Time Has Come Today

So time seems to fly by here. Perhaps it’s the fact that i have been going out every night on patrol so my days just are one big blur of food, work and sleep. Rather than in Kuwait where I was just waiting around for something to do, nowadays, I scramble to find enough time to do what i need to do before rolling outside the wire again. But I love it. I was never cut out for the rigid walls of a clinic or aid station. I do my best when my back is against the wall and I need to think outside the box. Best is when I just get to relax and not do anything, cuz when Doc works, it’s usually a bad day. So far, no bad days. Interesting, yes, but not BAD. One night on patrol, we made a left on ASR Dell. 3 Caiman MRAPS made it across a narrow little bridge. Ours did not. The left rear tires had the roadway give out and they slid into the canal. The frame kept our truck from sliding any further. When recovery got out there with the M88 (think Tank Tow Truck) they hoisted our truck up in the air and swung it back onto the roadway. We continued on without incident.

Our patrol area or AO (Area of Operations) consists of 95% farmland with these narrow dirt roads that have canals on either side. These canals are for irrigation and are anywhere from 6-30 feet down from the side of the road. Turning around is an interesting prospect, sometimes taking HOURS for 4 trucks to completely turn 180 degrees and move out. To our north, there is a town. We drove up there one night and haven’t really explored it yet, but around our FOB, pictures of Al-Sadr are up EVERYWHERE, especially in this town. The looks we got were half bewilderment and half “Go F yourself!” I actually look forward to pressing into the town and establishing a presence.  Currently we’re merely learning the roads in our AO. Which are hardball (paved) and which aren’t. During the day, one might mistake where we are for Viet Nam. The fields with grass, cows and little farm huts. Only when you see the farmers is it clear we’re in South WEST Asia, not South East. That has to be my biggest surprise. I thought I was going to be in desert like the Sahara, and here I am surrounded by what is almost describable as lush fertile countryside. We’ve rigged up an old headset to play our iPods through the j-boxes (junction boxes). Every soldier in the truck has a headset linked to an intercom system. You talk into the mic and everyone in the truck hears you. All the while, music plays in the background. You have a switch on the cord that lets you key the radio to transmit to the other trucks or back to base. The J-box allows you to switch which radio will be keyed, if any, and volume. My truck runs about 3 iPods in rotation, giving us a nice wide range of music. Mostly its country and rock and blues with a little hip-hop thrown in for good measure. A song everyone knows comes on and we all sing, through our headsets. It’s quite comical to hear. Sounds like a karaoke bar in the truck.

We’ve dismounted a couple times to check out suspicious activity, and I go with the guys, usually. The other night we got a report of a house with a lot of traffic at it. So we sent our dismounts to go check it. As medic, I have to stay with the CCP or Casualty Collection Point. It sucks, but for now, that’s where I stay. Plus the rules have changed. While we tactically move to our objective, once we get there its handshakes and pleasantries with the suspect.  No assaulting the house, kicking in the door and zip-cuffing the people there while we search and question them. Times have really changed. What day is it again? No one ever truly knows. You need a watch that tells you what day of the week. I guess that’s good. Makes my time go by faster. Hopefully the infantry guys will loosen up and let Doc out of his cage to play more often!

Mesopotamian Mystery Meat and Mexican Street Tacos

When you're in Mexico, invariably you have tacos from a street vendor. Tasty carne asada in tiny diced pieces cooked on a flattop griddle. So succulent and tasty you fail to notice the lack of feral animals lurking around his stand. Am i saying you just ate dog or cat? Can't prove it, but everyone pretty much agrees on it. Then returns for 5 more plates and a Fanta in a glass bottle. Same thing here. a T-bone steak for Surf n Turf that has a 7" vertical bone (ala T-bone) but yet lacks the top of the "T", making it more of an I-bone steak. I don't think Apple has copyrighted it, so I'm safe. This made me wonder. Was this truly beef? Or was it a much larger beast that may or may not have a hump on its back and likes to spit when angry? No, NOT Rosanne Barr. I'm talking camels. Having been in the Middle East, i figured i'd see at LEAST one, which i did, in Kuwait. Guy was offering free camel rides. Who wouldn't? But here in Iraq, they are surprisingly nil. Which again brings me to the meat question. There are also no cows (and yet no Chik-fil-a?!? WTH?!? EAT MOR CAMEL). Additionally, they must have some freakazoid chickens. i got a DRUMSTICK with a 6 inch bone! Not the size of a turkey leg, but thinner than a chicken and 2x as long. Truth be told, i did NOT eat "chicken" that night. So it seems i'm relegated to my egg white omelett for breakfast, and a panini for lunch and dinner. not too shabby.

On a different note, I've left HHC and the aid station and am now attached to Charlie Company again. Its nice comin home to my guys, even if i am in the attached A Co platoon. i'm home here and ready to go on missions. The aid station is too slow for me and slow=burn barrel. Yup, the resident firefighter took up the job to burn all English documents and paperwork, classified and unclassified, as well as any other combustibles I could dig up. My parents remember this part of my personality fondly. Remember those halogen desk lamps? Before they had the glass pane, they had a wire screen. Incidentally, you take a piece of paper and that wire would burn it and poof, fire. For an 8y/o kid, this is freakin AWESOME!. They will also remember me trying to light a paper towel off the HVAC's pilot light in the garage. For years they had me convinced i almost blew up the house. Then i enrolled in fire tech classes and learned that since a flame ALREADY existed, any gas present would already have burned. Therefore, only problem would be if i dropped a flaming piece of paper on something combustible. I digress. The point is, i do what i do best. Burn stuff then put it out. No, not an arsonist. I'm a professional controlled burner.


Even without having been outside the wire yet, i'm reminded about the area i'm in and the Biblical and historical significance of this place. On the FOB we have the "Babil Reconstruction District". Seeming benign, most people don't understand the true significance of Babil. The Tower of Babil was a MASSIVE undertaking, where humans desired to be on God's level and thus built a tower to the heavens (without modern equipment mind you). In their desire to be near God, they weren't seeking Him, but rather seeking to BECOME Him. God destroyed the tower, gave them different languages and scattered them to the corners of the earth. Before this, Man was centrally located HERE and all spoke the SAME language. So to see "Babil Reconstruction", it make one think about what is truly going on here, physically AND spiritually.

Until next time, Graverobber out!