Hot, Hot, Hot

Wow!  I don't think I've ever been this hot.  At 4 pm this afternoon it was 117 degrees with about 10% humidity - which means you don't sweat.  We try and not go outside too much during day light hours, which run from about 5 am to 7 pm.  What is even worse are the bathrooms - they are porta-johns and its like a sweat box, I would say it gets close to 140 in there - think going to the bathroom in a sauna.

Our uniforms here are the standard issue Navy Blue shorts and with Bright Yellow Navy shirt, along with our M9's and shoulder harness (notice the mandatory reflective belt - as if someone couldn't see us coming)  I'm fairly certain that this outfit does not strike fear into anyones heart, but see for yourself below.

Should be heading out of here in the next 48 hours, the sooner the better - forecast is for 122 tomorrow!

On to Kuwait

Another early morning to get ready to sit around and wait.  First up at 04:30 to get showered and get our bags on the the truck.  Then 06:00 inspection to make sure our barracks were clean.  07:00 breakfast and 07:45 roll call before getting on the buses to go to terminal.  It was a great send off as the VFW and several other groups led us out of the base on their motorcycles with American Flags flying on the back.  We arrived at the private terminal to about 150 local citizens cheering us on.  They brought a lot of good stuff for us to take along - bibles, flags, girl scout cookies, etc.  All our instructors came out on their day off as well to see us off.  As they read off our names to board the plane the people who showed up picked up flags and made a path for us to walk through - I got a lot of handshakes and hugs.  It was awesome!

We got delayed about 30 minutes for a photo op with presidential candidate Newt Gingrich - I got a photo with him and will post later.

The first leg of the flight was short and we stopped in Maine to refuel.  Again when we got off the plane there were a dozen or so volunteer greeters to give us a hand and hugs.  The stop took about 2.5 hours.  Our second stop was in Germany and lasted about 3.5 hours and several other planes from other places were also there.  The final leg was about 5 hours (Total flying time about 14 hours) and we finally arrived at Kuwait International Airport.  However, this was not our final stop yet.  Another 1.5 hour layover before getting on a bus for another 1.5 hour ride to finally arrive at our destination - at least for a few days.  We find ourselves again in a 40 man tent, but this time instead of being 90 degrees outside it is 110!!  There are a few things here to do including a couple of gyms, movie theater and starbucks, but again I just really want to get to my final destination.  The good thing about this stop is that it begins my official 'boots on ground' time!!  179 and a wake up.

Last week of training

This final week of training at FT Jackson (Camp McCrady) was the culmination of everything we had been taught.  Unfortunately, by this time though, everyone is just ready to get out of there.  We continued to work on Convoy operations and shoot the M4's (at least on the computer simulator).  The final day was the actual convoy operations that we did twice.  The goal was to lead your convoy from start to finish and find all IED's and not take any KIA's.  I was the commander for the first attempt and we found 4 IED's (however there were actually only 2) and took no KIA's.  Success, however it only took about 20 minutes and we got up at 4:45AM and got back to base at 5:30PM - Not exactly efficient use of time.  We then got to clean our weapons and turn in the ones we were not taking - I'm only taking one, so I had to turn in my rifle, which I was happy about.  Why, you ask?  Try carrying it around 24/7 for three weeks and you will know the answer.

 Four of my new friends and I took in a movie (Hangover 2) and got a steak (Ruth's Chris) the final night and it was a good way to end the training.  Now off to bed and early morning to fly out to Kuwait.  Camp McCrady wasn't that bad and the training and Instructors were top notch, but it really seems they could have done it in 10 days instead of 20.  Oh well, hope never to have to worry about it again.

Last Liberty

The final weekend of liberty started off late as they had said we would get out early (and of course we could have, but they have this Army 'White Space' where we sit around a lot).  Finally got to see my wife and we traveled to Charleston for dinner.  It just happened to be our 1st year anniversery, so we kind of lucked out.  If was a great night and we got to hang out the next day.  Saying goodbye again was difficult.  Can't wait to get back.  Love you babe.

The surgical team - Anesthesia, General Surgery, Ortho, Anesthesia

M4 Qual

This last couple days have been pretty intense - up at 4:30 every morning.  We have spent them at different ranges firing the M4/M9 and qualifying to carry them in country.  We started out firing in an electronic range - unfortunately this was a little simpler than the real thing and I got a little too much confidence (hit 36 out of 40).  Then we grouped and zeroed our rifles, basically making sure they are firing straight and hitting what we are pointing at.  The next day we shot another 160 rounds in full battle gear seeing where our shots were hitting and missing.  Finally today we attempted to qualify on a series of pop-up targets from 50 to 300 meters.  We had three different positions (prone-supported, prone-unsupported and kneeling).  We had to his 23 out of 40 to qualify and I did, but to tell the truth the women did a lot better than the men.  We also learned how to throw a grenade and got familiarized with the 240/249 and the 50 cal, all of which we are going to fire tomorrow along with a stress and flex fire with the M4 where we are doing close quarters combat.  Its all a blast except for cleaning the weapons which can take an hour or so a day.

Weekend Liberty

Its been a while since I have been restricted from what I want to do, actually its been forever, unless you count fraternity initiation (but that is for another post).  I was able to get off base for about 6 hours on Sunday even though liberty started at 1700 on Saturday.  You are not able to travel over 100 miles or stay over night without a special liberty chit.  Not a huge deal, but certainly a drag.  I drove up to Charlotte to see my parents and we had lunch and a nice visit.  It was great to just get away from living so close with 40 other people in one room and it was great to see my parents even if it was only for a couple of hours.

Hopefully I won't have to wear this too often in Afghanistan - full body armor, helmet, knee and elbow pads, M9, M4 and camelback.  It weighs about 80 pounds total.

Gear Issue

Well, now this is kind of a pain.  Yesterday we spent the entire day getting our gear issued to us and then today we were issued our weapons - both an M9 and a brand new M4.  The gear included all our personal protective armor (65 pounds), two Army backpacks (full of crap), two sleeping bags, cold weather gear, camelback, Gerber multi-tool device, sunglasses, goggles, etc.  It amounted to three sea bags and a huge backpack.  All this stuff we have to hump overseas.  We also have to carry our weapons everywhere we go on base - including the cafeteria.  Its kind of a hassle, but it will get us use to carrying weapons all the time while we are there.

First 24 Hours at Jackson

Well, the bus trip wasn't that bad - only 8 hours with a couple of stops (unions).  We had a short indoc lecture and then were able to check into our open bay barracks (up to 40 people, but we only have about 30).  After settling in, my new battle buddy (Anesthesiologist from Portsmouth) and I went to the bar on base as this is the last time we are allowed to drink alcohol for the entire deployment (this even counts when I'm on weekend liberty).  I over served myself a little and went back to a completely dark bunk and fumbled my way into bed.

After a nights sleep we had a couple more indoc lectures and tomorrow the real fun begins.  We will be going to the range most days to shoot and qualify on both the M4 rifle and the M9.  We also have land navigation, IED identification, convoy training and Army command structure training.  It should be fun and after the initial shock of living this close to thirty other men I think I'm looking forward to the whole ordeal.    I let you know after the first week.

War over? Not hardly!!

I won't go into my feelings about finally tracking down Osama (read utter jubilation) expect that I think the Team 6 bubbas might be the baddest MF'ers on earth - shout out to DEVGRU.  I would, however, like to point out that during the week I got phone calls, emails and questions from some very smart people about whether or not I still had to go to Afghanistan because the war is over since we killed Osama right?  Really?  Really?  Next question!

On to Jackson

Thats one week down!  As they say in the Navy, now I only have 231 days and a wake up.  It was pretty much a slow week with the majority of time waiting for things to happen.  The low down on NMPS is as follows (very truncated to spare me the boredom again).
Day 1 - Check in, 3 powerpoints, Uniform sizing.
Day 2 - Medical processing.
Day 3 - More medical processing.
Day 4 - Gas mask fitting, finalize medical processing.
Day 5 - Check out and uniform issue.

NMPS consisted of about 80 people coming in from around the country to process to various area - about half to Astan, the others to Africa, Iraq, Qatar, etc.  It was an assortment of Reserves, Active duty and GSA.  About 75% are going directly to FT Jackson for Army indoctrination and the others are heading to various other places including FT Dix and Bliss.  We board a bus at 0700 tomorrow and despite them telling us its only about 8 hours, I'm not going to bet on it.  I was made a 'Group' leader today to make sure my people get to the bus on time.  Not a big deal, but this may end up being a harbinger for things to come - meaning I will be assigned as a platoon commander when we get to Jackson.

Not much I can tell you about the whole week of NMPS that you won't pretty much find out anyway, but here are some things that I think might help.
1)  Make sure you get as much of the medical portion done as possible, including immunizations.  Also, if you are going to Astan make sure you already have your Doxy with you otherwise you get to wait to pick them up at the pharmacy - 2 hours (they tried to pick up most peoples, but batted only about .500).
2)  Uniform.  You have to be in uniform each of the first four days.  I wore Khakis which by the end of the week was a bust.  Most others had the Navy blue digis and they looked way more comfortable.  Only bring one set of uniforms as you will have to get them back home on Friday.  I made the mistake of bringing too many civilian clothes.  I suggest you bring 2 or 3 t-shirts, one pair of workout shorts, one pair of casual shorts, a pair of jeans, one polo shirt and enough socks and underwear to make it a week without doing laundry.  Otherwise, leave it at home.
3)  As for other personal gear - make sure it can fit into a backpack.  We are allowed to bring two small bags on the bus and onto FT Jackson.  I ended up sending home about 20 pounds of gear as I got a little overzealous with making sure I took everything I needed at the beginning.  The bottom line is that where ever you are going they will have clean wipes, batteries, deodorant, etc.  I suggest you have a small bag for a week of these things and also a backpack with computer, ipad, iphone, iwhatever as well as all your paperwork and medical/dental records.  Otherwise leave it at home.
4)  Finally, I took a gamble and sent home a couple of things that they issued us already - like cold weather boots (pretty sure its not going to be cold where I'm going - ever).  If I need them then my wife can send them to me.  The sea bag is pretty much 100% full when you get it, so unless you send stuff home you won't be able to fit anything else in.
Final list of personal gear - 3 t-shirts, 8 pairs of underwear, 6 pairs of work-out socks, one pair of jorts (kidding they are cargo shorts), one pair of jeans, one button down shirt, one pair of sweat pants, one pair of workout shorts and a pair of tennis shoes.  As for the electronics:  computer, ipad, ipod, headlight (get a good one), camera, wet wipes, batteries, leatherman, fan (good for both air and white noise), bath towel (don't forget this) and all the assorted adaptors.  I should be good for now, but will post later if this is still too much.

All in all it was a pretty slow week, but the base has pretty much everything you need - food, convenience store, coffee shop, barber shop (shaved my head - hooah!), and wifi everywhere.
Hope this helps.

NMPS Norfolk

Today is May 1st, 2011.  About 6 weeks ago I was selected to do an IA deployment (Individual Augmentee) to a NATO base in southern Afghanistan.  In my preparation to deploy I found very little useful information about what to expect (ie. what to pack, leave behind, where do we sleep, what do we do).  I want this blog to be a little insight as to what medical professionals can expect when deploying.   I am hoping to post regularly along with some photos of the area of operations - with all due respect to both patient confidentiality and operational security.  I hope this can be used as a tool to help others prepare for their time away.
My first stop is NMPS Norfolk for five days of Navy processing, then on to Fort Jackson, South Carolina where I will be indoctrinated into the Army.