Day #60 - I'm Back ...

Hello again everybody, it's good to be back. After a week of frequent power outages, internet difficulties, and communications blackouts I am finally able to make my return to the blogging world. Life is good once again here in beautiful, sunny Iraq. It is amazing how quickly people's morale breaks down when you don't have access to the internet. For most of us here the internet is the only means of communicating with our families via Skype and email. Access to phones that can dial back to the states is limited and the process is very tedious as you are connected to one operator after another trying to get through to your family. People were beginning to get very grumpy (myself included) after going almost 7 days without the internet. If it had gone on much longer there may have been some sort of revolt. Cries of "Give us internet or give us death" could be heard across our compound. Thankfully peace was restored before a bunch of cyberspace deprived doctors and nurses tried to take matters into their own hands.

And on another positive note, today marks the 60th day since I left home. It's hard to believe that 2 months have gone by already. Two months since I got to play with the kids, kiss my beautiful wife goodnight, or just kick back on the couch and relax. This deployment has definitely made me appreciate all that I have been blessed with, and have sometimes taking for granted. So hang in there sweetie ... 1/3 third down ... 2/3's to go ... and then I'll be safely back in your arms.

Day #52 - Pharmacist Humor

Our pharmicist was having a bad day today and posted this sign outside the hospital pharmacy window. Apparently he did not like some of the recent complaints from other members of the hospital staff.

Day #49 - Earning the Combat Patch

On Wednesday morning, all 121 soldiers of my unit, the 47th Combat Support Hospital, were given their combat patches during a short ceremony. For those of you not familiar with the Army uniform there are two patches that can be worn on each shoulder. The left shoulder patch represents the unit you currently belong to. The right shoulder patch represents the unit you served with in a combat zone. It is a sort of badge of honor showing others that you have served in a combat zone during a time when our nation was at war.

The combat patch, or shoulder sleeve insignia indicating former wartime service, is a tradition started by the Army during World War II. Today, Army Regulation 670-1 regulates the wearing of the combat patch for all Soldiers assigned to US Army units that actively participate in or support ground combat operations against hostile forces. To qualify for the combat patch, Soldiers must be assigned to a unit serving in a declared hostile environment and receive the approval of the Army Chief of Staff.

In fine Army tradition, our commander shook hands and put the patch on all 121 soldiers’ right arm while the enitre unit stood at attention for 30 minutes. The 47th CSH, based out of Ft. Lewis, WA has a rich history of exemplary service to our nation since World War II, and has supported combat operations in the Korean War, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and OIF 2005-07. Currently the 47th CSH will be supporting operations in Mosul, Iraq from 2009-11. Real happy that I will not be staying for the full two years.

Day #47 - Combat Stache May You R.I.P

Unforunately, the combat stache has met an uneventful death and was quietly taken out by my Gillette Fusion razor one morning. I want to state up front that I was not the first to break the pact we took that involved shaving our heads and growing a stache. I was actually the last to shave it off. One by one the other guys began bowing out. I held on as long as I could but it got to the point where I could not have a conversation with someone without them trying not to laugh while staring at the pathetic strip of hair above my lips. Some of us just aren't meant to have facial hair and I am definitely one of them. Yet, even though I am clean shaven now I have not completely written off the combat stache. It is going to be a long 4 1/2 months and there is still plenty of time for me to try and redeem myself.

Day #46 - Beer Pong Anyone?

With all the downtime over here you start to learn a lot about the people you work with everyday. The other day I came across an article in Time magazine (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1830420,00.html) about beer pong. That's right Bri ... I said beer pong (aka Beriut). The article went on to discuss how beer pong has recently been outlawed by many universities (UMass included) because of concerns for binge drinking and student alcohol abuse. Who cares right? We have all been there and done that and we turned out okay ... well most of us did (sorry Bri).


Anyway, we started talking about the article and it turns out that one of the medics I work with in the ER here in Iraq is a huge beer pong fan. Now, I too have enjoyed many fine games of beer pong back in the day. But with three kids and two jobs I have not had the opportunity to participate in many games recently. Although I hear that things can get pretty competitive up in Norton, MA so next time we are in the area I'll have to check it out.


Anyway, I digress ... so back to my story. Well it turns out that this medic went to Las Vegas last year and played in the World Series of Beer Pong (WSOBP) Tournment. Not only did he get to participate in this glorious event on a national level but he and his teamates finished among the top ten teams. For most of us guys it doesn't get any better than this. When you combine free beer, Las Vegas, beautiful women in bikinis (http://www.liquorsnob.com/pictures/wsobp08-thumb.jpg), and the spirit of competition ... you may have just created the perfect sporting event. Needless to say, we are in the process of starting our own beer pong team here in Iraq. There is plenty of alcohol-free beer around and lots of time to work on that toss. So Bri ... start working on your game now because registration for the 2010 tournament closes in December and we are going to Vegas baby! (http://www.bpong.com/wsobp)

Day #44 - Happy Easter

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter. Thank you all for your love and support the last few days. It has been a suprisingly quiet day here and everyone is getting some much needed rest. It has been cold and rainy today and rumor has it that the insurgents don't like to come out and play when the weather is bad.

Have a great day everybody and I'll be in touch soon.

Day #42 - A Day of Mourning

This morning started off just like any other morning since my arrival here in Iraq. A few quick briefings, saw a couple of patients with minor complaints in the ER, and then headed off to the gym to try and squeeze in a quick workout. Around 10:30am there was an explosion that rocked our entire compound. As I stood in the gym I felt the shock wave pass through me and shake the building nearly knocking me to the ground. And then came the sound wave. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before. It was so loud that I thought a rocket may have hit on or near the building I was in. The adrenaline was pumping as I ran outside heading for the bunkers just across the street. That's when I noticed a huge cloud of black smoke rising from the ground just on the other side of our compound. After waiting for a couple of minutes to make sure it was safe I began sprinting back towards the hospital.

As I burst into the ER I was greeted by our head nurse who said we got a call from one of our units saying they were bringing in causalties but didn't know how many. We quickly began preparing for the worst as all the physicians and nurses gathered in the ER. As the first vehicle from the scene rolled up we quickly got the doors open and transfered the one patient inside to the ER. He had multiple shrapnel injuries but they were relatively minor wounds and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief as he was whisked away to the operating room in stable condition. Over the next 30 minutes were not so fortunate. The next vehicle pulled up but the faces of the soldiers inside said it all before we even got the doors open. Inside lay the lifeless body of one of our soldiers, gently being craddled by the other members of his squad. We quickly got him out of the truck and onto a litter. Two of our medics brought him into the hospital as the next vehicle was pulling up in front of the ER. Unfortunately, this same scenario was repeated again and again. Before it was over, we had pulled the bodies of five of our fellow soldiers out of those vehicles. Each time I was hoping that we would have the chance to save that soldier's life ... to do everything we could to make sure he got home to see his family again. Sadly, their injuries were so severe that we were never even given that opportunity.

Later that afternoon, the unit commander came over to the hospital and presented the one survivng soldier with a purple heart. It was a short, poignant ceremony as the injured soldier laid in his bed surrounded by his fellow soldiers from the unit. The unit commander spoke kindly of the soldiers we lost and reinforced the importance of our mission here attempting to both motivate and console those soldiers that had lost five of their breatheren today. He then turned the floor over to the injured soldier and asked if he had anything he wanted to say. He did manage to get a few words out before he broke down into tears ... "Just go out there and get those motherfuckers for me!"

It was a long, hard day after that. Just a few hours ago I watched as five caskets drapped in American flags were loaded onto a plane headed for the United States. They were finally heading back home but not in the way they and their families had imagined. Five families back home waking up to the news that they had lost a loved one today ... husbands, fathers, brothers, sons. It was a nice ceremony. One last chance for us to pay our respects to those whom had made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. And I couldn't stop the tears from welling up as I stood and watched the young men who had fought beside those killed today, embrace one another and cry for their fallen brothers.

The blast was caused by a suicide bomber driving a dump truck filled with 10,000 pounds of explosives. The driver detonated the bomb in front of the Iraqi police headquarters and next to a squad of our soldiers leaving our compound to patrol the city. I have included a few links with more information on what happened here today for those that are interested. It is amazing how fast information gets to the media. We saw the story on CNN before we even found out the details of what happened from our intel guys here in Mosul.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/04/10/2009-04-10_five_us_soldiers_killed_by_truck_bomb_in_mosul_iraq_deadliest_single_attack_on_u.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,514022,00.html