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!!