A power outage today. The hospital is new to Al Asad. It was built last year. It has all of the modern hospital equipment. We have x-Ray, CT Scanner, Pharmacy, Laboratory, Blood Bank, ER, OR, and Dental Clinic. The hospital is wired with 110 volt and 220 volt power. Many instruments have been lost by plugging into the wrong outlet. I work in the Hardstand, which is the old Saddam hospital. The Hardstand is largely offices and very little clinical operation. Because it was an original building, it is wired with 220 volt only. The base lost power which is 220 [View Full Entry]

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Today we gained a new addition to the hospital - a mascot of sorts. Even though we are not allowed mascots under General Order 1 (the same order that prohibits Alcohol, Sex, Fun, etc.) we adopted a bat for the afternoon. A small fuzzy bat perched himself on the windows in the main hallway. He hung from the aluminum frame of a large window. At first I thought it was a huge bug but, it was a little bat instead. It was really small and cute. Everyone was really interested in it. Since there is not much to do here everyone [View Full Entry]

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Hump day. I used to go by the days of the week. Wednesday was two days until Friday, which meant time home with my girls. I usually don’t know what day it is. Our wives laugh at us because we don’t know what day it is. I have heard many soldiers say, “My wife/girlfriend thought I was giving her a hard time on the phone because I said that I didn’t know it was Wednesday.” We really do not know what day it is - everyday is like the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. Every day I wake up at [View Full Entry]

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Today the weather cleared. The concert is on. Puddle of Mudd a rock band from Seattle came to Al Asad tonight. Everybody is glad to see anything other than work and sand. Mark and I went early to get a good seat. The concert was held at the old stadium build by Saddam. We secured seats in the stands - and what a good thing. The sand picked up a little and the band was delayed getting in. They arrived about two hours late so we had a long time to sit. Everyone on the base must have come. The band [View Full Entry]

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Another sandstorm today. A band was supposed to play for us tonight but they were not able to fly in today. Hopefully tomorrow they will offer the concert. The sand storm is really interesting. It blows sand into every crevice and crack in the buildings. You will spend hours cleaning and a sandstorm will blow through and negate your work in minutes. I suppose that you just have to live with it. [View Full Entry]

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Today was a very exciting day. One of the Doctors, Dr. W, works in the hospital. He is an Iraqi civilian. Dr. W was born and raised in Iraq, his family left when Saddam took power in the 1970s. He moved to Montreal, Canada to escape the oppressive government. He lived in Canada until 2003 when Saddam was removed from power. Dr. W returned to Iraq to work with the new government and help his people. He has been assigned to work in the hospital as a liaison between the Iraqi people and the Americans. We treat more Iraqi civilians, Iraqi [View Full Entry]

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Today was SGT Brundle’s birthday. He failed to tell us ahead of time so that we could prepare a proper celebration. We found out from one of his friends. MSG (Master Sergeant) and I went out to the PX and searched for anything that resembled a birthday cake. There was a scarce selection at the PX - big surprise. We found a frozen tiramisu, chocolate brownie, and a bag of chex mix. We surprised him at shift change. It was nice to have a reason to celebrate. Everyone had a good time. The tiramisu went quite fast - not bad for [View Full Entry]

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Cheerleaders, Cheerleaders, Cheerleaders. Today the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders came to Al Asad for a visit. Everyone was quite excited to see their name on the bill - even if you aren't from Philadelphia. The Eagles are doing a 12 day tour of Iraq playing shows at several bases. They spent the first few minutes doing a cheerleading routine. We of course enjoyed that. Next they spent some time introducing themselves - two cheerleaders were notable. One was born is Norway so she gave her introduction in her native language, and the other was a ROTC Candidate that knew our lingo. She [View Full Entry]

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We are transitioning quite well since our arrival. Each day we report to our duties, we take a little more responsibility from the unit that is leaving. As I said before they have shorttimers disease and their symptoms grow worse every day. I can't say as I blame them for itching to go home. I am happy to be here and excited to begin a new experience. As I manage soldiers I use my personal leadership style which differs from the Army's management style. Where I may ask for someone to do a task or job the Army would say, "do [View Full Entry]

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The unit that is leaving is counting days until they leave. My unit members are counting days already - a little early and depressing if you ask me. My company commander is counting Cigars. He smokes on cigar a week on Fridays so he says, "39 cigars till we go home." I like that. I have been busy at my new job but am coming along nicely. I have a great staff and hope to help them get even better. They will really help me do my job better than I could do alone. Our counterparts that we are replacing had [View Full Entry]

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