My day did not start off too well today...

I started the day at 0600 (6 am) with our wonderful sandbag detail.  Our unit has decided to fortify our trailers with wood, metal plates, and two layers of sandbags.  I have to admit in theory the idea is a good one.  However, the man hours that this requires is HUGE.  Filling thousands and thousands of sandbags and hauling them up to cover ALL of our trailers.  As a result EVERYONE in the unit is required to work 2 hours per day, 6 days per week.  This is in addition to our usual duties in the hospital, which for us docs includes multiple night shifts per week.  Plus, we frequently end up in the ER in the middle of the night when trauma patients come in.  So, as you can imagine I don't particularly enjoy this detail. 

There is one aspect of the detail that makes it tolerable; the camaraderie.  The only good thing about the detail is the opportunities to talk to others in the unit that you normally do not get a chance to talk to.  Today's detail was just the standard pain.  We finished the double layer of sandbags on one set of trailers and then started on the shower and latrine trailers (man, I'd hate to get hit with a mortar while I was poppin' a squat or buck naked in the shower).

Well, after the sandbag detail, I had to attend our semi-annual MANDATORY P.O.S.H. (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) training.  The training started at 0800, so I had to go there right from the sandbag detail, and let me tell you, I was filthy.  The P.O.S.H. training lasted an hour.  The NCO in charge of the training does an outstanding job with it, however, why do we have to do this crap every 6 months???  What a waste of time.  THEN, after P.O.S.H. was done we had another 30 minutes of MANDATORY FUN.  Apparently, too many soldiers were missing questions about our unit's history when they went for their boards (boards are the military's way of evaluating enlisted soldiers and NCO's; they sit in front of senior NCO's who ask them all kinds of challenging, and sometimes nit-picky questions).  So, as a result the entire unit had to suffer through a MANDATORY 30 minute class on unit history.  I might add that if anyone was paying attention during our last formation before leaving Germany and our initial entire unit formation upon arriving in Kuwait, they would know a lot about the unit history.  PLUS, if anyone has internet access (and these days who doesn't?) they can find the exact contents of the lecture right here at this link:  www.wuerzburg.healthcare.hqusareur.army.mil/history1.htm 

So, at 0930 I finally made it over to the hospital (still without showering; I was dirty and stinky).  I checked in with sick-call to make sure that everything was under control (Monday's usually are CRAZY) and make sure no one was there to see me in particular.  I took care of one small issue then ran to my hootch to shower and just made it back to the hospital in time for our 1000 medical rounds.

I do not mean to belittle the importance of Sexual Harassment Prevention or the importance of the history of our unit (it is actually quite impressive - campaigns in Normandy, Rhineland, Ardennes, and two tours in Vietnam - read the above link), it is just that we are here to take care of our sick and injured soldiers.  It pains me to think of the productive things I could have done with the 3 1/2 hours I spent this morning doing MANDATORY FUN...

To top it all off, I had the 1600 to 2000 (4 pm to 8 pm) shift in the ER.  No rest for the weary.  Turned out, this was the excitement of our day.  At around 1700 we got notice of an incoming MEDEVAC; a soldier with belly pain accompanied by his doctor.  The helicopter landed and it turns out the patient and his doctor were Korean soldiers!  How cool.  There is a rather large unit of Koreans working to the North of us.  They are not supposed to be engaging in combat operations; they are an Engineer unit here to build bridges, hospitals, schools, etc.  It turns out the Korean patient has an appendiceal abcess.  This is basically an appendicitis gone pretty bad.  He, of course, would need surgery. 

While we were working with him in radiology, we got word that another patient was here.  I high-tailed it back to the ER as they were bringing in an Iraqi civilian who was shot in the neck.  Of note, this guy arrived by helicopter and we had absolutely NO warning until he hit the ER doors.  Sometimes that is the way it goes.  This patient is an Iraqi who works as a carpenter on one of the local FOB's.  As he was leaving the FOB today after work, he was shot by an insurgent.  It seems to be a popular thing these days; the insurgents are attacking the Iraqis that work for the military (our interpreters, contractors, housekeepers, etc.).  It is really sad, they are killing their own people.  Anyway, turns out our patient was actually shot in the upper back and the bullet went completely through and exited the front of the neck.  Most of you know there is a huge and quite important blood vessel in the neck called the carotid artery (aka Big Red).  Injury to this blood vessel typically results in a quite rapid death.  Well today was a lucky day for our friend because this AK-47 round missed the important blood vessels and nerves in his neck.  It seems weird to tell a guy who has just been shot that he is lucky, but that seems to be the case here, and I really can't think of a better term to use to explain why he is still alive.  He was in surgery when I left the hospital this evening.  I'll update you on his status tomorrow.

Before I go, I want to add a bit about these radical insurgents.  Remember the mortarmen (aka Mohammed 1, 2, and 3)?  Well, 2 and 3 are still alive; 2 is actually doing quite well (lucky for him he received such outstanding medical care...).  Our Criminal Investigations Division (CID) interviewed Mohammed 2 today.  I was told that Mohammed 2 told CID that this is not his fault, his religion makes him kill the enemy and the enemy is anyone that does not believe in the same things he does.

What religion is this?  Is this in the Koran?  This is a perfect example of these Islamic extremists, and demonstrates why these terrorists must be eliminated all over the world.  Look at the recent mass murdering in Russia.  They believe that it is their "religious responsibility" to kill innocent people.  They cannot be allowed to continue operating in this manner.  These terrorists will never be able to live in peace with other cultures and religions.  They are cowards.  They need to be eliminated on a worldwide scale; the War on Terrorism will not be completed until these groups are either completely eliminated or at least diminished to levels where they are no longer effective.  I guess I should get off my soap box now...