After an eventful weekend we have come to a grinding halt. Clinic has been Ok but no new surgeries this week. Quiet is good but makes the days long. The weather has come to a new high of 133 degrees I was told officially on June 15. I pretty much get to the hospital right away in the am and really don't leave until at least mid afternoon. I don't go to the dining hall b/c it is the worst at that time of the day and trying to keep the calories down b/c it feels like my activity is down even I still workout about everyday. It is as much to do with the heat though. Yesterday it felt like your whole skin was tingly when you went outside to go to the bathroom. That was a new sensation. That is the only reason why I left during the day. They tried frying an egg on the hood of the car but it just dried up to fast. We will continue with that experiment as we progress. The generators are hanging in there as well as the air conditioner in the room. The area is coming to a realization that nothing has been changed for a couple of years though. The window units in each one those CHU's are steadily failing one by one. They are obviously wearing out. We will see if someone has the foresight to replace them before we all end up sleeping in the hospital.

This next week we are going to show you the hospital. I know you are as excited as I am. It really is interesting. I think I will break it up into 3 or 4 parts b/c I have taken a lot of pictures to show you and it would be good to make it easier for your to follow in parts. Plus we might get other stories as the week goes along that may interrupt our award winning mini-series.

The first picture is of the T-wall structures that surround the hospital.



These T-walls are longer at the base then some of the previous ones that I showed you. These seem to be popular along the roads and the taller ones are more right outside of buildings. I can't remember if I showed you pictures earlier but these were everywhere at Camp Beuring in Kuwait when we got there. What you see is art drawn on them. In Kuwait this kind of art was everywhere. The reason is that each unit that came through there picked a T-wall and drew there insignia on it. This is kind of like the cavemen did to tell a story of who they were and what they stood for. This particular picture is taken on one side of the hospital lining the road. It is a compilation of 4 previous groups that were deployed to this area. The most obvious one is the closest with the large rhinoceros on it. This is interesting b/c it is one of the British medical groups that was stationed here b/c it reads UK MED GROUP on the top and they call there units OP TELEC. Really cool drawing. The second one in are three rats. That one is also British and funny. It must of signified the fact they had a large amount of mice or rats around here at the time. Another interesting point is that guy Hinny from the British Consulate the other day helped build this hospital 3 years ago. He said it was really rough here then. His take was that the British doctors never saw the trauma like they saw at home. Partly b/c they haven't fought in a war in a long time and second they don't allow anything but shotguns in England so it has cut down significantly on that kind of trauma. It will be interesting to see if these last through the years.

The next picture is of the entry into the hospital.



This shows the large opening in the tent with those hesco type barriers to the right and then a T-wall to the left. This T-wall is our insignia for the FST group.

This picture is of Dean and I standing with our groups insignia on the T-wall.



The middle part is fairly dramatic with a syringe and knife with the skull. It says on top the Son's of Sukay. I am not sure what that means but it may mean a swear word that we cannot use on the air. The OIF means Operation Iraqi Freedom which is technically the stage of the war that we are currently in. I think they have had 3 names of this conflict the last being Enduring Freedom. I believe they are changing it here again to signify the drawn down in the country. I think this picture is going to be one that lasts me a long time. It is here in this place with my friend Dean assigned to this group that I will never forget. I have a bit of nostalgia in me. I think I get that from my Dad. Always referring to being here at this time or going there 10 years ago. It is like you need to take notes of those things to remind you of where you came from. I look forward to visiting some of those places or events again back at home. I really don't see myself ever coming back here again just to remind me of this time and place. I think a picture is good enough.

The next picture is of our local ambulance.



This is not your typical ambulance but when you are here you do with what you have. This base houses a lot of people but it is fairly compact. Maybe 5 miles or so in diameter. The medics of the hospital unit would use this to go get somebody if there was a call on the base for them. Really though as with the rocket attack that we saw the 1st responders are the fire station guys that act like what they do at home. If you read the side of the ambulance this particular one is called SCARFACE. Let me show you my little gun. That was a famous line from the movie if you didn't realize that. I actually watched that movie one of the first few weeks I was here. Kind of classic. That and the Godfather flicks. Come to think of old movies we were watching one over our 2 hour lunch break. Yes people that is pretty much standard around here. Actually my scrub nurse Diane takes these also b/c she is used to working in the armed services as a nurse. If I say something to her about it she gets mad at me. When she cuts it shorter then 2 hours she is just there physically but not mentally. Anyway this movie called Quicksilver came on. I really didn't realize that Kevin Bacon was in every movie in the early 80's. There is a Kevin Bacon rule I guess. That every actor that you see now a days was in a movie with Kevin Bacon at some point and time in his life. Quicksilver is a classic. I barely remembered it and was soon figuring out why b/c it was about messengers in New York city riding on bicycles. Really cool. They had great music and danced with there bikes. Very dramatic and a heart warming story. They raced a lot and Kevin was really cool and had really cool hair. Do you know the other movie he is famous for? You know what it is and if you don't you must of been on drugs during the 80's. It was Footloose. Oh baby was that a movie. The music, the rebellious attitude, the dancing, playing chicken with tractors. It brought everything together for me. I wanted to be Kevin Bacon. I wanted to dance like him and have hair like him and drive a tractor like him. I even wanted to get an old barn on the outside of town and have a dance there. Wait a minute, we did that at my uncles house down the Bowling alley. Weird. The amazing part about that is I also learned to dance like him. Weird I know but really true. One time in college I got second place in a dance contest. I lost to an African American student. Go figure. They said he had more rhythm then me. That actually is a somewhat true story. Footloose is an american icon of fasion and music. People like Sean Vonderfecht and my sister Janice still dress like the actors in that movie. I keep telling them that it is time to come out of the 80's and join us but it is hard when you love a movie like that. You know what the other great part of the movie is? Yes it is the female actresses hair. Everybody knows that those bangs going straight up in the air was one of the best era's of our time when it came to hair design. Go back and look at your yearbooks right now. Truely cool early 80's hair and then came along that curly hair for guys in the late 80's. You know it's true. You wish you could get a perm like I did back then. Holy crap we are way off point today. I keep getting deeper and deeper. So bored and need to break away from this bad train of thought paragraph. Help me.

I can't get away from old movies. Saw another one the other day that you have to watch again. Cape Fear. Great thriller but horrible cloths and hair. What drives me crazy about Martin Scorcesse (don't know or care if I spelled that right) movies is the horribly ominous music that plays constantly through the movie. I just watched Shutter Island and it is the same damn music. It won't shut up. That movie was not good. I would have someone give it to you. I am sorry.

The next picture is of the large troop transport ambulance that we have standing by.



This one I don't think will ever be used. If something happens outside the wire they will bring them back with there vehicles or they will send a medivac helicopter to the place. From what I was told there maybe only one person in the hospital unit that knows how to drive the beast.

This is our front door.



You would be scared too if this guy was your greater. I promise you someday I will see him be a greeter at Walmart. Not b/c he can't do his job but b/c he would be perfect for it. I want you to look at the fancy pulley system that pulls the door shut. You can tell they are made from scratch but they work to close on a counter balance system. On the right you can see two large water bottles filled with sand. You go in they come up and you let go and there weight pulls the door shut. Interesting huh?


This is where we are going to leave it today. You got the idea of what it looks like in and around the area and how to get in.


Play Hard
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