Last evening the group of doctors, which is about 4 of us, Beethead, the colonel, and the male nurse named Gary were invited to the British Consulate. I am not sure whether I am suppose to capitalize that or not but I'm sure I will get messages about that later from all those grammer people. Grammer is so overrated. I am missplelling gramer on purpose to make you knuts. Here is the background for the the next saga of SANDS of TIME. The British were here to start the war. Iraq was broken up into areas and the only area that the British had to worry about was Basrah. Felt to be the safest and the easiest place b/c of the shii people. I know I didn't spell that right but don't care. That is b/c Sadam was a sunni and they basically hate each other. So muslim of each other. Thats not racist or mean just plain obvious. Well when we liberated Iraq from Sadam they were thinking that was great b/c i guess he tortured and killed a lot of people down here. The whole thing was easy at first but I am not sure why but it got ugly here with the British. They were fighting with them all the time. I guess Britian has some history here b/c Basrah used to be a vacation paradise until Sadam came and laid waste to this area. I guess a lot of British people came her to have a spot of tea. I think that may have led to some bad feeling. Some mistakes were made and I am sure that the insurgent group infiltrated the area and just stirred it all up for the hell of it. This was completely their base. I remember them having a big battle here with the locals and i think a lot of soldiers lost there lives and that turned the public opinion away from the war in Britian. They pulled out fairly quickly and we took over. The place where our tent hospital is, is where there hospital was place. The basic outline was the same and we used it. The floors are this kind of plasticity, cement type stuff. At the worst they were shooting 100 rockets a day into this compound b/c the city is just to the east of us. They just fired them in. The soldiers had to walk around with full uniforms and kevlar outfits at all times. They slept in the same basic areas but in those areas they slept under cement blocks with a roof made up of a kevlar slab. I guess it was horrible. Obviously things are a lot better around here and there is no conflict. The word is Basrah is still pretty desolate b/c of all the fighting but has like a million people in it. The rocket attack they we had is what people around here think are retaliation activity b/c there will always be an element of these guys who want to try to kill Americans. Won't ever stop them. So the consulate is what is left of the British presence. The purpose now in this region is to tap the largest oil field in the world in southern Iraq. The consulate is a staging place for BP and Shell to live and work from for the next big oil dig. They think they will have around 30,000 people in this area. This base is going to be a large American and British embassy/consulate facility. So thats the background

The first picture is of Maj Bro on our way to the consulate in high powered fancy GMC Envoy. The FST has there own vehicle to drive to different parts on the base to pick up supplies and we all can use it at different times.



He is leaning back to tell me and Maj Beethead to be quiet b/c we are backseat driving. I personally don't mind backseat drivers that much. Nobody really likes them but sometimes you just have to put up with the lunatics. Really the speed limit is about 20 everywher and you should go that slow or you will fall out of your seats b/c the roads are not that great. The trip was about 10 minutes b/c this place was on the other side of the base. Beethead has this motion sickness thing and always has to have his head out the window like a dog. He made it though without puking.

This next picture was kind of cool b/c it is series of hum v's coming in here at dawn with there lights on. Im not a photographer like my cousin Bruce. If anybody has ever been into my clinic you will see a lot of very cool pictures of nature and animals. That is not me but sometimes I take credit b/c Im tired or maybe just like to think I have some different talent besides cutting on people. The person is Bruce Bohlen. It fools people b/c you look at the signature and it has two B's in it. I don't know if Bruce or his family is reading this but I will tell you about him. He grew up on the bowling alley with the rest of us. He is about 12 years older then us. He is a farmer like his dad and our grandpa. He and his goofy brother Brian farm my father's land. Its a great situation. Well anyway what I always found amazing that when he was growing up in the 70's that this was his passion. I think I am safe to say that. But that was the 70's and nobody took pictures like they do today in the 70's. Everybody now has a camara of some level of complexity and everybody is a photographer. Well that was different in his time. I never did understand that and i thought it was just different. He still played sports and everything like my sisters and brothers as well as his but he had this thing that he did. He had a dark room in the dungeon of our grandfathers house. He actually made his own pictures. No one probably born after 1990 knows what I'm talking about b/c everything is a disc and digital. He dipped those things in all kinds of chemicals and it was a certain process. I think it is amazing and shows that parents and families should help and let their kids find how they each can be special. If you ever see the pictures in my office I think it shows how special Bruce is. If you ever have had the pleasure of meeting his family you know that his special attributes have made a huge difference in their lives and made them all great people. You can look up more pictures on line at Bruce Bohlen photography (looking for a little kickback here).



This next picture is the insignia of the British Consulate as we walked in.



So we arrive knock on the big fence door and gave them the password. God save the queen. They let us in. We ate supper there at there fancy eating establishment. We were the only people in uniforms. The rest is the company players here for oil. We ate some beef wellington and some chicken and good deserts. It was nice. Our host was a nurse named Zora. I think it sounds like a British name but she is of Pakistani origin. She works here for 6 weeks and takes care of anybody assigned to the British Consulate. If something bad goes down they will bring them here for care and then medivac out. The part of the FST group that has been here 9 months are always on task to go have a meal with the Brits b/c of the needed help.

The last picture is the high level meeting we had after the meal.



As you can see I am sitting in the corner. Minding my own business. Beethead is bothering Zora (lady in the blue) with questions of how are the English and BP going to clean up the spill of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. It got kind of heated but we calmed him down.

I hope everyone at home is finding themselves having good days. To realize how parents can effect the lives of there kids by nuturing, affirmations, and setting limits. Bruce was a great example and his kids are a great example of his and Julie's effect in their lives in a meaningful manner. I will never be a perfect parent but I will love my kids to the very best of my abilities. I will work together with Michelle to make their dreams come true. Being meaningful in their lives means working together to make a difference.

Play Hard
Play Smart
Play Together