This Is What We Do

The 909th FST in action during one of the mass cal ( Massive Casaulties)



There was an Australian News team that did a documentary about the war in Afghanistan. They filmed this last fall about the medical unit and the treatment the wounded receive in Afghanistan. It was filmed at FOB Shank. The unit was the 8th FST. My unit, 909th FST relieved the 8th FST here in early Feb. The documentary filmed a day at the FOB, almost at the peak of the amount of injuries before the winter set in. Since the filming, the winter has fortunately slowed down the number of injuries. However, we still get days just like this. This is a 20 min film that very accurately shows what we do here. We met the doctors who are in the film. We overlapped them for about a day before they took off and we took over. We operate in the same OR, the same treatment bays, and the same mass confusion and rushing around that is shown on the film. Unfortunately, we hear the same screams, and feel the same pain and sometimes helplessness. The FOB is a little bigger since the film. We now have metal plates where the helicopters land. That also makes it a little easier to roll the injured into our treatment area.
Towards the end of the film, they show a 16 y/o boy who was shot and paralyzed by the Afghan Army. They have been taking care of him weekly for months. The family brings him in once a week and we debrided and dress his wounds. The family really has no where else to take him. There really isn’t any other medical facility around, unless they travel to one of the major cities, which is extremely difficult. We have continued his care since they left. He has not shown up for the last 2 weeks. He was looking pretty terminal the last few visits. We suspect he finally expired.
The room at the end of the film was the doctor’s room. It is a section of the tent, that had a wooden wall built into it to section off part of the tent to make it almost a separate room. We call it the dorm room. Some call it the brothel because it reminds them of what one looks like on TV. I think they bought out all of Amazon.com. They filled it up with so much crap, it is worst than a college dorm room. But that is ok. If that is their escape from reality here, they deserve it. I am not living in that room. I am only a Major and don’t have enough rank. The Lieutenant Colonels stay there. However, most of the evenings, all the docs go to that room and watch Sopranos or some movie because they have a TV. We don’t get any TV programs, so we just watch DVDs. I am in the big tent with 12 other guys. I can’t complain. I am doing fine.
Since the documentary was done by an Australian news team, I don’t think it will ever be shown in the US. Too bad. For those who are familiar with a documentary done by HBO a couple of years ago, something like “Bagdad ER”, this film is right in line with that. It was just released this month. I highly recommend it. The link to their website is:

“http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/ “ Click on "The Golden Hour'

Because of the bravery and courage of our young men and women in uniform, defending our nation, this is what we do.



This is all the docs from the 8th FST and the 909th FST. We are standing on the new helipad that was just placed a few weeks before our arrival. This picture was taken the day we arrived. The 8th left the next day.



This picture was during the same mass cal. You can see the hair on my head now, so I apologize for not having a haircut.



Tom

Things That Go Boom

At dusk after we received 3 inches of new snow outside my tent Feb 19 The weather here is up and down. It seems to be the same for a few days, then changes. It will be snow and rain for 2-3 days, then clear skies for 2-3 days. When it is snowing and raining, everything is socked in. The satellite goes down and no internet for a while. Long distance phones go down. The place is snow covered for a while, then turns to mud everywhere. The mud gets tracked into the tents and covers everything. You get used to it. It gets to the point where you just accept it and don’t bother cleaning it off things. When the sun comes out, it takes 2 or 3 days to finally dry, then the mud is replaced by brown dirt and dust. Then it rains and repeats the whole process again. The other night it snowed about 2 or 3 inches. It looked pretty for a while until the next day when it turned to slush and mud. The 155 Holwitzer. The ground shakes when this goes off The other day I was sitting in my tent on my computer and heard a loud boom. The ground and entire tent shook like the ground does when T-Rex was coming in Jurassic Park. About 5 minutes later, it would happen again. We were not getting mortared or rocketed. I walked around a bit and found our huge guns going off. We have 3 large, 155 Howlitzers. We also have four 119 Howlitzers that shoot 105 rounds. Each of these shells weigh from 65 to over 100lbs. These are cannons that they pull in the back of a truck. The barrel is bigger than the barrel on a tank. My friend and I walked up to them, got within about 25 ft and they shot another round. The shock wave from firing can almost knock you over. You had to have earplugs in or you would go deaf. They tell us that the range is 26 miles, incredible. I don’t know if it was a training exercise or they were shooting a specific location to support a mission. I would hate to be on the receiving end of that thing. I am glad we were shooting out instead of receiving it. The smaller 119 Holwitzer shoots 105mm rounds. After the 119 fires, you can hardly see due to the gun powder smoke Things have been slow which is a good thing. With the weather so bad, nothing is moving. I have clinic twice a week in which I see a few simple things, like broken hands, minor cuts, etc. I think they are waiting for the weather to get better, and then I think we will make up for the down time. I guess I should enjoy it while I can.

Tom

My New Home - FOB Shank

Dr Joe Sucher and myself after arriving at FOB Shank






My new home – FOB Shank

I appreciate people’s comments and thoughts on my blog. Feel free to write whenever and as often as you like.


The Army stresses to travel anywhere with a friend or “Battle Buddy” as they like to refer to them as. It is probably not a bad idea. You never know when something can happen, especially at night. If you get injured or whatever, at least your battle buddy can get help. It is not so critical here at the base, but especially outside the wire, it is a requirement. Major Joe Sucher, a General Surgeon, and I have been battle buddies so to speak since we left the CRC in Fort Bennings, Georgia. He is a good guy, younger than me, in his mid forties.

Well, I have been here a little over a week now. The place is starting to grow on me. It is not so bad. It could be a lot worse. Initially, they had Joe, and I in some temporary housing. It wasn’t bad; at least we had a bed instead of a cot. The heater was intermittent at best. It seemed that the fan was on all the time. It would blow hot air for a while, then shut the heat off and continue to blow cold air and then repeat the cycle. At least we had a wonderful gift from the leaving surgeons. An electric blanket that still worked. My wife, Nancy, was kind enough to send me some flannel sheets ahead of time. So when I arrived, the blanket and sheets made it good to go and I was toasty at night. It took a little discipline to get up in the cold mornings.
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One of the main streets at Shank on a clear day






The weather here has been miserable, but what do I expect? After all, it is the middle of winter in a mountain area. Our elevation is 6800 ft I believe. The afternoon that we arrived, it was beautiful. It was cool, upper 40’s, but clear skies. The next day it started to rain, then sleet, then snow. Fortunately, the snow doesn’t stick around and it does dry out in a few days. Everything is just mud for those few days however.

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The streets turn to mud after sleet/snow. The building on the right is the USO where I sometimes call home and use the computers






We are now in our permanent quarters, I believe, at FOB Shank ( Forward Operating Base). Joe and I were quite spoiled at first. We arrived about 4 or 5 days before our regular unit, the 909th FST, arrived. We had our whole tent to ourselves. It was quite, didn’t have to worry much about noise or bothering anyone. Now the entire unit is here. 15 males are crammed in. We still have 3 cots, so some unlucky privates have those. I am told that eventually, those cots will be replaced with beds, but when.



This is my cubby whole in our tent. Cozy. A little cramped, but all niceties of home, well sort of.



The tent after the 909th moved in

Tom

I Finally Made It

Waiting for our flight. The usual, hurry up and wait. We reported at 0530 for 0600 sign up. Our helicopter flight didn’t leave until 0900. You had to be there early to sign up or else you lose your seat.

Well, I finally made it to FOB Shank. It is not so bad. Could be worse. The chain of command held Dr. Sucher, a general surgeon, and myself back for a few days. They were debating about sending us to Helman Providence where most of the surge is taking place. Because of the weather and other difficulties, they thought they would need us there. Apparently, they have decided otherwise because now we are in Shank. I don’t know if they thought we weren’t good enough or maybe just didn’t want to put up with us. Either way, we are here.

It wasn’t too bad flying here. We flew by helicopter, a Chinook. A little crowded and little cold, but not too bad. They always fly in pairs in case one goes down. It took about an hour of flying time.


Loading up on the back of a Chinook helicopter.

FOB Shank isn’t so bad. It kind of grows on you. There is only one paved road in our area that goes from Pakistan to Kabul. To the locals, it is a super highway. To us, it is equal to a 2 lane country road. So this is a main route for the bad guys to go from Pakistan to try and blow up the capital. This road initially split Shank right in half. They tell me that in order to go to the other side; you had to have a humvee take you, wearing full body armor because the bad guys were still driving up and down the road. Since the fall, they closed off the road and built a bypass around the FOB. Now we can just walk across it.
Shank has about 3500 troops, so a lot bigger than I was initially told. No paved roads, all the roads are just stones, about 3-4 inches big. The stones are just big enough to make it rough to walk on. You can’t get a grip on them with your shoes, so you just tend to slide off them. There are no fixed, permanent buildings. There are just tents and wood shacks. I sleep in a tent with 8 beds. At least I have a bed now instead of a cot. There are wooden shelves separating each bed. The heater is somewhat working. I picked up an electric blanket from a guy who left today. Last night was damn cold, so I hope this helps.

Loading up on the back of a Chinook helicopter.
They keep the back of the Chinook open for the entire flight. It gets cold and drafty in there. The soldier is manning the 50 cal machine gun in case of attack.




The good news is that they haven’t had a rocket attack in over a month now. The FOB is in the center of a big area. The land is all barren outside the main FOB until you get to the fence line. The fence line about 3 or 4 miles from the FOB. So it is too far to be reached by mortars, so the terrorists need rockets. Hopefully, they ran out of rockets.

Tom