Fun, Food and Flying

Yet another KRAB week has passed. Although the days can seem to sometimes crawl, I continue to be amazed by how quickly another weekend arrives. God bless the gym and the running routes on base!! I had no trauma patients this week but did manage to treat a few common general surgey issues, including a young soldier with acute cholecystitis that was at a more forward base. Unfortunately for him, his illness struck during one of our weekly dust storms and I was forced to transport him by ground to Kirkuk. He stayed here for a little more than a day until the skies cleared and he was off to a cleaner facility with laparoscopic equipment to have his gallbladder removed. I have to admit, though, that a small part of me kept hoping he would deteriorate and allow me the privelege of shucking out that gallbladder the old fashioned way!

I am still working on arranging the driving training for this vehicle, but here is a sample picture of one of the MRAP's on base. These are the primary Army convoy vehicle, and were specifically designed to withstand IED blasts (improvised explosive devices, the most common terrorist weapon here). They come in many different configurations with various toys attached (this happens to be a medical MRAP, as is obvious by the red crosses).

This weekend, we had the best "trifecta" of food thus far. Friday was a BBQ at the Provincial Reconstruction Team's compound (the nation-builders that support education, healthcare and other Iraqi reform projects) and some interesting conversations with folks that I don't normally get to meet. Saturday was our weekly BBQ-and-a-movie at the EMEDS (we watched the original MASH movie) and Sunday was another EMEDS event with lots of incredible Korean BBQ (sweet beef, spicy pork, kimchi...). Thank you Sgt Parker for all of the time and effort spent preparing and cooking, it was worth it. Below is Dr. O manning the 'que, toasting some fantastic pineapple slices while enjoying a little treat from Baskin Robbins. Yes, deployments can be tough sometimes!

And, last but not least, I enjoyed some time on a flight simulator this weekend. We use them to train upcoming Iraqi pilots, but they always have unused time. So, the civilian instructors are happy to teach us enthusiastic neophytes and watch us try not to crash. By the end of the session, I could take off, fly around, do an aileron roll and land without any verbal instruction. I will definitely be making this a regular stop on my weekly rounds!

I love you always Cita!!

In continuing the trends of ebb and flow in trauma surgery during Operation Iraqi Freedom, this week brought no new patients. Good for the soldiers and local nationals....not so good for me. But, we always find plenty of things to occupy our time here at the KRAB (Kirkuk Regional Air Base). As the summer moves along, the temperatures seem to be heating up a little as well. Yesterday, the dry-bulb thermometer capped out at 117 degrees with radiant temperatures off the ground (mainly asphalt and rocks) hitting a sweltering 132 degrees! The strangest part is that it really doesn't seem that hot to me anymore. We still go running around the base (on safe, specified running routes, of course) but we tend to start early and finish before 8AM...right about the time triple digit temperatures roll in.

Along with the climate and surroundings comes some interesting critters. The several thousand Airmen, Soldiers and civilian contractors here make a fair amount of trash each day and this attracts rodents (mainly rats). And guess what animals like to eat rats......

...that's right: snakes. Since I arrived here, four vipers have been caught. Two in living quarters, one in our EMEDS, and one at the Firehouse. Thankfully, no one has been bitten that I know of, because the antivenom is a helicopter flight away at a different base! The big snake above is obviously dead already, but the smaller one below was still alive when caught in one of the rooms of my building (for a very short while).

The docs and nurses obviously spend a lot of time together and we've begun some fun weekly rituals to pass the downtime. We watch M.A.S.H. episodes pretty much every night before dinner and have "BBQ & a Movie" nights on Fridays where we rig a projector outside under the netting of our lovely KRAB island, as seen below:

There are tables, benches, a radio, mounted speakers, a BBQ, coolers and, of course, a small pond with a running waterfall and fake fish! Naturally, the entire area is covered by camouflaged netting...for ambience.

Here is a pic of four of us in the ER (L to R: myself, Dr. O (Ortho), Dr. D (ER), and Dr. K (FP)).

We've even begun networking with lots of people on base and have some sweet activities planned, most of which I can write about as time permits. Between the various armoured vehicles, helicopters, planes and weapons here at the KRAB, I think our group will manage to find some great memories during this deployment!

(Sunset on the flightline)

Until next week.....

Lovin' you Iraqi-style my Cita!!

A little business..

***Family Warning: This post contains graphic photographs***

This past week was a bit busier in many respects. We had our first mortar attack since my arrival (while trying to Skype with my wife, no less). She didn't particularly enjoy hearing the explosion followed by the giant voice on the loudspeaker as I ran into a nearby bunker holding my laptop! Thankfully, no one was injured and I was able to let her know that I was fine. This used to be a daily occurence before the Army increased their presence here six months ago and stepped up patrols outside the "wire". Thank you Soldiers!

Unfortunately for the troops, we also started seeing some more traumas this week (the action tends to heat up during summertime). We do not do humanitarian work in Iraq, but we will treat locals if wounded by our troops or during an engagement. As such, we saw an EPW (enemy prisoner of war) who was shot in the face by a high-caliber rifle. Despite the gruesome appearance, he required relatively little heroics on our part.

We also saw a young Soldier who was shot through the forearm by a high caliber rifle (most injuries here are gunshot wounds or related to explosions). He was flown in by the "dust-off" chopper as shown below on our helipad:

As you can see by the following picture, he had a significant injury and required work by both myself and our Ortho doc. Despite shattering his ulna, severing an important nerve and injuring one of the two forearm arteries that required repair (thank you U of U vascular surgeons for your time and training) he retained a fair amount of function. He was all smiles as he flew out the next day (once the dust storm lifted) to continue his complex reconstructive course at a specialized hospital. Our job in Kirkuk is to stop life-threatening bleeding, stabilize all injuries and then transport to the main military hospital in Iraq for further care. They will then send patients on to Germany and the States if needed.

(notice the well-applied field tourniquet)

Regretfully, we also saw our first casualty of my tour. A young Soldier was hit by an RKG-3 (a hand-thrown grenade with a shaped charge), suffering devastating neck and chest wounds. We found out later that a teenager had thrown it! He probably died within the minute, but we worked hard on him for some time before deciding to cease our efforts. It turns out that he had already won a Purple Heart (one week prior) after surviving a separate attack with minimal injuries. Later that night, the base held a Ramp ceremony for him. More than fifteen hundred Airmen and Soldiers lined up on the flightline to respectfully solute his flag-draped casket as he was carried onto a plane headed back home. He will be placed alongside the many thousand other brave men and women that have lost their lives in service to their country. Specialist, we will not forget you!

We saw a few other patients, but I thought I would leave you with a picture of an Iraqi dust storm as it engulfs our forward base. Thank you for all of your prayers. Love to my entire family and especially to my Lady...I'm always with you Darlin'!!

P.S.: We have a GREAT chapel here with awesome worship and services on Sunday. I've even begun to meet a few solid Christian guys this week and have found a couple of Bible studies occuring throughout the base. Thank you Lord for always providing!!