There Is A Reason We Don't Go Outside The Wire

As most people know, I didn’t quite make my scheduled flight. Mother Nature with her volcanic activities decided to change that. It really isn’t too bad. I have been delayed only a week, so it could have been a lot worst. Oh well.


I had the opportunity to meet a lot of different people here. One of them is a doctor from Czechoslovakia. His name is George. I can’t even come close to saying his last name much less spelling it, so we will just call him George. Anyway, George is a nice, young guy. He is a little ambitious but nice. He is doing a study with steroids in the Czech troops. This is legit and even has papers from his government authorizing it. No wonder all these Czech troops are so big. I think George is part of the study. He has big arms, but also a big belly to match. I think he needs to try running a little bit more. The Czechs have a driver for their doctors, so gets driven from their side of the compound anytime he wants. He frequently comes over for our lectures. Their government is nicer to their doctors than ours.



This is the Czechoslovakian doctor, George. He is a primary care doctor.













The Czechs are here mainly for humanitarian reasons. They don’t go out on patrols looking for the Taliban like our boys do, but they do know to defend themselves when they have to. One mission outside the wire last week really made George nervous. His team of a few doctors, nurses and medics, with their Army combat support soldiers went to this one village that never has had any Americans or foreigners in before. They brought medical supplies. The Chief of Police told them that they were safe until 3 PM. The team was dropped in by helicopter and the hellos left. For some reason they were still there and about 3:30 PM RPGs started to come in. It took them a while to figure where they were coming from. Once they did, their combat soldiers return fire with their grenade launchers. That took care of the attack. It was the first time George said that he had ever been fired upon. He had to hit the ground and things were flying and blowing up all around them. He said there are reasons why doctors don’t go outside the wire and he personally experienced one of them. Fortunately there were no major injuries, just one soldier we actually treated for some shrapnel to his leg. He will be fine. George said he won’t go out on any humanitarian missions any more. He was pretty shook up about it for a couple of days.



Some local villagers that George's team brought humanitarian care to distribute.




It also brings up a point on how difficult it is to accomplish anything here. You really have no idea on who you can trust or believe. Lying and cheating and stealing are almost second nature to the people out here. Who knows if that Chief of Police was a Taliban or just friends with them or what? Why did he know that they were safe until 3PM. Of course, with such massive poverty out here, I guess they just learn to lie and steal to stay alive. If you don’t get caught lying, then good. If you get caught, then no harm, you didn’t have anything to lose anyhow.


One of the nurses from Charlie Med had a visitor today, her mother. Her mother is an Army nurse and was with the 909th when they deployed in 2003 to FOB Salerno. She is on her way to another FOB, so she stopped in to visit with her daughter. She also said hello to the remainder of the group who were with her in 2003. Reminds me of when I visited my son in Iraq when I was leaving Mosul in 2008. She also brought us some patches that we can wear on our ACUs.




Part of the original 909th FST from 2003. CPT Timm's and her mom are obviously in the middle. The helicopter was arriving to pick up routine patients, not bringing in trauma ones.





Ok, it is time to brag. We, the doctors, had to take our PT test out here. That included doing push-ups, sit-ups and a timed 2 mile run. The air is a little thin here at 6800 ft. but I did ok. I got 299 out of possible 300, so that is not too bad for an old guy like me.




The other doctors and I decided to show off before our PT test. We were too tired to pose after the test.




The good news is that I saw the whites of the eyes of our replacements today. They arrived safe and sound. It will take them a few days to adjust to the altitude and get situated. Then, we will start our process for home. I hope to leave Kuwait about May 8th. I will spend a few days at Fort Benning, then hopefully home.
Tom