Iraqi hospital was.

One Dead Iraqi

2005-06-11T20:55:00.000+04:00

Yesterday and today have brought an easing of the pace of work for me and my team. Since our numbers have increased and the number and length of our missions has decreased I have had much more time to work on other things. Both yesterday and today I only went out on one mission. I know that the tempo will be changing all the time, but it has been nice to have some time to catch up. I have been able to sit down and continue my Arabic lessons and have found time to finish reading a book. With a bucket and some laundry soap I did the best that I could to wash my dirty clothes. They may not be 'clean' in the strictest sense of the word, but they are definitely 'cleaner' and they don't smell anymore.

We have also finally begun teaching the Iraqi Army. Yesterday a group gave a class on vehicle and individual search. Seeing as this is something that they have to do on a daily basis, they were relatively proficient already. Today's class was on how to apply a bandage/field dressing to a wound. Again, this is obviously something that has been taught to them already. In fact, the guy with the knife wound to the chest that I saw two days ago came to me with a field dressing already applied to his injury. The biggest problems that we have encountered so far are getting the Iraqis to be on time, and communication. I think that I am gathering that things like being on time are just not part of their culture. The attitude seems to be 'Ash-shalah' – 'if god wills it.' They are getting better, but it is just something that we need to work on. The communication thing will be a bigger hurdle. We are supposed to have translators with us, but rarely are they actually around. Mostly we just try to do our best and use a lot of gestures. The time that I have spent studying Arabic has been immensely helpful.

Now, onto the dead guy. When I came back from my mission this morning there were a group of Iraqis standing around with one on a cot. They asked for me and said that the man was sick and was not breathing. SSG L, was there before I was and looked at the guy. By the time I walked up I was told that unless I was also a priest, that I couldn't help because my 'patient' was dead as a doornail. This guy was a high-value target that we arrested/detained about a week ago. It looks to me that the Iraqi intelligence guys here worked him over way too hard. Broken bones throughout indicated that the guys may have been beaten to death by the Iraqi army. He is currently sitting about fifty feet in front of our building on ice. I don't exactly know what we are supposed to do with him, but I know that my job does not involve storing dead Iraqis.

A day of rest, a day of work

2005-06-10T13:38:00.000+04:00

The past two days really have been quite almost contradictory to each other for me. The day before last after my mission in the morning I got to go back to Liberty for 24 hours. After living and working out here and in the field for a while, a warm meal, hot shower, and an air conditioned room seemed like a blessing. While I was back in the rear I did some resting and relaxation and also went about acquiring some supplies that I needed, both medical and tactical. It was a nice break, and it was good to see my buddies in the medical section for a while. Apparently they are just now getting started on their missions and don't really know which direction their tasking will be moving. I also found out the one of my PAs, F, will probably come out every once in a while to take a look at the Iraqi Army.

Once I got back here last night, however, things really got a little hectic. I had just laid down to go to sleep when I we were awoken to receive our missions for today. Afterward we began prepping our vehicles and equipment for our missions. Just as I was about to lay down again, a couple of Iraqis appeared at our area, one with a large laceration to his chest, looking for me. I began treating him out in our parking lot when gunfire began at our front gate. At first I didn't really think too much of it as there is gunfire here all the time. In less than a minute, however, it became clear from the way the fire sounded that these shots were indeed being fired in anger. Once we all realized what was going on, I took my patient and hurried over to my medical treatment room and continued to work. Suturing up this guy with no more visability than that provided with a penlight in my mouth was not easy. As I was finishing up my work, most of the rest of the guys rolled out to the front gate to join the battle. After maybe another fifteen minutes the gunfire stopped and our guys returned. Ultimately neither the Iraqi Army nor my fellow soldiers was seriously injured. Still, it was another wake up call for all of us to see our FOB (forward operating base) attacked head on by the enemy.

Today was yet again a different type of day. I got up early to help escort some Iraqi Army soldiers to the bus station where they were to go home on leave. The mission went off without a hitch and I took the time to admire the amazing architecture that is such a part of this city. At one point we saw the incomplete shrine to Saddam Hussein. I don't know if it will be completed now or what it will be if it is, but I can say that the majesty of it overshadows anything that I have seen in terms of American architecture. I have taken some pictures of it, but I must say that pictures can hardly do it justice. Well, I am going to go do some laundry now... god only knows what tomorrow may hold.

First Iraqi MEDCAP

2005-06-07T20:23:00.000+04:00

Today was an eye-opening experience for me today as I went into the Iraqi area of our camp today and provided them with medical care. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I went over with the intent of looking at only the few people that my commander decided that I should see, namely higher ranking Iraqi Army officers. Once I got out of the vehicle and opened my aid bag, however, approximately forty to fifty people clustered around me, asking me to look at them. I know that my commander does not want me to provide medical care for everybody and is probably not happy with how things turned out, but I think that taking care of the people that I did today was a good act of goodwill. It is unfortunate that I did not have the resources with me to treat more of them than I did. My aid bag was specifically set up to deal with trauma patients so I didn't have many of the drugs or instruments needed to treat their problems. I told quite a few of them 'ana hakun hon bookra, sa'aa sebot,' which means I will be here tomorrow at seven. Hopefully my command will not make a liar out of me.

Most of what I saw today were issues related to hygiene. Probably 1/3 of all of the men that I saw today had fungal or staph infections on their hands or body. Not outside of textbooks have I seen fungal infections progress this far. I would like to put some of these guys on diflucan, but I know that I certainly will not be able to properly monitor their livers; I guess that I will have to use topical anti-fungals. Every single person out there had a dental problem of some form or another. All of their teeth were just rotting out of their heads, some were infected, and on some I could see evidence of crude tooth extractions. One guy's had 2 teeth that were broken with exposed roots. I also saw a guy with a couple of broken toes that I splinted up the best I could. It was genuinely difficult to work at all as there were so many people crowding so close. I tried to get them to form a line, but neither me nor my command nor their command could get them to be organized at all. Next time I go out there I will try to get a couple of my comrades to help me keep them in some kind of order. As I went on I just started taking down their names and writing down what their problems were. By using that list I intend to create a list of the supplies that I will need for the next time that I go out there. I am just afraid that if I give them anything that they will sell it rather than use it. My predecessor tried to give everyone a set of goggles and a bandage and now most of them have neither.

To some extent I can see why they do that. For 2 years now these people have been given things over and over by America. There seems to be a mindset that whatever they need, they can just ask the Americans for and they will receive it. I guess that if I felt that way I would sell my things as well. Ultimately I must decide whether it is better to further the 'give me' attitude by handing out toothbrushes and soap or if I just tell them that they need to brush their teeth and that they need to find a way to do it themselves. Well, if nothing else today has been an eye-opener in terms of seeing just how the other side lives.

Combat Veteran

2005-06-06T20:51:00.000+04:00

Well, I believe that I can now officially call myself a combat veteran as I have been in a situation where I was taking hostile fire. Moreover I must say that, in retrospect, last night was probably one of the more frightening experiences of my life. I was out working at a traffic control point (TCP) when the first sandstorm I have seen in Iraq rolled in. The sandstorm completely annihilated any ability to see anything with or without night vision. Needless to say our relief at the TCP never arrived as they were hopelessly lost in the sandstorm as well. I was just thinking in my mind that this was perfect: we had been sitting out here long enough for any enemy forces to know where we were, and now we couldn't run. For a while we tried to decide what course of action to take. To make matters worse, the sandstorm was blocking our radio transmissions. We could hear our base station calling us and asking us to report but they couldn't hear us responding. Ultimately an Iraqi Army (IA) lieutenant approached us and told us that another checkpoint was taking fire and was asking for our help. Thus we abandoned our TCP and traveled as quickly as possible towards the other checkpoint. Only once did we get the Humvee stuck.

We drove through the total darkness of the sandstorm guided only by GPS and the foot of ground in front of the vehicle for about ten minutes until we saw muzzle flashes in front of us and heard small arms fire. Ah, decision time. Our vehicle was an up-armored Humvee and probably able to take an unlimited amount of AK-47 fire without a problem. Also our gunner's weapon was an M-2 machine gun – perhaps the most deadly weapon in the history of firearms. All we could see were the muzzle flashes, not the people firing them. Additionally we could not see what was behind the enemy that was engaging us. S, our driver, was shouting for the gunner to open up with the M-2 up at an angle to scare them away. Fortunately I believe that our vehicle commander and gunner made the right decision in not firing the gun. The chance of causing a civilian casualty was just too great too risk. Not long after we arrived the gunfire stopped; apparently the sight of two Humvees with machine guns was enough of a scare to send the enemy running.

Thus ended the first real engagement of my military career. I am not really sure what to say about this or how I feel about this, but I felt that I should share it and write it down now if for no other reason than to collate my thoughts. I will say this, I am so grateful for GPS and uparmored vehicles. Hopefully my commander will be as successful in acquiring us night vision as he has been in getting us armored vehicles.

Work Begins

2005-06-04T23:21:00.000+04:00

The past few days have been very busy as I have we have now officially moved out to the location where we will be staying at while we are training the Iraqi Army. Along with our movement to this location has been our training with the unit that we are replacing on how to handle this task.

I must say that our living conditions right now are austere at best. The location where we are living used to be an army base of some kind before the war. During the war it was abandoned by the military and was thus taken up by squatters. At some point in the not too distant past it was claimed as a military base and the squatters were told that they had to leave. I am not sure what condition the place was in then, but I know that when the squatters left, they seemed to have taken everything even remotely valuable. They even tore up some of the concrete walls to get the rebar out of. The end is that this place looks like a complete disaster – garbage everywhere and nothing that doesn't look looted. My first impression was a mix of something out of a Vietnam movie combined with some kind of post-apocalyptic cyberpunk. The guys from the 10th Mountain were walking around shirtless while explosions were heard in the distance. One guy was wearing only his DCU pants and his flip flops while he was adjusting his night vision. I guess that words just cannot describe the scene; I will have to show you the pictures.

We have spent a good deal of our time recently getting this place into not only a livable condition, but one that would be defensible should we need to dig in. We have brought out truckloads of stuff including wood, coolers and ice and have been knocking down walls and running power lines. While I don't think that any of us expect to recreate all the comforts of home here, we would like to be able to relax here from time to time. Most of my efforts have been to create a medical treatment area where I feel that I can do my job most efficiently. A little searching around led me to a cache of medical supplies that someone must have left here a while ago. I have moved all of these supplies into one room along with a table and have been organizing and sorting said supplies. Soon I hope to build some shelves in there and to run some power into the room for lights. Ultimately I believe that I will knock out another entrance to the room so that I have another route to enter/egress the room.

I have gone out on multiple patrols recently, but do not have the time to elaborate on them now. Hopefully tomorrow I will get to write about them.

I do feel the need, however, to write about one experience that I had today that I did not feel good about. For the first time in my life I refused someone medical treatment that I was capable of providing. An Iraqi man got his friend to bring him back to my area and ask for my help after apparently he got into a brawl and was hit in the head with a rock. Now, according to my medical rules of engagement (MEDROE) I did the right thing by telling him to go seek medical attention at the local hospital as his injuries were not immediately threatening to life, limb, or eyesight. Still, I had the means to help him and I was strongly encouraged not to. I am told that it is not to be the policy to treat every individual who comes around looking for me. I have been told over and over that if I start treating anything not life-threatening that I set a precedent and that within days I will be overwhelmed by hundreds of Iraqis asking me for my help. Additionally, I know that it is a threat to my whole team to have Iraqis bringing their injured this close to where we live on a regular basis. Still, I do not know if I did the right thing. I will try to talk to my command tomorrow about further elaborating my MEDROE.

Well, I have so much more to say, but I must get some sleep tonight while I can. I am thinking of all of you at home right now.

Arrived in Iraq

2005-05-30T21:03:00.000+04:00

Hello everybody! I am writing you to let you know that I have now safely arrived in Iraq. My time on the internet is very limited right now so you will have to wait for most of the details. For the time being, however, I am on Camp Liberty and will be able to receive mail there at the address I gave previously. I am doing well and have found Liberty to be a very nice place. I look forward to being able to relate all the details at a later time.

Decision Made

2005-05-26T22:15:00.000+04:00

Today I made a decision that I hope all of you can understand, even if you don't like it. I have volunteered to be assigned to train the Iraqi National Guardsmen in lieu of my current assignment with TF 2-130. Me and a few others from my unit will be training the ING for at least part if not all of our tour in Iraq. I will not worry any of you at home with speculations as to what this new assignment may bring; in all likelihood it is more dangerous. I am sure details will be forthcoming and any which I am able to share with you I will when I am made aware of them. At this time please discontinue sending any mail to the previous addresses which I have given as they will probably not be addresses at which I can be contacted.
I know that this news will come as a displeasure to many of you. I know that what you all want more than anything is for me to come home safely. To be sure, I want that as much as all of you. I also know that the possibility of training the ING offers to me an opportunity that I could not, in good conscience, turn down. I want all of you at home to know why I have made this decision.
Ultimately, I am here to make a difference in the lives of people. By signing the line and raising my hand three years ago I made a solemn promise to work towards a goal bigger than myself. It is in this spirit that I have volunteered for this duty. I know it is possible to do good by providing medical treatment to whomever I can as I medic. It is possible to do much more good by training people on how to provide healthcare. There is an old adage that states that it is better to teach a hungry man to fish than it is to throw him one to eat. Indeed by training the Iraqi National Guard in whatever capacity I am required I believe that I will be able to do many orders of magnitude of good for more people. Moreover, I believe that I am the 'right' man for the job. Certainly I know medicine well enough to teach it, but I believe that the Arabic language that I have been studying so intently make me much more prepared to work with the ING. Perhaps I have been preparing myself for this all along.
My First Seargent has expressed grave concerns about the fact that my last name is Rosenberg. While I can understand where this could be a cause for worry, I must say that my name makes me all the more interested in this duty. I cannot predict how others will react, but I must believe that to see the Jewish city boy from Chicago volunteer to fight alongside the Muslim ING cannot leave them untouched. I hope that my actions will help them to see that our two peoples are more alike then they are different.
Know that I have not disregarded the feelings and desires of you at home in making this decision. Ultimately, however, you love and respect me for the person that I am. It is because I am that person that I felt obligated to volunteer for this task. I love you all very deeply and have you in my thoughts all the time.

Nothing new to report

2005-05-25T20:30:00.000+04:00

Groundhog day again here in Kuwait with nothing new to report. As I have said before, I am just killing time until we move north to Iraq. I almost went out to the range today to act as medical support, but after sitting in a bus for about an hour, someone else who was supposed to shoot at the range tonight took my aid bag and will be acting as medical support. Though it may not sound like a good thing, this is beneficial for me because I would not have got to fire on the range tonight anyway, and I was not looking forward to becoming a crispy critter out on the firing range.
Other than that, today has been no different then yesterday or the day before it. I read, studied Arabic, and worked on some computer tutorials. After I finish this post I am going to go to the gym and work out. Until tomorrow.

Change of Address (Already!!)

2005-05-24T10:56:00.000+04:00

Already today has brought a change to my mailing address for camp liberty. I know that it is possible that some letters may have already been sent to the old address; they will eventually get to me. For any further correspondence, please use the following mailing address:

SPC Rosenberg, David M.
HHC, TF 2/130
Medics
Camp Liberty, Iraq
APO AE 09372

Today has been a little more eventful than the previous several days. I got up this morning and went to a class on a battle tracking system called the blue force tracker. Without enumerating on the details of this system, I must say that this highly computerized system should do quite a bit to reduce the number of friendly fire incidents and increase total awareness on the battlefield. I found myself particularly interested in the class not just to learn how to use the system but because I was intrigued by the technology behind the system and other possible non-military applications.
The rest of my day went pretty much status quo. I spent some time on the internet, studied arabic for a few hours, worked out with a couple of the guys, and continued to work through a python tutorial that I have started. The reality of my current situation is that I am getting paid right now to do pretty much whatever I want. I am just trying to take that and run with it; make the best of the time that I have right now and not let it go to waste. Several of the guys seem to spend most of their time right now sleeping; I just can't see myself doing that.
Tomorrow should actually be a longer day. I am certainly going out to the range tomorrow, although I may or may not be firing. I am supposed to be the medical coverage for certain individuals that have to get some additional range time and night fire time. Hopefully, while I am out there baking all day I will get a chance to fire off a few rounds and see how the climatic change has affected my weapons. I will probably spend most of my day in that barren land, so lets hope it is not too hot.
A couple of administrative notes. First, I must apologize for being vague on a lot of the things that I am mentioning. Blogs from military personnel have been under close scrutiny recently, and I am going to err on the side of caution in all things discussed on this site. I will not be writing down any specific dates, times, or numbers for anything that has not yet happened. If you happen to have information which you have received from me or from the FRG that I have not mentioned, please do not post it to this site in a comment unless you are sure that it is okay. If you have any questions about whether anything is okay to post, please email me. Finally, I would ask that in all posts please refrain from mentioning anyone other than myself by name his or her permission. I have chosen to share my life with my friends and family in this open forum, but that does not mean that my buddies have as well. Please respect their privacy as I will by not posting their names.
Finally, I must thank all of you at home for your love and support. It helps me everyday to know that even in this dreary desert that I have enumerable friends, family, and coworkers at home praying for my safe return. Not a day goes by that I don't breathe a little easier knowing that I have been blessed in my life with the people that I have. Good-night.

Meeting with the General

2005-05-23T17:12:00.000+04:00

I am sure that I am beginning to sound a little repetitive, but today was really not that much different from yesterday. I spent most of the day trying to stay cool and studying Arabic. It makes me feel good to try to study and learn things here while I am just killing time. I know that it will be at least a little bit before I am able to get back into a real classroom environment, but I feel better about myself if I do the best I can to continue to learn even in these most adverse of conditions. I do feel like I am making progress in my study of the Arabic language. After getting their name embroidered on their gear in Arabic, quite a few of the guys bring it up to me and ask me if their name looks right. From time to time other people will ask me how to say a particular thing in Arabic. I know that I have a long way to go, but it gives me a sense of accomplishment to be able to answer people's questions and to speak somewhat to the Kuwaiti contractors.
The big event of the day so far was a question and answer session today between our company and the Brigade Commander, R. R really didn't have much to say to us, and the few things that he did I probably shouldn't be repeating in this forum. Suffice it to say that the next couple of weeks to months should be a very busy time in all respects. It was also now confirmed that for a while we will not be under his command, but will be rolled in with another unit.
The only other thing of merit we did today was fill out some paperwork in the morning. Again, this is something that I am certainly not supposed to talk about.
So, I guess that today has really been just another day in Kuwait. I am going to study more Arabic tonight, workout, and try to call home again. I will probably not try to post this until tomorrow, as there is a limit to how much standing in line I can do in one day.

An Easy Day in Kuwait

2005-05-22T21:15:00.000+04:00

Today has been a relatively easy day for me. The morning was spent waiting for transportation to take us to the zero range. As has been the standard since we have been here, going to the range and zeroing our rifles just never occurred. I took that time this morning to study my Arabic and catch up on some sleep. At noon we were finally informed that the range was not going to happen today, and that we could try again tomorrow.
The rest of the day was spent doing pretty much anything we needed to get done. I went over to the internet cafe with my laptop and posted a couple of posts to this site and checked my email. After that I had something to eat with a couple of the guys and actually got to go to the gym for a couple of hours and work out. I can definitely tell that I have not been working out as much as I would like have been, but I believe that I will probably get more than enough time to exercise once I get into country. This evening I made a few phone calls and even played some ping pong. There really just aren't that many things that we are supposed to do here in Kuwait; we are just killing time until we go into Iraq.
It looks like tomorrow will probably be more of the same. Yet again I am supposed to try to go out to the range and zero my weapon; to say the least, I have my doubts. We are also supposed to have some brief tomorrow at 0700, although I don't know what it is supposed to be about. I am sure that I will try to do the same things yesterday that I did today.
Well, I guess that I just don't have that many things to say. I feel well and my morale is high, though I think that if I had to stay here a whole lot longer I would get really stir crazy. I have spent months preparing for this mission and am ready to get it done.

Another day in Kuwait

2005-05-21T17:38:00.000+04:00

21 May 2005
1738
Today has been yet another day of waiting around and getting very little done. We were supposed to go out to the zero range today at 0800 but that was immediately delayed until 1000. At that time we got on the bus and it looked like we were actually going to fire. We drove an hour out to the site on a rickety old vehicle something akin to a VW microbus and dismounted. As soon as the bus was loaded up with people that were leaving we were informed that the range was out of ammo and that we would have to leave and come back another day. Thus we ended up spending another two hours or so waiting out at the range to be picked up and taken back to the camp. All I can say is 110 degrees with no shade and a sandstorm to boot does not make for a very fun afternoon. Well, I guess that we will try again tomorrow. I must say that the ride out to the range in the vehicle was humorous to say the least. It litterly seemed like the bus was just going to disintegrate around us. At one point the rear bumper just fell off; we stopped, got out and put it into the cabin with all 20 of us and just kept going.
I have never in my life seen a place that looked as desolate as the range we were on today. All I could see in any direction was sand up to the horizon with the occasional shrub that seemed as though it was fighting very its very next second of life. There were no terrain features, no plants, no buildings, no people. Not even hills or sand dunes were there to break up the monotony of the landscape. I never thought that I would say this, but I think that downtown Chicago looks like a lush oasis of life compared to this place. It never ceases to amaze me to contemplate that this place is one of humanity's 'cradles of civilization.' Thousands of years ago very near here in a place just like this one mankind discovered the benefits of agriculture, the wisdom of language, the power of fire. When the residents of the rest of the world, under more hospitable conditions, were still competing for survival against the animals around them, the early denizens of this region of the world were thriving against all natural odds (perhaps this says something about humanity and adversity).
2219
The rest of the day has not really been noteworthy. After going to dinner chow I tried to go use the internet and get this post up, but was unsuccessful in getting on a computer. I think that it may be best to try to go late at night. We already have a contingent of guys that are going to get up at midnight, go eat, and take care of anything else that they have to do. They figure, and they are probably right, that they will get more done at that hour due to the lower temperatures and smaller crowds at places. Well, I am off to bed right now. They say that I have to go try to fire again at 0800 tomorrow morning, so I had better get some rest.

Mailing address for Iraq

2005-05-20T22:30:00.000+04:00

Before I forget, I have finally received a mailing address for when I arrive in Iraq. I can be reached by mail at:
SPC Rosenberg, David M.
HHC 2-130th INF
MED PLT
Camp Liberty, Iraq
APO, AE 09344
Although I am not yet in Iraq, I will be there long before any mail sent from the US arrives. I have been told to expect that any mail sent to me will take approximately 3-4 weeks to arrive. Now the address issue should be taken care of.
Today has been really just one big exercise in frustration. I feel like I have been running around all day and have not accomplished a single thing. We got up at about 0345 this morning to try to get in line for breakfast which opens at 0530. The reasoning was that we had to be at a class at 0600, and we had to get to the DFAC (dining facility) early to get through in time. Amazingly enough, the plan worked, and I got to eat before I went to the class. The class today was on IEDs and prevention of friendly fire incidents. Although the material is something that we have been taught and retaught, the Brit that spoke on friendly fire was funny and kept my attention.
The rest of the day was really just spent sitting in the blazing sun and waiting for things transportation that never appeared. We were supposed to go to the zero range today and confirm our weapon zero with 18 rounds. The plan was that we were supposed to be picked up right after our IED briefing and get taken directly to the zero range and have everything done by noon. Unfortunately, things did not play out that way. We sat in the 120 degree heat until about 1100 waiting and then decided to take a break to go eat lunch. At 1330 we went back to the waiting area (which is about a mile or so away from our tent) and continued to wait for buses. Around 1600 we were about to leave and the buses arrived to pick us up. We mounted the buses and sat for about ten minutes until we were informed that the buses were done running people to the range for the day, and that we were going to have to come back again tomorrow at 0500 and try again. All in all, we baked for about 5 hours in the hot sun and accomplished nothing. To add insult to injury, we were all wearing all of our body armor, plates, etc. I probably drank about three gallons of water today alone.
The evening was pretty relaxing, however. I got to go use the computer for a while and got this weblog finally up and started. I checked my email and even got a cup of coffee from the 'Green Bean Coffee Shop.' It was a pleasant release from a day that was filled with frustration.
The chaos began again tonight; I guess that I should not be surprised. We were told that we had to go unload all of our duffel bags off of pallets and organize them before we went to sleep. After wandering around for about forty-five minutes we found the bags, debated the issue for half an hour, and then decided not to mess with the bags and walked back. We were also informed that it is now required that we have our weapons 'dummy corded' to ourselves at all times while in Kuwait. This means that we are to tie our weapons to our bodies with rope so that we don't lose them. Though this may seem trivial, this order is the equivalent of telling a bunch of high-schoolers that they have to hold each other's hands on a field trip so that no one gets lost: it is an insult to our intelligence and a sign of mistrust. Personally, I don't really care about this, but there has been a considerable amount of grumbling by the guys that we are being treated like children by the brigade. I predict that this will cause strife for at least a week.
Despite all of the frustration and time wasted today, I still feel really good. I came here expecting there to be frustrations like these, so it doesn't really ruffle my feathers. I am still getting used to the environment and am becoming more comfortable with my surroundings. I have definitely noticed that some of our guys' affects have noticeably decreased since we have arrived in country (I am not going to give out names). Several of the guys seem angry or frustration by what is going on around us or the positions that they have been put into. I am confident that they will work out their issues with time, and I will do anything I can to help them minds in order while still working to maintain my own serenity. I have decided that I need to make some goals for myself for the rest of the time that I am here to make sure that I don't waste my time or let my mind put me in a bad place. I intend to do the following while I am here in Kuwait:
Study my Arabic tapes, completing one lesson per day (60-90 minutes)
Have at least two pieces of fruit daily.
Try to write a journal entry such as this one, daily
Drink no more than two carbonated beverages daily
Find an AA/NA meeting while I am here or find some people in the program and make myself a meeting
Call home for a few minutes every other day
I know that I have to not get bent out of shape when I don't accomplish all of the goals that I would like, but I think that giving myself things to work on will help me keep a positive attitude even when the Army deals me frustration in spades. Well, I am off to bed, have to get up early in the morning.

Welcome to my blog, MedicMinutes

2005-05-20T18:02:00.000+04:00

Hello, everybody. For those of you who don't know me, I am David, a National Guard Medic currently on deployment for Operation Iraqi Freedom. I am creating this weblog for the intended purpose of letting those who love and care about me know what is going on in my life without having to write the same emails/letters several times over. If you have any comments or suggestions on this weblog, please feel free to email me at medicminutes@hotmail.com. Thank you everyone for your interest in my life and the love, support, and prayers that you are sending me.

Dave

Arrival in Kuwait

2005-05-19T20:45:00.000+04:00

Today I arrived in Kuwait after a long day of flying. Although I know that the flight was tiring for everyone, it was particularly unpleasant for me as I had a hemorrhoid removed only a few hours before boarding the flight. The flight in total lasted about 24 hours with sixteen of those hours spent in the air. We had one layover in Germany for about two hours which was a nice break from and a chance to have a couple of cigarettes.

All in all it feels very good to finally be here. I have spent nearly six months preparing for this, it feels good to be actually beginning the process and getting a step closer to being home. The reality of my situation is beginning to set in as well. Although I have been given two briefings today that I am now in a 'combat zone' and that I need to get my head in the game, I think that the most sobering reality for me is just to see how different country is from my home. The signs look different, the weather is different, the people act and speak differently..... I guess I am not in Kansas anymore. Everywhere I look I see desolation, this land is just so bleak. The ground is nothing but fine sand and rocks, the sky, nothing but withering heat. There isn't even a real horizon here. The blue of the sky just subtly fades into the color of the sand creating the illusion that the ground and the sky are one. Already I have seen windstorms whip up that create near-zero viability conditions within seconds.

The most surprising thing about the weather, not surprisingly, is the level of the heat. Truth be told, it is not as bad as I thought it would be, despite being nearly 120 degrees at noon. The heat here is truly a dry heat; there is simply no moisture in the air here at all. The wind feels like the blast of warmth that come when one opens the over to stick a fork in a cake, but I never really felt like I was sweating. My sweat apparently was evaporating so quick that my clothes never even felt damp, despite drinking almost two gallons of water today. I can easily see how this could be confusing and case someone to become dehydrated.

Well, I am getting ready for bed now. I have just been issued 45 live rounds to have with me at all times for 'force protection.' Basically, I have to have my weapon and ammunition with me at all times in case we are attacked. I have to go to a class on the IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) class tomorrow morning at 0600 and will be going out to the firing range afterwards to zero my CCO. (A CCO is a close combat optic, a scope for short range shooting. Zeroing a scope involves making minor adjustments to its position on the weapon so that the bullets go where the scope says that they will.) After that I am not sure what tomorrow will hold. All in all, my morale is good and I am looking forward to getting done what needs to get done.