how i miss the heavenly bed

since the ship was in port in guam for a few days, after checking in late at night, i left the next morning, got a rental car, and hit the town. stayed at the westin in tumon bay that night and man, was it nice! the first pic was the view from my hotel room. and that's the hotel beach in the second. i've heard guam described basically as if hawaii and tiajuana got together and had a baby. many parts are poor and run down, but the island's also a vacation spot for japanese tourists. so in tumon bay, you have all these high end hotels and high end shopping. tiffany, gucci, cartier...there are actually multiples of all these stores on one relatively small block. i guess may since it's so hot outside, you wouldn't want to have to go all the way down the street to get your ferragamo shoes. luckily for you, there's another ferragamo store just across the street. and everything's in japanese. was able to resist the cpk and the hooters and had some great sushi and ramen instead. good thing since we were only in tokyo for a couple of hours in the airport. i even managed to get my favorite mango black tea with boba.

but i really do miss that heavenly bed. we've been at sea for a few days now and that's me at the very back of the ship. nothing but sapphire blue water and fluffy white clouds. nothing else around as far as the eye can see. it actually feels like we've been out here forever and that guam was ages ago, when in reality, this is day 3. but it's great. the sunsets and the starry nights are pretty amazing. still haven't made it up for sunrise yet, but 4am is a little rough.

and here's to my new travel partners. normally in rads, we like to sit alone in the dark and try to avoid speaking to any other docs, but kelly the peds guy, jen the internist, and flo the ob/gyn, you guys aren't half bad. just kidding. it's been great hanging out and i'm so glad you guys are around. can't wait for the rest of this trip.

internet on the ship is painfully slow, but i'll keep trying. no access to any personal email accounts until i'm ashore in vietnam, so if you guys want to drop me a line, i'd love to hear from you. huy.tran@mercy.navy.mil for the next 6 weeks or so.

35 years later

my parents left vietnam 35 years ago in april 1975, just days before the fall of saigon. they were among millions of boat people who pretty much left all their belongings behind, crammed into a small boat and said farewell to their homeland. after being picked up by a u.s. ship, first stop guam, and there, anderson air force base, where i just visited yesterday. like the few other air force bases i've been to, it's sprawling, encompassing pretty much all of the northern part of guam, and well-manicured, with wide swaths of beautiful green grass (probably the only green grass on the island). drive a little further out, though, and you can't believe you're on a u.s military base..the tropical plants, the cliffs, the hot, humid weather, and the gorgeous, gorgeous beaches.

it's a little surreal to think that i was actually on this island with my parents back then, as a 2 month old baby. my friend jokes that she can't believe they didn't trade me for a bowl of rice. and then she thought, they prolly did trade me for a bowl of rice and these aren't my real parents after all. regardless, i'm incredibly grateful for all that i've received thus far and the opportunities that have strangely led me back here.

pacific partnership 2010....first stop...guam

yet another deployment no longer in the sandbox this time. this one i don't mind so much though. humanitarian mission on the usns mercy hospital ship to vietnam and cambodia. prolly one of the things i always wanted to do in the navy.

so here's my home for the next 6 weeks...and yup, that's my middle rack right there. funstuff, eh? landed in guam late friday night. a couple of days of liberty and then off to vietnam on monday. first time on a boat. should be interesting...will keep you all updated.

Camp Virginia

here i am, back in that army base in kuwait where i started this whole journey 7 months ago. i can't believe i am actually finally out of iraq. we had more long delays last night trying to get out and didn't get any sleep but it doesn't matter. i'm back in kuwait and back to sleeping on the cots again. just had some mickey d's and now drinking an iced latte and it's pretty clear that i'm done.

of course, i still have customs to go through which according to all reports is a huge pain in the arse. we leave for the airport this evening to for a flight that's not really scheduled to leave until late tomorrow morning. ugh! but knowing that the next time i lay down to sleep it will be in my own house on my own bed (knock on wood) is so very sweet.

we're gonna have a layover in europe on our way back and actually, that would be the only place where i wouldn't mind being stuck for a few days actually...hehehehe...if all goes according to my plans, the squads gonna have a few beers and i'm gonna give them some sleep aids and it will be a nice quiet ride home for me.

talk to you guys in a few!

Goodbye TQ

it's been over 3 weeks since i've posted. sorry to all of you who have been checking only to find nothing new. it's been a busy 3 weeks and sadly internet only seemed to get slower. my bud jim came out for his deployment. it was great meeting up with an old friend again. i've mentioned it before, but it really is hard to describe how wonderful it is to see not only a familiar face, but to greet a good pal out here. i was the sole doc in my area and working every day for 7 months without much colleague interaction so hanging out with my bud, smoking cigars on top of the flight tower was def one of the highlights.

our replacements, the vmu-1 watchdogs came out in early oct, and boy were they a sight for sore eyes! my replacement, a navy captain (yes, he outranks his commanding officer), seems like a very nice and we had a good long turnover. it was great passing on the tidbits i had learned throughout the deployment and also getting a good bit of advice from his experiences (as well as his rank) as well. they came out with 3 corpsmen (vice my one) so they are pretty much good to go and should have a pretty nice schedule going.

today is my last day in tq. i will be heading out very shortly and heading back to the states before to long. although everything has become so routine and it feels like i've been out here forever and a day, trying to stay cool, stay hydrated, and avoid the sandstorms, i can remember distinctly the looks on the faces of the people i was replacing and how happy they seemed to be. i know now where they were coming from. it's a great feeling. i also remember the trepidation of my first day working alone after the turnover.

i've missed an entire summer back in the states. time really does seem to go by without you while you are stuck here and the hours and days all blend together as one. it gets much darker much earlier now and the nights can even be described as cool. i can't wait to get back, to my own home, my own bed, hell, even my own shower. i can't wait to see my family and my friends. it's been a long 7 months but it's almost over. it's all i could think about over the past few weeks or so and now it's finally here.

Bye bye Devers

after spending 14 hours a day, every day, of the past 6 months together, my corpsman is about to head out with our advanced party. they were actually supposed to head out of here a few days ago but they got to the the departure point and was told they weren't going to be able to get out. there were some pretty unhappy people that day, but can ya blame 'em? at least we were able to delay the withdrawal for a bit. seriously, though, i have to say that i totally lucked out getting someone who was motivated, who worked hard, and who actually knew what he was doing. our military is taxed all around and when you get someone who is augmented from their command simply to go on deployment with you because there simply aren't enough corpsmen around, you never know what you may end up getting. some have been relieved of duty for huffing canned air, others were caught sleeping around and still others were sunbathing naked. mine, i did have to deal with the sarcastic wit, esp during our political discussions, but i can handle that :). if ever there's anything i can help you with, you look me up!

with our advon getting ready to head out, i'm that much closer to going home. less than a month to go and all i can think about is getting out of here. ironically, i'm busier than ever...i just don't want to do anything anymore. i know...i'm terrible! i have interview every single person in the squadron before we head out of here. i have to finalize the grades and submit all of the paperwork for my anatomy class that i just wrapped up (it was much more work than i anticipated!). i have to get ready for my own turnover. and i still have that mishap investigation to finish up. ok, i'm whining. i just don't want to do any of it so i'm procrastinating like you would not believe. it will be very nice once our replacements get here. they should be here not too long from now and we're all chomping at the bit waiting for that day the TOA (transfer of authority) comes.

instead of working tonite, i just watched superbad. it was an awful bootleg copy but that movie is frickin' hilarious! you guys def have to check it out. final shoutout to wash, the new guy who's gonna help me get through the rest of this deployment. he may have not big ben's wit, but he does have a mouth of his own. i appreciate him extending his time in iraq here just to help me out.

Counting down the days...

it's so sad that we've been here 5 years now and not only does it seem like we don't make much progress in the country, we can't even seem to figure out some basic logistics like our f'd up laundry service or our even worse internet! i've been trying to get on to the internet cafe for the past couple of weeks and it's been so incredibly slow i haven't been able to even log on to my blog :(. it's often worse than dial-up. unreal.

anyway, august did go by fairly slowly, but we did have a one of our birds go down (i'm still working on the mishap report...ugh!) and so it was a fairly busy month. thankfully, september is here now and there's just over a month to go. i'm about to work on our post deployment health assessments (we have a pre, post, and post reassessment...completely retarded and designed to eke out ptsd and other psych issues but have not proven to be valuable at all thus far).

at this point, i simply can not wait to get home. it's so close we can almost taste it. the big issue is trying to remain focused on the job at hand which is getting more and more difficult to do. unfortunately, makes my job harder as the marines get more and more reckless....but whatevers...we're going home soon :).

mrs. skinnee, thanks for all your postings! it's great reading them and i'll be seeing you soon! to, jes, just had a couple of bdays. hope you guys had good ones.

and finally, a couple more pics from the vector control trip. one of the russian migs saddam buried that i was telling you about last time. many are still unearthed...here's one that was partially dug up.

Yes, i'm still alive

it's been sometime since i've updated my blog. our comm has been blocked fairly recently as of late, and if you watch the news at all, you may understand why. we've been pushing forward trying to clear more areas of insurgents, which of course means more casualties, unfortunately. september, the season of ramadan (and slightly cooler weather), has historically been a time when insurgents are more active and even though our squadron doesn't go outside the wire, we're busy prepping to support those who do.

it's also getting closer to when we go home. less than 2 months to, less than 1 for our advanced party and i've been pretty busy getting those guys prepped for redeployment. everyone's gettin' a little antsy and tensions are higher than ever. i think everyone, including yours truly, is just ready to get out of here.

on cool thing that i got to do was go on a ride around the base with the vector control guys. their job is to trap all the wild animals, jackals, hyenas, wild dogs, jungle cats, foxes, etc, that roam around the base, making sure there is no disease. i got to see many parts of the base that no one ever goes to. saw some of the russian migs that saddam tried to bury hoping that he would be able to resurrect and reuse one day. some are still half buried! we also saw some of the kids that live on the lake just on the other side of the fenceline. those guys bring them toys and water and treats. i brought them extra toothbrushes and toothpaste. i know, i'm a nerd.

Two and a half months

august is here. supposedly the hottest month of the year. it's been pretty bad and i can't imagine it getting much worse. but i don't care. cause we only have 2.5 months to go. even though it's only a two week difference, for some reason it sounds so much better than the 3 months we had in mid july. i'm betting the month is gonna go by real slow though. there's quite a bit of things to do for redeployment so i'm hoping that will pass the time by.

we just got some newbies out here. seems strange to spend all this money and effort getting these guys out here when we're already fat with bodies only to send them home less than 3 months later. one of them is the squadron career counselor and the irony is that most ppl out here already reenlisted if they were planning to and so she doesn't even have anything to do. great, eh? i guess if you have to reach, it's always nice to have extra bodies to help with preparing to go home and there's always the "we need some continuity for next deployment" excuse...blah blah blah.

although to be honest, i wouldn't mind coming out here for a short period of time. i'd prolly would've even considered volunteering for a 3-month deployment (well, not now after this one...one deployment is enough for me). my friend ooh-rah came out here earlier in the year on a 5 week deployment when her c130 squadron came out. she's coming back out for another week or so sometime soon to help them get ready to go home and she's telling me how much she's looking forward to it. i guess it's one way to get out of the clinic...hehehehe

Finally back online

the generator to our internet cafe was down for a week or so and now i'm finally on the 'net again. the cafe is the only access for many of the marines and soldiers here and they weren't able to communicate with anyone back home. apparently, a lot of ppl were starting to get worried, esp. since sadly we've been taking quite a few hits in the past couple of weeks. anyway, they made some calls and it got all the way to the general here who put the crackdown on the kbr contractors who are supposed to be taking care of these things. kbr runs this place. these civilians, who subcontract with local nationals and third country nationals, do everything from electricity to a/c to road repairs to running the fire department. and guess who kbr is a subsidiary of? yup, you guessed it...haliburton! the sad part is they don't even do that great a job.

so i finished teaching the psych course which ended better than i hoped. everyone passed with only 3 c's and the rest a's and b's. for 16 students, i was pleased. i just started teaching my second college course, the human body. this one's a bit easier for me in terms of knowledge, but it's pretty hard to teach anatomy without a lab or models or props to play with. and there's no getting around the fact that there's gonna be A LOT of memorization. makes me a little nervous for my marines, but maybe i'm just not giving them enough credit....we'll see, i guess.

it really does feel like i've been out here forever and i keep thinking we're almost done, but there still is another 3 months to go. it is frickin' hot out here, too (125 just the other day). there are some nice moments though...the views of the lake are still pretty incredible (when there's no sandstorm blowing dust in your eyes), and that sunrise above ain't too bad.

btw, i just jumped on the bandwagon and joined facebook. look for me on there if it's your type of thing.

What's wrong with universal health care?

i just watched sicko the other day. it was actually a pretty good movie and makes a good point for universal health care, comparing us to some other countries who have more "socialized medicine." i know that some of the basic arguments are that the quality of medical care will suffer or that doctors' will be more regulated and get less pay. but the movie points out that our quality of medical care is already at one of the bottom rungs and among industrialized countries, we have the lowest life expectancy, the highest infant mortality, the highest number of people who don't have access to care, etc. etc. supposedly, some of the homeless in these other countries have higher life expectancies than the average american. and there's a government employed doc on there who has a fancy car, million dollar home...obviously not suffering.

as a doc, it's hard for me to argue against having health care for everyone, but i do have to admit that my knowledge of the area is not that sophisticated. so tell me, what are the biggest arguments against a nationalized health care system? one funny point that's brought up is that there is one place where there is universal health care in america, and that's at guantanamo bay, cuba. the movie basically reiterated what my buddy saw when he was deployed there...that these known terrorists...major major bad guys, get better care than most americans. there is one provider for every 4 detainees! they have all sorts of specialists taking care of them. we bend over backwards to make sure they are medically taken care of. why don't we do this for everyone else?

the military is prolly as socialized as it gets when it comes to health care. in theater it's a little different, but back at home, i can order an test i want, any xray, ct scan, mri, pet scan, you name it. i can pretty much get any drug i want to try, any lab or study i think i may need. and of course, my patients don't pay a dime. and i'm not even specialty trained! true the board certified docs get paid less than they would in the real world (although i get paid way way more than my resident counterparts...i'm def not looking forward to that cut in pay), but the all def live comfortably.

just as i'm thinking it's a great though, there comes the occassional snag and you begin to see the bureaucracy and short-sightedness of a system that has no competition. i still have barely touched all that stuff i just got, you know, the over $20k of brand new computer equipment (3 ibm laptops, 10 hp ipaqs, and various accessories for 2 ppl) all for ONE software program to maintain electronic records. a complete waste when the program could have simply been added to existing computers. retarded!

obviously, the powers that be really do not understand what the situation is like for many of the providers out here. either that, or the contractors are promising goods that they can't deliver. i don't know. but when there's only one system around, one mistake is a big and costly one.

Redeployment 06-08

we just had the first of our redeployment meetings and although we have just barely passed the halfway point of oif 06-08, i can't tell you how great it was to be planning our trip home. the other docs said it would happen and i didn't believe them, but i'm actually excited to be getting back to cherry point! apparently, i'm gonna see it in a whole new light and now i don't doubt them one bit. can't wait!

we had a near mishap yesterday and thank god everything turned out ok. it would have been a major headache for me. an example...each person that is involved in the mishap has to give 16 vials of blood. a complete physical has to be done, interviews recorded, and a 72 hour history logged. it would have been a nightmare. and that's with no major injuries!

other than that, nothing major. work continues to be annoying. we received about a whole new computer system worth about $20k including 3 laptops and 10 pocketpc's all for one single program. a huge pain in the arse and talk about fraud, waste and abuse. no wonder we are spending $12 billion a month here and in afghanistan. it's unreal. making sure that the troops have enough supplies and equipment is one thing, but this was pretty ridiculous. and not only that, i'm supposed to be getting a brand new printer specifically for this program because it can't use the printer that i already have in my office. is that awesome or what? seriously, though, my work space is so cramped that i don't even have any room for this stuff. whoever is making these decisions to get this gear really has absolutely no clue about what conditions are like out here. i mean, i have a 3 room clinic that only has ONE 110 volt outlet!

anyway, mr. and mrs. p...thanks for the second care package! it's always great to get something in the mail and i and my guys def appreciate the goodies! pops, i got the candy, the kho bo, and the ruoc (sp?). awesome! hope your vacation to yellowstone is going well!

Happy 4th!

so for some strange reason my computer at work is allowing me access to my blog site which is great! it's the fourth of july and i just came back from our celebratory lunch of crappy steak, bbq chicken, mac n cheese, green beans, and corn on the cob. at least they try, i guess.

i am almost at the halfway point. can't say it hasn't gone by quickly, but it does feel like i've been here forever. we had the first of our redeployment meetings and i have to say that it was great talking about going home.

but there's been a pretty good amount of stuff here that's kept me busy. we've had tons of physicals. lots of rashes, lots of minor aches and pains. ortho was big...lots of sprained ankles and jammed fingers. iraqi crud (myself included). we had two army mishaps that i had to deal with. i sent pts to other bases to get checked out of aub, testicular masses, vision problems. I sent a pregnant marine home and another for avh. had a heat casualty and gave out tons of iv fluids. gave 4 medical briefs and did 3 shot fairs...overall, not too bad, i don't think.

i'm wrapping up my psychology class. turned out a better than i feared. those guys hunkered down for the final exam and i ended up giving 3 a's, 3 c's, and the rest b's. i was pretty happy with that. glad that no one failed. and i didn't even have to curve it.

i realized that i never showed you guys our birds. that's me with scaneagle, our boeing uav. our other one is the pioneer and i promise pics of that one soon as well. they're pretty cool. the scaneagle is all by joystick on a monitor, but pioneer has a remote control portion that's just like flying a toy plane. pretty fun, actually.

It is frickin' hot here!

the weather has been particularly nasty the past few days. hot (high 110's) and windy which means sand everywhere and in everything. imagine using the above in a situation like this. i mean, those things are fairly unpleasant as it is. imagine going in there after it's been baking in the sun. i've finally gotten most of the guys to close the lids on the toilets to help with the flies but still pretty darn gross.

when we first came out i couldn't believe how ppl could let their things get so nasty and dusty but now i understand. it's nearly impossible to keep things clean and sand free. pretty much manages to get into every nook and cranny and you get used to it, i guess. or maybe it's just me too lazy to dust every single minute of the day.

my psychology final is tomorrow. here's hoping my students are studying. for the most part, they aren't doing so hot. quiz scores are horrific. i'm torn because on the one hand, you have to give them credit for participating and sitting in a class for 2 hours, twice a week. there are a zillion other things they could be doing (well, video games, movies, internet mostly) and they've chosen to go to class. if they fail, they have to pay back the tuition that's being paid for them, $500! but there is something to be said for actually doing some studying! and it's not fair for the few students who are actually doing well. i'm crossing my fingers that the final exam will bring them up....

a lot of folks ask about what i think about war and what's going on and such. i guess the first thing i would say is that old saying is very true, "don't believe everything you see or hear on tv!" our squadron's job here is ISR, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance. our birds fly over the country looking for ied's or other suspicious activity. for the most part though, the activities are fairly normal looking, at least from above. but we do catch insurgents planting ied's. we've found weapons caches. we've discovered bomb making "factories" with chemical agents. and we've been able to take these things out.

a coworker sent me an interesting article about the current situation. obviously written by someone who's a part of all this, but take a look and decide for yourself. from a blog called the small wars journal.

Anthrax for everyone!

finally finished my third and final round of anthrax vaccinations. these were the shots i started about a month ago that caused so much bitching and moaning from my marines. yes, all of a sudden they became mandatory again...well, mandatory for iraq and korea at least, and they all had to be given out immediately....makes me wonder a bit about the urgency of it all. the whole process was a huge pain in the arse, too! one of my marines turned out to be prego and so i had to send her home. worse yet, i then realized that i had given her her first anthrax shot and she was most likely pregnant at the time! i made sure to ask all the females even if there was a remote chance they were pregnant (even though sex is a no-no out here) and she didn't think she was. i still felt awful. a couple of retarded stragglers left, but it's pretty much done thankfully.

month 4 has arrived, and if i had thought that ppl were getting on each others' nerves at 2 months, man, you should see things now. it's hot, everyone's super annoyed (myself included), and we still have over half the deployment to go. the irony is that our jobs aren't really even that hard. we're not patrolling the streets, we're not kicking down doors, we're not travelling in convoys. we sit behind computers in air conditioned rooms. our "pilots" fly with joysticks while looking at a monitor. we're relatively safe. the one thing that i can give the guys credit for, though, is the rough deployment schedule. 7 mos iraq, 5 months back, year after year. that def takes a toll.

surly j, thanks for posting. great to hear from you! muffin, i read your blog and i'm still jealous. those pics remind me of peru a couple of summers ago. same exact thing. psych j, i can't believe your deployment is almost over. can't wait to hear more gitmo stories.

and that's my room up top. mine's the one on the left with the yellow sheets. it's not bad, and prolly one of the better rooms at the alamo. kinda sad, huh?

Happy Father's Day

so that's lake habbaniyah from the road i take to work every day. it's actually a lot closer than it looks in the picture and we all stare out longingly at the water wishing we could just jump in. if only it weren't for the schistosomiasis and filariasis and god knows what other nasty creatures lying in the otherwise beautiful blue depths... on a clear day, you could imagine you were in another place, looking over some sand dunes, staring out into the ocean way out yonder (or you could imagine polar bears and ice caps as chu viet suggested :)...thanks for posting!). but just as you think about grabbing that ice-cold corona, you notice the barbed wire, and the control tower and a 7-ton drives by or gust of sand blows into your face, and by golly, you're still in iraq.

i often feel guilty whenever i start feeling restless and ready to go home. i mean, this is my first (and likely only) deployment and it's really not that bad. many of my marines are here on their 3rd, 4th trips, with some on their 5th! those of us on our 1st are def in the minority and as sucky as it may be, it's nowhere nearly as bad as being here the nth time around. now that, i can't even imagine.

daddy, happy father's day, and happy father's day to all the other pops out there. wish i could be there! micki, happy birthday and congratulations! great, great job! i know the fam's proud and you should be as well. helluvan achievement. welcome back to cali. i can't wait to get back there myself and i'll see you then!

Speaking of "deployments".....

my buddy muffin reports that he just started a blog as well. he's currently "somewhere in the pacific" on a humanitarian mission that's taken him to hawaii and will go to southeast asia including vietnam and thailand, amongst other cool places, all to provide medical care and support to locals. i've told him before, but i'm extremely jealous. if my military career consisted of humanitarian missions around the world, i'd prolly consider being a lifer. alas, here i am in the desert...not unexpected, and not all that bad, but not quite what i was hoping for either. some ppl have all the luck. perhaps i will just have to marry rich so that i can make my civilian career one medical mission after the next (i have to marry rich though, because i'm way too materialistic to be able to do it on my own).

i went to the rifle range today as the doc and had a chance to play with the m16 rifle as well as a couple of machine guns. usu, it's my corpsman that goes, but i wanted to give him a break...heheheh. yeah, it was pretty much a blast! we had hundreds of rounds to shoot and i had nevered fired any of those weapons prior (i've been relegated to my pistol so far) so it was pretty frickin' cool. pics to come soon, i promise.

there was one annoying thing in that the guys from training, the same ones who wanted to have the weapons course and who set up everything, didn't even show up! we had formation and 0530 and they weren't there. apparently, the marines from that shop didn't get the message even from within. i've had problems with them before in terms of scheduling my shot fairs and getting medical training to them just because they're frickin' lazy! these are the same guys who are the "flyers" in our squadron. bunch of prima donnas! i can't imagine what working with real pilots must be like, but ugh!

What kind of a deployment is this?!?

i just heard from one of my buddies from cherry point, psych j, currently on "deployment" to cuba and he sent me the pic above. how ridiculous is that?!?! he's been there since december and is almost set to head back home after 6 months of chillin' in a 2 story townhouse, fishing and surfing, and drinking coronas. some ppl get all the luck, eh? i guess the flipside to that is that he is the psychologist for detained terrorists and apparently the tour guide for congressmen, reporters, and other vip's who visit and want to see the horrors we are inflicting on those poor prisoners at gitmo. despite media reports, he tells me that his patients get "presidential medical treatment" and everyone has to "go out of their way to try not to offend them." funny how we never hear stories like that in the news. in spite of the bene's, i'll take caring for marines over jihadists any day.

hard to believe it's june already. pops, happy belated bday. i'm glad you like the crocs. amazing how easy it is to get over how ugly they are once you put them on and walk around a bit, eh? and they make great shower shoes over here in iraq, too. no feet fungus for me! i'm def a convert.

The Mummy Returns

so as promised. here are the pics of our first real sandstorm. sure, there have been dust storms and little mini sandstorms where all this shit gets in your eyes and your contacts burn like hell(but shhhh...we're not supposed to wear contacts out here). those are pretty sucky, too, but this, this was the first one that i was fairly impressed with. sand all over the place. barely can see anything. barely can even open your eyes in fact, and that's WITH glasses on! it didn't last too too long though and that's def a good thing.

another month has gone by so 2 down and 5 to go. 150 days. i compare days with the other docs and we all have different timeframes. misery loves company i guess, and most of us got here about the same time, but there are a few who got here a ways before we did and so we're all jealous of them. but i just spoke with harvard j today and i found out that he's coming here this september so i'm pretty psyched about that. it will be nice to have a good friend on base even if our overlap will only be one month. gives me something to look forward to.

btw, i'm really sorry i don't respond to all of your comments on the blog. the internet is so slow that it pretty much blows to be on. took frickin' forever just for those 3 images. anyway, i promise to try to do a better job keeping in touch. thanks again for visiting and for leaving your comments. they really do mean a lot.

Butterbar no more

just a quick shout out to our sole 2nd lt who just got promoted a couple of days ago. the lowest ranking officer has one gold bar on his collar and so it's called a butterbar and now we don't have one anymore. poor kid was the squadron bitch and got assigned all the mini taskers that other officers did not really want to do. things like designing tshirts and fundraising and all that jazz. but he's a sport and took it all in stride. not too much changed, though, since now he's still the junior ranking officer. at least he gets a pay raise. here's to you, sculls, or should i say, 1st lt scully.

we had a fairly nasty sand storm the other day and i took some pics so hopefully they turned out ok and i'll post as soon as i can start downloading. nice new camera from home, but they forgot the cable...heheheh...oh well...it'll come soon enough! about to start giving another round of shots so this time i'm getting the straws ready so that i can tell these guys to suck it up once they start crying and whining again. bunch of wimps.

oops, bus to work is about to leave so i'm out. stupid slow internet. pops, thanks for the answering machine and the alarm clock! you are awesome!

It's Gettin' HOT in Here

just over 10 days since i've last updated my blog and i feel like such a slacker. i wish i could say that it's been 10 fun-filled exciting days, but nope, not much has happened. after returning from al asad, i spent most of last week holding a shot fair and giving everyone in the squadron their vaccinations. amazing how a bunch of tough, hard-core marines turn into crying and whining babies at the sight of a tiny sub-q shot in the arm (arms that are bigger than my head, i might add). but there was no escape and i do have to admit that i did take some pleasure in giving them their little prick in the arm. maybe it's the fact that we've been out here about two months now, but everyone's starting to get on everyone else's nerves (or is it that everyone is just getting on mine?). all the taskers and the micromanaging....it's outta control and so so annoying. some of you have already gotten my bitching so i'm sorry you have to read about it again but all these little things that they want done (for seemingly no other reason than to be able to say we've done it) really chap my hide. i do more bullshit admin that i do medical care! and the heat isn't helping. they said that one day it would be like someone turned on the oven and that's exactly what happened. it's been frickin' hot and sandy and nasty. mostly in the 110's. hasn't hit 120 yet, but we all know it's coming.

i sorta feel bad feeling this way considering this is my first (and hopefully only) deployment and some of these guys here are on trip 4 or even 5. i can't even imagine. the same ppl, day in, day out, 24/7, 7 days a week for 7 months....that's prolly what drives you nuts. makes me realize how nice it was for me to have had those few days away in al asad.

thanks to all for coming by to visit the blog. will try to do a better job staying up to date and will def get more pics up. stupid camera broke during my trip and so haven't been able to upload any more pics. talk to you soon. if you're ever bored...drop me an email!

Al Asad and back again

i spent most of last week on a short trip to al asad. the travel was a bitch and i was exhausted but it was so nice to get away and to visit another base. took 8 hours to get there and 6 to get back even though it's a 45 minute helo ride but it was worth it. that place is huge and it's not called camp cupcake without reason. they have a pool, pizza hut, bk, a ginormous exchange...pretty much the works for out here. i was fairly impressed.

i gave a 3 hour brief and that was a huge pain in the ass. if i can get on my soapbox again, it was pretty annoying to give a presentation to people who you are trying to educate but who aren't willing to listen. again with the thinking that rank equates to extreme and superior knowledge and power. it was disappointing to think that that's how some people operate but that's what they do and unfortunately it prolly won't change. but i also got to chill for a couple of days after it was over so that was pretty cool.

and of course, i got to hang with fister. it's always nice to see familiar faces out here (it's a pretty small military world), and it was GREAT to see a good friend again. we didn't do much. talked, shared stories, mutual bitching about how sucky things (and people) are....it was pretty awesome.

only thing i regret is that my flights were at night (for fairly obvious reasons) so i didn't get a chance to see the countryside. i mean, this is such a historical region of the world (which is prolly why it's also so filled with strife) that it would have been incredible to just take a look across the land. perchance one of these days, i'll get the opportunity. harvard j is coming out to al asad later this year...that would be just awesome to see him as well.

Groundhog Day in May

it seems every day is groundhog day in these parts. another saturday has come again and not much different today. long day yesterday so i thought i'd try sleeping in again. i turned off my alarm clock only to wake up anyway at 0645. i guess that's what happens when you get older. gets harder and harder to sleep in. i am taking my time going in to work which is why i can write right now. i'm trying to find random times to hit the internet cafe and it seems to work as the connection is much faster and i don't have as much trouble uploading pics. ah to go back to wireless again. amazing how quickly you forget how annoying a slow connection really really is.

i haven't been checking my donut of misery lately, but this blog sorta does a pretty good job tracking the time. before i know it, it's been a few days since i've posted and a weekend is here again. it's pretty nice actually, because all the time goes by relatively fast, the days go pretty slow and i've prolly said it before, but it really feels like i've been here forever. starting to warm up, too!

mrs. sooch, mr. & mrs. p, thanks so much for the packages and even more so, thanks for thinking of me. dr. b, thanks for the card and thanks for just letting me know what's going on in your lives...really is nice to hear.

the pic above is from the c-130 ride from kuwait to iraq. funstuff, eh?

Just call me Professor

today was the first day of my intro to psychology class, and although brief, i have to say i think it went quite well. i mentioned before that i'm teaching a couple of college courses to my marines through a local university's deployment education program and i must say it's kinda cool. haven't really taught anything in a while and it's nice to have a new thing to do.

i also had to school a couple of the other officers in how to handle questionable medical situations, too. pretty simple, actually....call the medical officer! it's prolly worse in a real aviation community but a lot of these folks really believe that with their rank they can diagnose and treat all that ails them, whether it be physical (suck it up devil dog!) or mental (this guy's crazy, he needs to be kicked out of the military!). we had a young marine who's having some problems here and his shop was able to recognize that fact and approached him about it which is great. they knew to look for me, but since i wasn't around, instead of trying to find me, they go ahead and decide he's pretty much good to go and say so when i ask them later what they needed me for. now that would be fine and dandy except for the fact that he wasn't good to go and came to me expressing so. i talked to his shop again today and they reemphasized that they solved the problem when they really had no clue as to what's going on.

i guess it's a fine line i have yet to master between protecting my patients' rights (which i believe to be paramount) and balancing it with protecting the mission of the command (which is why we're even here in the first place!). i sort of go by a need-to-know basis, but i'm deciding when i feel skipper needs to know something and it's a little dangerous cause while fairly in the loop, i don't always know how a marine's health status may affect the evolution of our work here. right now, it's a risk i'm willing to take, i guess.

and that pic up there? it's the courtyard of the alamo from my doorway. nope, don't live at the office on the flightline. we have this old building affectionly called the alamo where the officers and staff nco's stay. it's actually not bad. i'll post pics of my room next.

Do all patients have such impeccable timing?

i came back from my sunday afternoon run all tired, sweaty, and out of breath and just as i'm about to sit down and veg in front of the a/c one of the guys comes running up to me. "sir, you have a phone call." unfortunately, that's usu not a good thing. it's never fun phone calls you get and such was the case here as well. hm3 was on the line and there were 3 patients who had just walked into the clinic waiting for me. now, hm3 is very capable and competent, but there are some cases i just have to see...and these guys...well they had to be seen. so i hop on my bike and ride in to work. ugh. i'm gonna have to get these guys to start sticking to my actual sick call hours!

but beak, so far the weather hasn't gotten so bad yet. it's cool at night (and actually pretty cold when i get up in the morning...i have to wear a fleece), very warm in the day....but not quite hot yet. i think the hottest it's been is in the low 90's. they say it was way hot this time of year last year so i feel pretty lucky so far. little victories, my friends. the dust storms still suck. that's a pic of a couple of old broken down jets sitting in the desert in the middle of one. everything is that nasty brown color. you can barely tell sky from ground. and each breath is like taking a mouth full of sand. well, not quite that bad, but unpleasant to say the least.

The Office

so here it is...that's my clinic up top and that's the view outside my door. that small road you see there is the runway. yup, i'm right on the flightline. usu it's the tiny uav's that take off from here, but occ we'll see a huge c-130 or c17 taxi on by. there was even a jet that landed there the other day. makes for a pretty loud work place. we do have to be careful about what pics to post but i think these are ok. i'm using the 'net during the middle of the day, and when there's less ppl on, it actually works decently. pretty sad, huh? the last squadron had wireless in the alamo, but my skipper hesitated and now it's a grip of $$$ to start up. i think some of the guys are looking into sponsors to help defray the costs of setting up, but it's like in the thousands.

i left cherry point a month ago, but have only been here for a little over 3 weeks. the time seems to pass fairly quickly, but it does feels like i've been here forever. work is fairly steady so not quite as boring. i do have a lot of collateral stuff i'm supposed to be doing but they're no fun so i put them off. about to get my class started. gotta prepare my medical brief for the month of may and a bunch of other random stuff as well. and i have a good amount of studying to do as well. this is way more fun, at least when the 'net works properly. more pics to come....

What's a weekend in Iraq?

i was up late last night working up an army mishap so i slept in today for the first time since being here. all the way until 0800 and it felt great. of course, as soon as i came back from hitting the head i get a knock on the door and it's the duty telling me i've got a phone call. "doc, there's someone you need to see. you wanna come in or should i send the patient to you?" how did they know that i was hoping for a lazy sunday morning? needless to say, it put a little damper on my plans. no rest for the wicked..isn't that how the saying goes? or is it no rest for the weary? well, both applies i guess.

i did make time to go to our weekly softball game which was cut short when skipper found some live ordnance on the field. had to call in eod (explosive ordnance disposal for you less military minded) to take care of it who of course got lost trying to find the field (go army!). the guys went to shoot some hoops instead but i headed for chow and then back to work. funstuff.

oh but i did have my first combat latte, a mocha frap. not quite starbucks but there's a little coffee trailer on the mainside that does those froofroo drinks. a little bit pricey but a whole lotta goodness. not too bad.

tried a couple more pics but no go...will try again later...

You couldn't pay me enough for this

or could you? i had lunch with 3 of the half dozen or so civilian contractors we have out here with us today and it was interesting to get some of their perspectives. of course, they all volunteered to come out for anywhere between 3 months (1 guy is leaving today) to upwards of a year. they all say it's not bad and in some cases, their work here is much better than at home (i can tell you now that i'm way way busier at home than i am out here). but they don't carry weapons. they don't have to wear flak and kevlar everywhere they go. they have their own car out here to share. and i'm sure they get paid handsomely. some in the military take this as an example of maybe it would be better to hire more civilians or third country nationals or even local nationals to do more of the work out here. i read an interesting speech that was just given to members of congress by a retired army colonel about how many of our logistics, our food service, our vehicle maintenance, our sanitary services, are all being run by contractors now. fact is though, we're relatively safe. you can bet your asses that if things started to heat up here or in iran or syria, those civilians are gonna high-tail it outta here. then we'll really be in the shits...literally and figuratively.

i'm trying to post a pic again from out here. the problem is the 'net is so slow it takes frickin' forever and i just don't have the patience. if it works, though, i'll def try to put more up. this is the view of the lake from the little gazebo we have atop a bunker.

Tour de TQ

i took my bike for a joyride today. rode the 13 mile loop that goes around the entire base. i was tempted to take a detour on some of the dirt roads but also a little nervous bout going into random places. did stop at a medical clinic and met the doc who works there. he's from camp lejeune so right around the corner from me in nc. seemed like a good guy. one doc and one sorta pa (we call them idc's in the navy) for 1100 marines. makes me feel pretty lucky i only have 200 to take care of. i actually had a bunch of real patients today for some reason...

had dinner on the mainside yest and randomly met up with a couple of docs from flight school and internship. it gets a little lonely sometimes when you're the only doc around...sniff sniff...so it was great seeing the familiar faces and talking shop. also a chance to swap sea stories and catch up on other friends as well. good times....

it's been great to hear from you guys back home as well. mrs. skinnee, congrats on the new job! j esq., i got your invite...thanks so much for thinking of me. i'm sad i won't be able to make it. i know you guys have been asking about pics, but the net is so slow, it takes forever to upload and i've never been patient enough. one of these days, though...until then, you'll just have to wait for the slideshow when i come back! talk to you all soon!

Comm block

almost hard to believe that it's been a week since i last posted. so slightly in my defense, all non military outgoing message traffic (internet, phone, email, etc...) had been put on hold for almost 48 hours and was just started up again late last night. unfortunately, that happens every time there's a death or tragedy on the base until family back home are notified. that and the flares that were going off just south of the nearby lake indicating operations were being conducted are sobering reminders that no matter how slow and easy things may be on a daily basis, we are still at war in a country that may or may not want us here and against an enemy that definitely wants us out.

i take care of some of the guys from 3 army units here and you prolly all know now that all deployed army units have been extended for 3 months, from 1 year to 15 months. and i think i have it bad? not even close. 1 guy said that 80% of his squad is here on stop-loss, another, 50%. these are young men and women who are supposed to be getting out and they're being involuntarily extended. how's that for a morale booster? being here and seeing what we do and our missions...they make sense. but seeing what's on the news and in the press and hearing about funding cuts in areas like health care and research and you start to wonder.

luckily, my job is easy and there's no questioning involved. i take care of these kids (and most really are just kids) and i try to do it to the best of my limited ability. i think about what i did at their ages and realize how privileged i have been. while i was partying in college and galavanting across europe, these guys are living in the desert. and we actually have it pretty good. scary!

Steroids anyone?

so army challenged us to a friendly easter softball game yesterday. apparently this is an ongoing rivalry and we've been kicking their asses the past few deployments. with them finally going home in about 10 days or so they wanted a rematch and this time, they brought out their secret weapon. pretty much every single one of them was huge and jacked! and although we had a strong early lead, they came back and got their revenge. i think the final score was like 17 to 10 after 7 innings and we walked away with our heads hung low. gunny joked that we should've made them take urine tests. it was a good time, though, and nice to see us finally interacting with some of the other guys out here. i do take care of soldiers from a couple of army units (esp. the ones on flight status), and we share space, but other than that, everyone pretty much sticks to themselves.

but now it's monday and work is starting to pick up. just found out i have to implement a new vaccination program. i'm trying to set up the college courses i'm going to be teaching (intro to psych and human anatomy). and i gotta work on some navy stuff as well. blech. looks like no movies for a while (although i did just watch the new tmnt and it wasn't too bad)....

Weekend? What weekend?

this could be any other saturday afternoon. i'm sitting in the internet cafe trying to cool off after hitting the gym and going for a short run (hey, i gotta start slowly!). except, i worked this morning and in a few hours i'll be headed back in to work again (and oh yeah, i still have that weapon strapped onto my shoulder). that's the beauty of deployment and 24/7 ops. saturday is just like any other day. and sunday? same thing. no more weekends, no more holidays, no more days off for the next 7 months.

i may be bitching and whining, but really, it's my marines who are the workhorses. i'm just here for emergencies and to make sure everyone stays healthy...a fairly easy job, actually. it's my squadron that has to do all the real work, day in and day out, with little fanfare and little recognition. it's not much, but here's my props to them...

enjoy your weekends, guys...go outside, get some fresh air, make sure you get some qt with loved ones. have a drink for me. that's it, i'll get off my soapbox now.

1 week down, 30 to go...

someone made this excel thing called the 'donut of misery' and if you put in your dates, it will count down how long you have to go. you just adjust as your dates adjust. i hear that it really is miserable though as it just seems that time never passes. i only look at it occasionally :).

so i've been here a week now and what's life like? well, all things considered, it's not too bad. work has picked up (mostly admin bullcrap, but better than nothing) so quite a few people come through medical daily....still time for movies and tv shows though so that's good. my room is pretty nice. it's set up so that there are these makeshift walls so that my roommate and i each have our own little space and one big common area. my tv/dvd/gamecube are set up. our mini fridge is well stocked with diet sodas (yeah, i drink diet now), water, and gatorade (made up for by the diet sodas). the chow hall is pretty decent. i eat way too much but i've been exercising a bit more, too, thankfully. i hear the heat is a great means of weight loss though. i'm pretty used to the portapotties. but we also have these "comfort trailers" where the showers are and where there are pseud0-real toilets. i usu try to wait to go there for no. 2 (i know, tmi).

the base is fairly bleak...not much on here...driving to mainside, you can see the town of habbaniyah off in the distance and it looks like any other city....so close and yet so far away. on southside where i am, there's a beautiful blue lake that looks so incredibly peaceful, you have to remind yourself that a rocket attack could come at any time. i got my first haircut (they usu come every other week now) by a local national who gave a mini massage afterward for 3 bucks. we take out our own trash (mailing labels have to be burned) but laundry is done twice a week. weather's still pretty nice from the winter. still cold at night and early morning, but warm during the day. they sky is so clear at night it reminds me of those nights in small town new england where the moon and stars just light up.

so 7 months, 210 days, 14 paychecks (tax free will be nice!), and 95% of deployment left to go. not that i'm counting or anything....

4 days later....

finally! it's been fairly frustrating when you want to keep on going and the internet slows you down, but here i am back again. imagine going back to dial up again...ugh! anyway, quite a bit has happened in the past few days. but before that, i just wanted to thank you all for coming to visit and leaving comments and emails...it's so cheesy but it really is impossible to imagine what it means to hear from home when you're stuck in a place like this.

anyway, the past few days....the people we replaced are gone and my squadron has fully taken over ops. it was a little sad to see them off and let go of the other doc who was a security of blanket of sorts....but you should have seen the looks on their faces as they boarded the bus knowing they were on their way. i was there last summer when my squadron returned home and met their families and that is the only comparison. i've started a new sick call schedule and my corpsman and i are getting the clinic set up the way we want. lots of cleaning and getting rid of old junk. we had our first dust storm which shut down everything and blinded everyone for the better part of a day. i hear the sandstorms are even worse...just like in the mummy! scary! we had our first code red (thankfully, it was just a drill). i had my first late night sick patient. just a little exhaustion and dehydration (taken care of by my corpsman). and i finally got to move into my room where my shipmate, bull, and i are gonna get to know one another quite well.

34 years strong

i'm sitting here in my gym clothes with my weapon strapped onto my shoulder at the internet cafe and can't help but think that this is not a situation i ever really would have imagined myself in. not that there's anything really dangerous going on, but we just have to have it on our persons pretty much 24/7...only exceptions, pt and shower. kinda weird....and you know if the doc ever has to use it, the sh$! must have hit the fan.

a "long lost friend" emailed me out of the blue today and it was great to hear from her. i'm pretty bad at keeping touch with friends but ironically, i love it when people write to me. i was once under this delusion that i was a friendly, loving, people person, but am finally realizing that i'm not above some pretty piss poor qualities....the selfishness mentioned above, cursing at my patients, and an overall spreading of hate and discontent. but anyway, check out girl md's blog....she's always has a certain grace and eloquence and kindness about her and it's reflected in her writing. probably a little more liberal than i, but a good heart nonetheless :).

and one final note...mom and dad, happy happy 34th anniversary! i love you and miss you.

How many movies can one watch?

so after some good turnover with the outgoing flight doc this morning and seeing a couple of patients, i had NOTHING to do for pretty much the rest of the day. it was soooooo boring. i watched 300 which i had seen before and it was just as entertaining as first time around. i was speaking with sis and we agreed that shows on national geographic and stuff on the spartans usually had them decked out in full body armor....not even a hint of a leather speedo.

but seriously, i do anticipate things getting a little hairier and the workload to go uptempo (i'm sure i'll be eating my words here soon) but if more days are like today, my job (and this blog) is going to be so painfully slow to progress that i may literally be driven to insanity. at least then the blog may get a little more interesting with the rantings and ravings of a madman to keep everyone entertained...bright side to everything, right?

did talk to fister and he's seen 5 episodes of the office and several of the sopranos so it sounds like i'm not the only one who's maximizing efficiency...

Remember the Alamo?

well, that's my home for the next 7 or so months. finally got in late last night after 5 days (and 4 movies) of travelling. feels strangely good to be here and to start getting settled in but to also get security briefs about weekly rocket attacks and hear about people trying to kill you. i have to wonder though, if the alamo really is a good name for the building i'm staying in considering what actually happened there. i can't possibly be the first to have thought of that.

but regardless, i'm sure things will be fine. still trying to figure out how to run 24-hour medical ops with only 2 people and not go crazy, but we did have a nice lobster dinner this very first night so maybe that's a good portent of what's to come. time will tell. did visit the clinic though and it's not too shabby. should be a good place to work out of. sizeable rooms and fairly well stocked.

i guess the only thing left is to get used to using port-a-potties again....ugh!

And wait and wait and wait....

surprise surprise. still waiting. standby. indefinitely. what's really surprising is how eager i am to get in theater. i mean, i was a little excited, but now i just can't get there soon enough! skipper joked that the air force guys who were supposed to take us prolly took a bar hopping jaunt in bahrain thinking they were doing us poor marines a favor by delaying our flight. i'm sure the lance corporals and other junior enlisted were thankful that they got to load and unload and reload and re-unload the packs and seabags multiple times. lucky them. seriously though, i was very impressed with the upbeat and jovial attitudes they were able to maintain throughout (and to my dismay, and the resulting bags under my eyes, how they kept it up way into the wee hours of the morning). they do continue to impress with their enthusiasm. also impressive was butterbar who was able to maintain composure in spite of being plane captain with everyone scowling. j/k...we weren't scowling, well, not that much anyway.

i hear ooh-rah's on her way back. how cool would it be to cross paths on this long, tedious journey. if you're out there in camp virginia, find me!

and one final shout out to raf who celebrated his 28th birthday here yesterday doing what else? waiting. happy birthday foolio. hope it wasn't all bad....wanna catch a movie?

Hurry up and wait

it seems the military motto has never been more true for me than in the past few days. we've been here in the army base for a few days now just killing time. again, watched another two movies, blood diamond (with leo's awful south african accent) and the pursuit of happyness (just plain awful....long and boring). other than that, trying to avoid the temptations of one last baskin robbins cone or mcd's double cheeseburger and fries (yes, they have both here...plus subway, pizza inn, and panda oriental...a veritable ol' mall food court!).

but yeah, i'm ready to get off the cot, get out of the tent, and get my things out of the seabags and get settled into my room for the next several months. hopefully, it will be sometime very soon...

In the Army now...

so i'm sitting in an internet cafe on an army base just waiting for my ride. flight was a little rough with long ass layovers. although there were two movies. a night at the museum which was ok and stranger than fiction which i really liked a lot. although a little surreal to watch a movie about a guy who knows he's about to die going on a trip like this. whatevers...i'm being dramatic again.

but yeah, not much going on. it actually rained here last night. i didn't think it did that in the desert in the summer but sure did. and yup, it really is a desert. sand everywhere. very little vegetation. just thankfully, not hot quite yet. nice to have a/c in the tents although it got a little cold early morning. we had to turn the a/c off! a little taste of what's to come i guess.

prolly shouldn't complain about all the free time, but i'm ready to just get to the final destination. fister was right. time change along with long ass flight is a pain in the arse. def gonna have to try some of that ambien tonite...

One last night...

so this is it. how dramatic, huh? just had a phatty dinner with t who's a rockstar for picking me up so early tomorrow morning. i have to say....it'll be so nice to have a friend drop me off. maybe she can even put on a show and cry a little like the Marine wives do....heheeh...just kidding, of course. it doesn't matter. i'm actually going to have to work tomorrow morning as the others say good bye to their families. i'll be giving shots. funstuff.

but anyway, the seabags are packed. the house is relatively clean. i'm pretty much ready and i sort of surprise myself when i say i'm actually looking forward to going. after all this prep time and all this work and all this anticipation, it'll be good to finally get on the road. my chief and a couple of the guys at the gas took me to lunch. those guys are amazing. i could not have asked for a better workplace. too bad chief v wasn't there....but i'll see her when i get back so it's all good. now i just get to look forward to the long wait at the airport and the even longer plane ride.

so next time i write, it will be in theater. pretty crazy. til then....

Can work get any more annoying?

man i was so pissed at my squadron today. after being assured everyone would make it, esp. since we're so close to taking off, only half the people scheduled actually showed up to the clinic. now obviously, imms isn't the favorite thing we do for most pts but it's a necessary evil and more importantly a requirement. i had to send out a nasty email and make phone calls to get most of the ppl to show up. and were they busy getting themselves ready? nope. just didn't feel like showing apparently until they were hunted down. and even then, there was still an 18% who never bothered to come. then i go to the squadron space only to find that most had simply been dismissed for the day. awesome. really inspiring and really gets me motivated. why the @!@$%(* do i even bother? sorry, had to vent.

for the most part though, they are pretty decent guys. it's my fault for being too nice. that may have to end soon. to see what we're all about, check out the link to the right. it's designed for friends and family. and speaking of links. i'm adding another. it's medic, lovely mrs. medic, and crazy dog tula. check them out. they're good peeps.

those 18% better f#(@*&! be there tomorrow or else i'm really gonna lose it.

Ugh...my head still hurts...

i just spent a great weekend with some old flight school buds and old may have been the key word here, cause i'm still sorta feeling it. it was one of those times when you're a little tired and a little groggy and a little unmotivated (and no, that's not how i usually am as some of you all may think). and the eye-openers didn't even help...sure they were valiant efforts...and they tasted damn good, too. eh..maybe i can just blame it on the smallpox.

but yeah, i had mentioned that one of the coolest things about heading out is all the support you get from family and friends and this weekend was no exception. wang and medic...you guys drove all the way down for one night! g spot and mrs. g...you didn't muffin (and i knew you wouldn't ;)). johnny c and future mrs. c....you guys are rockstars! there are times when i wish i had a better command of the english language...here, simply because my gratitude and my feelings toward your friendship and support merit a much more eloquent expression than i could possibly come up with.

so much for that ivy league education, huh? the words still sometimes escape me.

The final weekend!

so this is it. the final weekend before i head out. i'm off to go to virginia beach to visit with some old pals from internship and flight school. not a bad way to spend it. can't wait to meet up with these guys again. grab some grub. maybe a few drinks here and there. it's been a while since i've seen some of these foolios and should be a good reunion.

that's one nice aspect of all of this. gives you a good chance to reconnect with people you haven't talked to or seen in a while. friends that you sort of take for granted are always there...knowing that you're gonna be gone for most the year makes you want to be certain that you get to reach before you're gone. and that's what this weekend will be about for me. seeing some old friends and talking to more over the phone. i've always been bad about that. now i have a chance to make it up.

on a side note, my smallpox vaccine site is itching like a mother !!$!@%#. arm's all swollen and indurated. pretty damn gross. just couldn't tell my guys and gals to get it if i didn't myself though (as much as i didn't want it....what can you do? blech!).

Thank god for tivo...

i've finally finished watching all the shows i've missed all season long. mostly the office and scrubs with random stuff here and there. i tried to find the episode of medic (will that name stick?) on future weapons on the discovery channel, but no such luck (he's talking about being the doc for those guys experimenting with the new joint strike fighter...a real flight doc job, i guess). i do need to turn in my cable box but i guess there is some element of procrastinating. i really don't want to pack. just found out today that my flight out will be delayed. at least a few extra days to get ready, but in reality, prolly just a few extra days of anxiousness.

i really didn't think i'd feel it this much. everyone i've talked to recently, though, knows the deal. it's not about where i'm going or what i'm going to be doing (or maybe it is subconsciously), but it seems to be about all the annoying little things i need to do before i go. taking care of my house and personal issues. taking care of my guys and gals who will be going with me. and taking care of all those patients i'm leaving behind....making sure that they, too, are good to go.

Gettin' a little antsy...

so i picked up all of my personal gear today. kevlar and flak jacket and alice pack. sleeping bags and goretex and gas masks. i have to pack all of my medical equipment by wednesday. it's definitely getting real and i'm finally starting to feel it. seems like there are still tons of things to do and time's moving pretty quickly.

fister emailed from kuwait and mentioned the weird time change which reminds me that i'm going to need to get my meds. i'm not really nervous about going. it's sorta the minor details. it's more about whether or not i'm doing everything i need to do now. is all my gear packed? have i gotten everything i need already? what do i actually need from all that stuff i picked up today? and all my guys and gals. who needs what shots? pregnancy tests are ordered, predeployment health assessments are being filled out, i'm writing a bunch of scripts, but am i missing anything? t says i'll be fine. thank god for someone who's been through it before.

Fister's big day?

sunday morning. not too long from now and i'll be sending my buddy off. he's a little nervous, but t sent us photos of combat lattes and xmas in iraq to show it's not all that bad. the one in the jet was a nice touch. had a nice dinner at the country club last night. a beer at my place and called it a night. yet another weekend in this lovely town.

i'm starting a pile of things i want in my dining area and house is starting to look like a sty once again. to-do list seems ridiculously long at this point with not much left time to go either. but thousands have done it before me, including my friends here so who am i to complain?

i guess i should go get started...

The big test...

so here i am, first day of actual posting on the blog. i guess maybe i will be able to keep this blog up. dad already commented on how there was nothing on here! don't worry, pops, i'll keep this thing going and eventually there may even be something of note. of course, not yet...i have nothing really interesting worth writing about. just wasted two hours of my life watching john tucker must die. had great pizza though, and one of my buddies is headed out of here this weekend so it was good to just chill for a while, even if the movie was bad.

so wish fister some luck...we aren't going out to the same place but we'll be close and if he takes a little helo ride or a quick convoy, we may even be able to meet up. and yeah, that's his call sign. me, i'm just doc for now, but suits me just fine.

and ti, you are awesome awesome awesome for that great gift...pics of family friends from all the various parts of my life. i'll definitely keep it close.

Here we go....

just set up my blog and it looks like i'm ready to go...well, not really, but almost...

thanks, neens, for getting me up and running....