It Does get cold in the desert!!

I never thought I would see temps in the 30's in the desert!! Isn't the desert always hot? It was 35 degrees last night.

Well, we have been in our current exercise almost eight days now. We are living in quanset huts with sand floors, sleeping on cots, using many baby wipes as our shower getting aclimated to how we will be living in Iraq. The most surreal thing to me? Going to the chow hall, getting your tray of food and sitting down next to your other Marines with everyone carrying an M16 or M4. If we could carry that much firepower on the civilian side of the house I think we would be much safer. Who the heck is going to do someting when everyone is armed? That's my Second Amendment speech. All is good. Trying to stay warm and counting the days to come home and visit before we go on the big leg of our tour.

For these next two weeks I will be one of the trainers for our MOC drills. I was chosen among some others to be a trainer for CASEVAC. That is the term used for evacuating medical patients out of the field by helos. I am also training mass casualty, litter carries and basic life saving skills to the Marines. Our training cadre will be training two battalions, almost two thousand Marines will pass through our lane. There are five other lanes the Marines go through. Training has been a great experience so far, the best part is knowing that what we give to these guys will make a difference in the real deal. Seeing them take to what we teach them and apply it in scenarios is a pretty good feeling.

After that our training group will fall back into our companies and finish out the last couple weeks here in the desert doing some more ranges, moc drills and so forth. I will be on my way home just after Christmas for a much needed shower, real food, a nice comfy bed, some satellite TV and quiet. We take for granted all the little things.....

Our Last Leg of Training

Well, we are now beginning our tenth week of training. It's gone pretty fast looking back. At times it is slow, at times it goes by fast, it is all relative of course. Starting this week we move to a different part of the base, yes more desert, more sand, more MRE's and will be living in quansat huts. Anyone see "Heartbreak Ridge"? Those half moon shaped roof buildings the recon unit of Gunny Highway lived in? Those are what we will be staying in. Yes beautiful quarters. Almost like suites at the Holiday Inn. No, not really.

So, I have found that after many weeks of the same old MRE menus, I have one standby favorite....tuna. It is the only one that has an actual name brand food in the package. In the package comes Sun Kist tuna with fat free mayo and tortillas. Great meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The worst MRE? That would be the ham and cheese omelet. Yep, it is as bad as it sounds. Heating it up doesn't help any at all. So tuna for me please.

Things are well here. I am still moving along and there are only a few moments or days here and there that are obstacles. I just keep pulling myself forward, thinking of what lies at home for me and the job at hand. The majority of us if not all believe highly in what we are doing and are ready to do what is asked. I work with a bunch of good hearted strong warriors and it's awesome to be working with these guys. The heart these young kids have amazes me. They are a different generation then what I grew up in. What is funny is that these kids grew up with computers, internet, cable,cell phones etc. I tell them that my first video game was Pong and they just laugh. Doc, the old guy. It's good.

Our leave, or vacation time has changed. They are giving us a few extra days before we leave the country. I will be home from the eve of the 27th of December until the eve of the 6th of Jan. I will spend the majority in Chicago and a couple days back in Michigan. It will be rushed unfortunately but will be nice to be home a few days. Once we return to the great spot of 29 Palms, we will pack up and prepare to deploy. Sometime the end of January we should be headed over the big pond for our seven month deployment. The intel we get so far is that things are really turning around. A lot of the guys in my unit were there during 04-05 during the elections in the Sunni Triangle and have mutually said that things are very different. There are strong signs of growth, cooperation and positive movement throughout Iraq. Our mission will be more of training, turnover and stabilization at this point. Once we roll into our FOB, forward operating base, things will pick up time wise. What I mean is that training is always harder, tougher and more tedious than actual missions or work. We will be on the job once we arrive so our concept of time will change and things won't drag as much as they do at times now.

Other than that nothing really else going on. The combat trauma course was very good. The instructors have at least one if not two or three tours in Iraq/Afghanistan. They had a lot to bring to the table. Even with being a paramedic/fireman for Chicago for quite awhile and feeling pretty confident in my skills for trauma, these seasoned combat vets really taught me some new ideas. They narrowed down what is truly important in patient assessment and taking care of life threats immediately. What I learned here will easily translate into trauma assessment back home in my real job. We learned things that will one day be standard of care in the civilian world. Military medicine has always been the proving grounds and ground breakers for civilian trauma medicine. Flight for Life came from Vietnam as one good example. So a very good course and glad we took it.

I have no idea if I will have any contact the next 28 days or so. I have heard the cell signal and internet connections are few if any where we are going. So no news will be good news. Once we get done we will be headed home for the holidays. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving!!

Combat Medic School

Hello all!! I know, I know where the heck have I been. Well, all has been well but very busy. Looking at the calender and counting the days, I have been gone almost two months already. The time really is going by fast. Currently, me and about twenty other medics are on somewhat of a two week break. Break as in we are not training or working six days a week with long nights and days. We are in Combat Management Trauma school in Camp Pendleton. Our days are normal school days which has been a nice little relief in the middle. The days are packed though with great information and training for what we do as combat medics. All the instructors have done at least two pumps to the sandbox and have real world experience and stories. What we are learining here is the basic no shit down and dirty on how to assess trauma patients in a crappy environment, how to employ quick procedures to save the most lives with the least amount of resources. Stuff that most docs in the civilian world would have a coronary over, only because they would worry about malpractice and being sued. What is interesting is the contrast from what I have learned in Paramedic school and combat medic school. This assessment we learn here is quicker and finds life threatening conditions so much quicker. I really think this is what our civilian counterparts should be learning. This first week has been all classroom work, then next will be a live tissue lab, followed by time in the field with real live scenarios. All good training!! In all honesty I hope I never have to do any of these procedures on my Marines, but if I do, I feel well prepared to do the job I love to do. Other than that am well and healthy. Some of the young guys have been getting the basic sprained ankles, hurt knees, blisters, stuff like that, and me, 36yrs old now, hasn't had a problem yet. Those young kids!! Anyway as time marches on, I do miss home. I miss the things we all take for granted every day, driving my truck wherever I want, going to and from without having to ask permission, sleeping in, direct tv, Starbucks coffee, lying on my couch with a bottle of Captain and coke, the lake front, hot showers without worrying if I bump into the guy next to me, complete silence when I sleep and......and......Rocco's cooking. So until next update which I hope will be soon....I love you all.