Home Sweet Home

Just wanted to put one final post up on the blog. Words cannot describe how great it is to be back home with Christen and the kids. I flew out of Iraq on September 2nd, spent 3 long days in Kuwait and then flew out of Kuwait City on Septmber 5th. We flew from Kuwait to Shannon, Ireland for a brief 2 hour lay over and then flew from Ireland to Atlanta, GA. Total flight time was a little under 18 hours. We landed in Atlanta at 6am on Sunday Septmber 6th, then drove 1.5 hours south to Ft. Benning where we had a few briefings and then proceeded to turn in our weapon and all the gear that was issued to us for the deployment. I was finished with the turn in around 11am. I then signed out, caught a shuttle back to the Atlanta airport and took a 4pm flight back to San Antonio. And by 5:30pm that day I was hugging Christen in the San Antonio airport ... followed by the best kiss of all time.

I have posted some pics below of my journey. Thanks to everyone for calling and wishing us well after my safe return home. Still trying to get caught up and get back into the flow of things so I apologize if we haven't returned everyone's calls just yet.

Well, thank you all for reading and following the blog over these last 7 months. It has been quite and adventure and I am glad I could share it with you all. But that's it for now ... this is CPT Cuniowski ... over and out!

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C-17 pulling up at the air strip in Mosul. Never thought I would be so relieved to see an airplane landing, but this one was our ticket back home. This monster flew us out of the combat zone in Iraq and into Kuwait.

All of us lining up waiting to boiard the plane in full battle armor in the 120 degree Iraqi heat.



Patiently waiting in line to board the plane.

Kuwait a.k.a. "Tent City". Nothing by field tents as far as the eye can see. Housing for all the troops moving in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Kuwait is the central staging area and anyone traveling to Iraq or Afghanistan or back home to the U.S. stops here.

Day# 183 - The Replacements Are Here

Wow, I hadn't realized it has been nearly two weeks since I last updated the blog. We have been busy lately finishing up things as we prepare to head back home. I didn't seem real until yesterday when our replacements arrived here in Mosul. It was a great moment as I watched the doc replacing me step off the C-130 and onto the tarmac at the airfield. I haven't felt that good in over 6 months.

It has been 183 days seen I left Christen and the kids early in the morning on the 28th of February. And now with each passing day the excitement continues to build. It has gone from months ... to weeks ... and now finally to days until I'll be returning back home to San Antonio. As of right now I am scheduled to fly out of Iraq next Thursday, September 3rd. I'll spend 1 day in Kuwait, and then fly from Kuwait to Ft. Benning in Georgia on September 5th. And if things go smoothly I should be back home in Texas by September 7th. I'll keep you all updated as I prepare for the long journey back to America.

Day# 169 - ER Staff

Posted below is a group picture of everyone in the ER here in Mosul. Our section is made up of 11 males and 5 females. 1 ER doc, 1 Family Medicine doc, 6 nurses, and 8 medics. Even though we all come from different hospitals in various locations throught out the U.S., we have become one big happy family, and thankfully we all get along really well. We are also known around the base for our amazing Cornhole playing skills, hence the two Cornhole boards in the front of the picture. For those of you not familar with the great American past-time known as Cornhole stay tuned in. I'll save the Cornhole stories for another post.

Day# 167 - Happy Anniversary Sweetie

Today marks the ninth year since Christen and I got married on that memorable summer day in Northampton, MA. Amazing how fast it has flown by ... next year will be the big ten year wedding anniversary and I will have to start planning for something big, especially since I am missing out on this year's. In fact, this is the first anniversary that Christen and I have been apart. It is suprising that despite medical school, residency, Army assignments, and my crazy work schedule this is the first, and hopefully last anniversary we are not together.

Some of you may remember that the start of our weekend wedding celebration didn't exactly go as planned. Our car broke down driving from Boston to Northampton the day of the rehearsal dinner, we had a monsoon of a thunderstorm that night, the rain carried over into the next morning, and somebody's mom had a monster hangover after deciding that shots of Captain Morgan's Rum was her new favorite beverage. Now most brides would have been flipping out at this point but Christen took it all in stride. And her positive outlook on life is what got us both through that day. And in the end the clouds parted, the sun came out, the hangovers subsided, and everything came together perfectly as we celebrated the joining of our lives with our family and friends. And on that beautiful summer evening in Western Massachusetts we made a promise to each other ... a promise to love each other forever, to see each other through the good times and the bad, and to never forget how blessed we are to have found the one we want to spend the rest of our lives with.

These last nine years have resembled the start of that weekend in many ways. We have been through major life decisions, career changes, job relocations, pregnancies, births, deaths, heart surgeries, military deployments, and long distance relationships. And during these times when things looked pretty grim we just hunkered down, focused on the positive things in our life, and always remembered those promises we made to each other so long ago . And in the end it has always worked out for the best ... but I don't think if I could have done it without her by my side.

With only 25 days left until we are reunited I feel like this chapter of our life is coming to an end, and a new one is about to begin. And the best part is I get to spend it with you. Love you sweetie ... always and forever.

Day# 155 - 37 Days and Counting

The theme continues as there has not been much going on here lately. Aside from the occassional earthquake and rocket attacks things have been pretty chill. The clock continues to tick and the days are slowly passing by, although at times it seems painfully slow. But August is less than 24 hours away and that means I am one month closer to going home.

Tough guys - myself and three of the ER medics standing proud

A little grumpy after getting woken up at 2am for a training exercise.

Day# 148 - 43 Days and Counting

Nothing much going on last few days over here in Iraq. We are into the dog days of summer over with noon time temps hitting the 115-120 degree range in the sun. Even at night, the temps stay in the high 80's to low 90's. Most of us try to find a cool place to hide out and avoid the heat when we are not seeing patients. Things are quiet on the battelfield as well. Our troops are still not doing any patrols out in the city and from what I hear the Iraqi Army is doing a fairly good job at maintaining the peace. Hopefully it will stay the way until September. As of right now I am scheduled to fly back to the states on Saturday September 5th ... 43 more days and counting!!!

Sunset has become my favorite part of the day because it means another day has come and gone ... and I am one more day closer to getting home to Christen and the kids.

Day# 144 - Cigar Extravaganza

A little over a week ago I received six packages in the mail and after looking at the return address I realized I had no idea who the person was. Inside the boxes were cigars ... lots of cigars ... probably around 200 cigars or so. After making a few phone calls I finally found out that the person who sent the cigars was a friend of a friend of a friend, who had found out that me and the boys like to enjoy a cigar from time to time over here in Iraq. Well, it turns out this person spread the word to a few of his buddies who then proceeded to send him cigars. He then compiled them and sent them all to me. The cigars came from people all across the U.S. and even Canada.

Their timing was perfect because this past Saturday my unit gathered for a dinner to celebrate the approaching half way point of the deployment (the doctors and nurses are switching out at 6 months but the majority of the unit is staying for 12-15 months). I wanted to share these cigars with the rest of the guys, and besids there were way too many for me to smoke before I left. So I set up the cigars on some tables and let people pick and choose what they wanted. Everybody loved it and it was a great opportunity to initiate some new members into the cigar smoking club.

I have includedsome pictures below and just wanted to thank all the guys from CigarAficianado.com and CigarOutcast.com for their tremendous genorousity. This was a really big morale booster for our soldiers over here and a great reminder of how great a nation we are fighting for.

Day# 143 - Earthquake

I was laying in bed last night around 23:30 trying to fall asleep. Suddenly, everything in my room started shaking. No explosion, no boom, no warning sirens. It felt like someone had picked up my room and was shaking it back and forth. This lasted about 15-20 seconds and then it stopped, and everything was quiet again. I bolted out of my room, heading for the bunkers, as was everyone else in our living area. But after 15 minutes of quiet and a quick Google search we found out an earthquake was the culprit. It hit about 35 miles south of Mosul and measured 5.2 on the Richter Scale. That was my first earthquake experience and hopefully my last ... not a good time. Rockets one night, earthquakes the next night ... I really think it's time to get back to San Antonio where the biggest dangers are 48oz margheritas and extremely large mosquitoes!

Here's a link with more information about the quake: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009jfbm.php#details

Day# 141 - Bunkers

Things have been unusually quiet around here lately. That trend was broken last night as I was laying in my bed half asleep. I thought I heard a explosion and jumped out of bed, not sure if it was part of a dream or had really happened. Then came another boom, this time a little bit closer. And then the sirens went off alerting everyone that we had incoming rockets into our compound. Now they had my full attention. And as we all stumbled out of our quarters and into the bunkers the explosions continued, each one sounding closer and closer. I spent a good 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours running back and forth between the bunkers and the ER last night. When it was all said and done a total of 10 rockets had been launched into the compound. Thankfully no one was seriously injured. Some buildings and equipment were damaged but that was the worst of it. So we all made our way back to our beds and attempted to get some sleep. It's no so easy though when you are wondering when the next rocket attack might come and whether or not the ceiling above your head is strong enough to protect you from a direct hit. Man, I can't wait to be back home in my own bed ... only 50 more days, but who's counting right??

Someone had a camera on them last night and got a few shots of us hunkered down in the bunkers. As you can see there isn't a whole lotta room in there. They are about 2-3 feet wide by 4 feet tall. Gets pretty uncomfortable after a while as you can see by my hunched over position way in the back of the bunker in the pictures above and below.

Day# 137 - Nothing Doing

All remains quiet here in Mosul, at least for the coalition forces. A couple of large explosions occurred this morning targeting the Iraqi police but none of our soldiers were in the area and no casualties were brought to us for treatment. Both good things as the status quo continues.

Came across this map on the internet. Thought it was pretty hilarious because for a lot of Americans this map is probably not that far off from how they really do perceive the rest of the world. The text is a little small so follow the link for a bigger map: http://www.boredstop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=157&Itemid=32

Day# 135 - Report to the Commander Immediately!

Yesterday, I was just minding my own business, doing some reading in my CHU when I get a page saying that the hospital commander is looking for me. Great I thought ... this can't be good. So I made my way over to the ER to find out what was going on. The nurse on shift told me the commander had called twice looking for me and wanted me up at the TOC (Tactical Operations Center ... a.k.a. our unit headquarters) ASAP. "Sweet" I said sarcastically knowing inside that this couldn't be good. So I made my way over to the TOC while at the same time trying to figure out what I could have possibly done to warrant this attention. Maybe a patient filed a complaint, or maybe one of the staff in the ER screwed up, or maybe they decided to let me go home early since I have been doing such an outstanding job (yeah right like that would ever happen).

Anyway, so I finally get up to the TOC and there is a sign on the commander's door. "CPT Cuniowski report to the conference room across the hall." Awesome. So now not only am I going to get chewed out but I am going to get chewed out in front of a conference room full of people. So I walk in and the commander and a bunch of higher ranking people from the unit are having a meeting. The commander calls everyone to attention and the sweat begins to form on my palms. He then says in his thick Louisianna drawl "CPT Cuniowski I have some bad news. We just got word this morning that unfortunately ..." and he pauses for effect, prolonging my agony "... we won't be able to call you Captain anymore. You have been selected for promotion to Major. Congratulations son!" And with that he started laughing as the room broke out in applause and he saw the look of terror and confusion slowly melt away from my face. "Good one sir ... you really got me there" was the only response I could muster as I slowly shook his hand.

So now I am Captain (Promotable) Cuniowski, soon to be Major Cuniowski. Good news since I was really expecting much worse. Just wish my commander didn't enjoy messing with people's heads so much.

Here's a picture of myself and the hospital commander at one of our weekend BBQs.

Day# 134 - Sitting This One Out

While war still rages just a half mile away in the city of Mosul, things have been very quiet for us since the June 3oth deadline mandating all U.S. forces pull out of Iraqi cities. We haven't had seen any traumatic war-related injuries to U.S. or coalition soldiers in over 2 weeks. However, the killing continues for the Iraqis. Yesterday two suicide bombings in Mosul killed over 30 people and injured more than 60. None of the injured were brought to us for treatment per the new Iraqi Security Agreement.

So life goes on for us on our little island of peace surrounded by a raging storm of violence. It's definitely a relief that the number of patient's we were seeing has dramatically decreased. Not patroling the cities, means none of our guys are getting blown up or shot at. However, the boredom has definitely begun to set in. I have about 7 weeks until I'll be heading back home, and if things remain the same then my days will consist of reading, movie watching, cards, ping-pong, cornhole, working out and cigar smoking. Not a bad to-do list ... I know I shouldn't be complaining .. but even the fun stuff gets old after a while.

Plenty of time for training now. We stopped for a photo op during one of our training sessions in the ER. That's me standing on the far left, along with my fellow ER nurses and medics.

Nice shot of the sun setting over Mosul with an Army chopper flying above the city.

Day# 127 - Day at the Range

I took some time off this morning to go to the range. We have gotten to know the special forces guys pretty well and today they took us out to fire some of their weapons. It was an awesome time. I got to shoot a lot of weapons that I will probably never see again, including an AK-47 and a high powered sniper rifle. It was a great experience despite being out in the sun in full body armor as the thermometer read 118 degrees at 11am this morning.

Myself and one of the ER medics getting ready to hit the range at 6am this morning.

Shooting paper targets with the AK-47.

That's me in the crouching stance firing the AK-47.

Me blasting away with th AK-47.

Close up of our paper targets ... gotta love shooting at minature Osama bin Ladens.

Myself and our Orthopedic Surgeon.

G3 sniper rifle with high powered scope.

Me locking and loading the sniper rifle.

This rifle was awesome. I was easily hitting targets on the top of that hill all the way in the background of the picture.

Me taking aim with the scope.

All smiles after a day at the range. Got some complimetns from the special forces guys on my accuracy. Not bad for an ER doc ...

Day# 124 - Iraqi Independence Day

Well today is June 30th and so far it hasn't been any different than the last 124 days I have been here. The Army stopped all ground patrols in Mosul last night and officially returned control of the city over to the Iraqis this morning. The day is not over yet but as of right now all is quiet here in Mosul. I'll keep you updated.

Took this picture outside one of the abandoned mosques located on our compound. Thought it was a great shot at dusk with one of the Army's helicopters flying above Mosul in the background.

Day# 122 - Just Passing Time

Wow, I hadn't realized it had been 12 days since my last blog posting. My absence has been due to a combination of many sleepless nights, preparation for the June 30th deadline, and a general lack of motivation that is affecting us all right now during this stage in our deployment.

But today things are looking better. June is almost over with. My deployment counter on my laptop reads 69 days until I'll be going home (WhooHoo!!). And it's Sunday, which means it is steak and lobster night at the dining facility. So things are beginning to look a little bit better.

The June 30th deadline is really an ominous thing around here because no one really knows what to expect. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about. On Tuesday the U.S. Army will be pulling almost all our troops out of Mosul and will no longer be patrolling the city and keeping the peace. That will now be the responsibility of the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police. We are hoping things will remain peaceful but something tells me we will be seeing an increase in attacks after Tuesday. Here's a link to a short video clip on the situation from the CNN website: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/06/22/black.iraq.mosul.al.qaeda.cnn?iref=videosearch

Hope everybody is doing well. Take care and Happy Sunday!

This smoke plume is from a very large IED (Improvised Explosive Device) that blew up just outside the walls of our compound.

Day# 111 - Sandstorm

Wanted to post some pics of the mother of all sandstorms we had the other day. It was sunny and clear most of the day until this baby rolled in. The air was so thick with sand that you couldn't see more than 3 feet in front of you while walking. Hope you are all enjoying a nice summer back home because summer time in Iraq sucks!

Day# 109 - The Calm Before the Storm

Not much going on here recently. It has been unusually quiet lately ... the calm before the storm that is expected to hit after June 30th. That is the date that we will be pulling all of our troops out of Mosul and turning control over to the Iraqi Police and the Iraqi Army. Needless to say, that many of us here are not looking forward to this transition because it means we are going to be sitting ducks on the compound. We will be surrounded by insurgent groups who will now have much more flexibility to plan attacks and move around the city without being apprehended by U.S. forces. Hopefully, all hell will not break loose but we are preparing for the worst.

Anyway, on to happier thoughts. I posted a few pics below. We recently had a promotion ceremony and party for a few of our more senior doctors that were up for promotion. Plenty of cigars and near-beer to be had by all. Plus I threw in a few pics of my recent ankle sprain that I got while playing basketball. Let me tell ya, it is tough trying to keep up with all this 18-20 year old guys out here. I think I am now leading our unit for most non-combat related injuries while on deployment.

Promotion ceremony in front of one of our Medical Evac choppers.

Some of the docs I work with posing for pics after the ceremony.

Enjoying an ice cold near-beer in the 120 degree Iraqi afternoon.

Left ankle sprain ... it looks a lot worse than it actually feels.

Day# 103 - Testing My Hippocratic Oath

When I started medical school I participated in a ceremony where we were issued our first white coats and took the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath basically says that as a physician you will do everything in your power to help the sick and the dying, to do no harm to your patients, and avoid rendering care based upon moral or religious beliefs. I haven't thought about this much during the last 5 years I have been practicing medicine, but today for the first time in my career I realized the significance of those words I spoke way back in August of 2004.

We had two patients in the ER. On my left was a U.S. soldier that seriously injured after a grenade was thrown into his vehicle while out on patrol, tearing apart both his legs. On my right was the insurgent who had thrown the grenade at our soldier. He was shot multiple times in the back by our troops as he tried to run away after blowing up the vehicle. As the soldier in the bed next to me screamed in agony I looked over at the other man with disgust. For a moment I did not want to help him ... I wanted to strangle him ... to finish what our guys tried to do when they shot him. And then I took a deep breath and rembered who I was and why I was here ... and went to work doing what we do everyday.

Both patients left our hospital alive later that day. One flying back to the U.S. with a purple heart pinned to his chest, on his way to see his family and begin his long road to recovery. The other in stable condition after undergoing surgery to stop his internal bleeding, was flying to Camp Cropper (the Army's hospital for detainees) where he will begin his recovery. And afterwards I realized maybe it was for the best that he survived. Once he arrives there he will be interrogated and questioned, and perhaps give us some information that will prevent future attacks on U.S. soldiers. But more importantly, I learned a valuable lesson about myself and my obligation to the values of a profession I promised to uphold.

Day# 102 - Happy Birthday to Me

Well, today is my 33rd birthday and although I'd much rather be spending it with all of you and sipping on an ice cold beer, I am stuck here in Iraq with my new surrogate family. The staff in the ER actually surprised me with a little cake tonight and we smoked some birthday cigars afterward so it wasn't such a bad day afterall.

I want to give a quick shoutout to my brothers ... Happy Birthday Bros! Nick was June 4th and Mike's is today just like his big brother. Skype has been terrible lately so sorry I haven't been able to call, but I hope you guys throw a few drinks back for me tonight.

I also had to put this pic up of Ben in his baseball uniform. How frigging cute is this kid? Wish I could have been there to see his first game. Looks like something straight out of Bad News Bears. And I love the jersey ... I don't think I ever had a jersey with my name on it growing up.

Lastly, today is good day not just because it is my birthday but becauseI was also able to finally make my way off the disabled list and start exercising again. Eight days ago I dislocated a rib on the right side after getting hit while playing basketball. Let me tell you, this was not a good feeling. I have had my chest cracked open and the pain from this rib was a close second. After hobbling around and trying not to take deep breaths for 4 days I finally got an xray and had the rib put back in by one of our docs here, also not a fun experience, although it did feel a lot better afterwards. Then it was 4 more days of physical therapy and pain killers, and today I was finally able to make it back to the gym. Gotta start pounding those protein shakes and hitting the big weights if I want to be as big as my brothers when I get back in September.

May be hard to see on this xray but it was the 4th rib on the right. Ignore the metal wires around my sternum, those are a souvenir from my prior heart surgery.