Blogs from Al Asad Airbase, West, Iraq, Middle East - page 2

The reason I traveled to Baghdad was for the Medical Service Corp in-service. It was designed to be for all Medical Service Corp to network and share ideas. The conference was a good experience. I met lots of my counterparts who operate at various bases in theater. I even ran into a LT who I attended officer basic course with three years ago. She taps me on the back and says do you remember me? I couldn’t believe what a small Army it is. Especially considering that she is National Guard and I am Reserve - the Army isn’t even our full time job. The topic of discussion at the conference was leadership and professionalism. I learned some and was even able to contribute some too. We had a cake to celebrate the 91st birthday for ... read more

Mark and I decided to take another bike ride around the perimeter of the base. We took off about 1800 just as the sun fell below the ridge. We rode all the way to the end of the base before ascending to the top of the ridge. We made good time past the old bunkers and were enjoying the cooler temperature (110). As soon as we got to the halfway point of our ride Mark got a page to return to the hospital. Mark holds the additional duty as a flight nurse. He will hop on the MEDEVAC chopper and treat patients in flight from our hospital to other hospitals in theater. Our hospital offers certain specialties that others do not. However we do not have capabilities to treat certain illnesses and injuries, so if a ... read more

Holy sand batman. Today we encountered the worst sandstorm yet. There has been light sand for the last few days. This morning I got up and gathered my things to go shower and as I opened the door I was greeted with a wall of sand. The sand was so thick that you could not see to the end of the row of CHUs that I live on. I dawned my baclava and wrap around glasses and headed to work only to get covered in sand. It is almost like running out of a grocery store to your car in a rain storm but instead of getting drenched you get pasted with sand. My uniform was totally brown by the time I made it to work (which is only 170 steps). At lunch time Mark and ... read more

Father’s Day and my first day off this deployment. I planned to get up, after sleeping in a bit, and go for a bike ride on the ridge of the base. I woke up to the radio (walkie talkie) and thought I was getting a call. It was not for me but since it was the evening at home I decided to get dressed and walk to the hardstand. I called home and talked with my girls. That made my day even though it was 0300 in the morning. I slept until 0800 hoping to go for my bike ride. I opened the door to the CHU and was greeted by a sandstorm. Ahhhh. So much for my adventure. I hung out in the CHU with Mark and watched Lawrence of Arabia. “I am a river ... read more

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 volt (220 volt is the standard overseas). All of our computer systems went down for a short while. We had to run a 110 volt line from the hospital to get the computers and communication ... read more