The last week has been a little bit of a blur. The trip from Kuwait was as frustrating as most of the other travel. The main source of this frustration is always the baggage, however, they added a little more excitement this time. About 50% of our initial class from FT Jackson is still intact and travelled together to Khandahar. The Navy Liason set up our flights and of course it began at 3 in the afternoon (It was 122 degrees). We assembled for a 7 mile bus ride (it took an hour) with all our gear (four bags each weighing about 60 pounds) and travelled over to the Air Force transport terminal. I was surprised by all the contractors I saw - someone is making a lot of money providing logistics and supplies to all of us. The Air Force makes us show up three hours before the flight and they told us we would be in a C-17 (not a bad aircraft and usually configured similar to a commercial aircraft). We were pleased because we could spread out and maybe sleep or break out our computers and watch a movie. Surprise, instead it is a C-130 with only 52 seats (we had 51 people) made of cargo netting and you sit sideways and its cold and only goes about 280 miles an hour (making a two hour trip into 5) and we don't really have bathrooms, but we do have a can and shower curtain for privacy. I thought I had won the lottery! At least we arrived safe.
Khandahar was our next stop. We landed at about 5 in the morning (due to the 1 and a half hour time change). We were surpised and pleased that when we got out of the C-130 that is was actually only about 80 degrees with a nice breeze. Now that our smaller team of 16 got to Khandahar we officially belong to the Medical component and they picked us up from the airport and transferred us over to another transient tent. We met with the Commanding Officer (I actually met him when I was in Flight Surgery School and then he was my Medical CO while aboard the Roosevelt - small Navy) and got settled in. It was busy base with about 30,000 people (however it was only supposed to hold about 15). They had a nice area with several restaurants, including a sit down TGI Fridays - bizarre. We ended us essentially staying for about 36 hours before doing the standard 'bag drag' and flying to our final destination - Camp Bastion in the southern Helmand Province. This time we knew it was going to be a C-130, but the flight only took about 25 minutes - straight up and straight down. Now our group of 122 from FT Jackson numbered only 11. When we arrived we were met by the Medical Crew here and after some administrative things we got to our room at 2 AM and I finally laid down to rest.
The first couple of days here were for orientation to get used to the time change again and to get indoctrinated to how the British run a hospital, however out of the Orthopaedic Surgeons here three out of the five are US and one is Estonian. I ended up doing surgery the second day I was here and haven't stopped since. I have gotten a 'nice' room with two British Physicians as roomates - I affectionately call them Harry Potter and Benny Hill - not sure they like it. The living conditions are sparse and its hot and windy, but hopefully I can get into some sort of routine - hasn't happened yet as |I have gotten 4, 2 and 1.5 hours of sleep the three nights I've been here. I'm moving into another room shortly with only two beds and a desk soon and should have some limited use of WiFi to keep up a little better with email and the blog. So far it hasn't been that bad, except for the British food and needing a tranlator to figure out what some of the Scottish people are saying (I usually just smile and nod my head when they talk to me). Overall its shaping up to be a very busy summer, but at least I'm with a good crew. All for now.
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