| SATURDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2004 - FULL MOON | ||
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Today we had a few casualties. The most seriously injured were
some Iraqi civilians that drove their car a little too close to a
Stryker vehicle and got themselves pretty messed up. I am not
sure exactly how much a Stryker weighs, but I think it is in the
vicinity of 35,000 pounds. It is a large, heavily armored
vehicle. So, if the average Iraqi vehicle collides with a
Stryker it is obvious who is going to win. Unfortunately, we
have seen a bit of this during our time here (see
24 Nov
post). One might be inclined to point their finger at the
Stryker, however, let me explain something... Anyone can buy a
car in Iraq. There is no such thing as car insurance, driver's
ed, or DRIVER'S LICENSES. So, as a result the Iraqis drive a
bit recklessly to say the least. As a result of today's accident we had three patients with trauma to their head and neck. The first guy had a depressed skull fracture to his forehead. This means that the bones over his forehead were broken and pieces of the bone were shoved back into his brain. Not so good. He was actually awake and fairly with it, but he did start to vomit after a little while. The second patient also had some trauma to his brain. We do not have a neurosurgeon (i.e. brain surgeon) up here so we had to transport these patients out to another military facility. The third patient had a variety of very serious lacerations to his face which were repaired by our oral and maxillofacial surgeon who just returned from leave last night. Welcome back doctor. The real story of today is this full moon. This is our twelfth full moon since we arrived in Iraq. If all goes well, we will only see one more full moon on this deployment. This full moon, however, was the best to date. Tonight, there is not a cloud in the sky and the moon is the brightest moon I have ever seen. The illumination is incredible. You can actually see dark, crisp shadows. You can see colors clearly. I could probably sit outside and read a book if I wanted. This place in general is a shithole, but I have to admit, sometimes the sunsets are pretty astonishing; and when the sky is clear, the moon and the stars are amazing. Sometimes when you are in this type of situation, little things like this bring you so much happiness. |
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