Thursday, October 21, 2004
There and Back Again, Chapter 2
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We're glad you could attend.Come inside! Come inside!
9 October, 2004
Well, it's 4:30. It's been an eventful day. Got up at 6, after about 3 hours of sleep. Cleaned up and packed. Hooked up with the medical people on base at 7:15. Rushed over to where the convoy was meeting up. Convoyed to the base across town about nine. That was uneventful. Like I said before, "uneventful", "boring", etcetera are the types of terms that are used to describe a good convoy.
Once we got there, I met up with Chewie, and talked to the medical people that have dealt with him up to this point. No one mentioned anything about "voices". They mentioned some pretty severe disorientation. It turns out that they think it might me something neurological. He's going to Germany for a CAT scan, and evaluation.
The medical unit took and locked up my M-16 and all of my ammo while I was there. I will get it back when I get back there. That feels weird. I've been carrying that weapon everywhere with me since February 10th. Surrendering it, knowing that I still had to travel through Iraq was disconcerting.
After that, they took us to the Medical Evacuation unit. We got there about 10 AM. (You have to remember that I am operating on about 6 hours of sleep over the last 48 hours, and, on a normal day, I don't get up until 1 PM) Basically, they told us to go to this tent out in the heat, and chill out until the flight. Went to the chow hall and had one of the worst meals that I have had in a while.
Got back and it was about time to get on the flight. We flew Black Hawks to Balad. It was interesting. Pretty much we flew "nap of the earth". That's where a pilot flies close to the ground and follows the contours of the earth. Well, this stretch of ground had the contours of your average table top. So, we flew 50-100 feet off of the ground, occasionally moving up to go over the taller power lines. Shortly after take off, we flew over the base that I am stationed on. That was a unique perspective. We flew over a lot of farm land. The homes/farms that we flew over caught my interest. Each one was a group small buildings of similar construction and size. From the air, they looked like boxes made of the same dirt that made up the farm. I play a lot of Ages of Empires II, and Age of mythology, and those farms looked an awful like that "Town Center" that you start the game with on both of those games.
We arrived in Balad, and were put in the custody of an Air Force medical unit. At first they told us that we would be flying out tonight. Then, they gave us an opportunity to get anything out of our checked bag that we wanted/needed. We were told that we wouldn't have a chance to put it back before the flight. I forgot that I had left the power cord for my laptop in there. Okay, no big deal. We're only going be here about 12 hours. I can catch up on some sleep, write some stuff for the blog, and that should kill my time. Well, then after they took everyone's vitals, and did an initial screening. (During this time, I was asked repeatedly, "Where are your medical records?" I told them I don't have them because I am not a patient.. Then, they would look up and realize who I am. We are in a party of 6 people, and I am the only one that is not a patient..) Shortly after this, they tell us that there is not flight tonight. It's tomorrow night (Sunday) about 3 AM. Oh joy.
Basically, I have a cot in a hospital ward that is a slightly updated version of the post-op ward on MASH, my laptop (with no power cord), my Palm, and my MP3 player. All of my toiletries are locked up in my checked bag, that I can't get to because of customs regs. Yay. So, even if I shower tomorrow, (they say they have toiletries on hand that I can use) I still have to put on all the same clothes that I have been sweating in all day today. Oh joy. I'll get to Germany smelling like an uncleaned gym locker.
Well, I have my MP3 player. I'm listening to Courtney Love. I have Iron Maiden, ZZTop, and some Toby Keith loaded into it. My laptop is fully powered. So, I have about 2 hours of use on it. I can change out the tunes if I want. I have all kinds of music loaded on the computer. The downside is that I only have this battery for the player. The PX on my base has been out of AAA batteries for weeks. We'll see how long this one lasts. I hadn't hardly used this one when I left. I'm going to see if they will let me get to the PX. The one here is supposed to be much better than ours. It was the last time I was here, in early March. This is the same base that my unit spent 4 days on waiting for transportation to our current base from Kuwait.
We are being told that the flight from here will take us straight to the military hospital in Germany. Whenever the flight is.
9 October, 2004
Well, it's 4:30. It's been an eventful day. Got up at 6, after about 3 hours of sleep. Cleaned up and packed. Hooked up with the medical people on base at 7:15. Rushed over to where the convoy was meeting up. Convoyed to the base across town about nine. That was uneventful. Like I said before, "uneventful", "boring", etcetera are the types of terms that are used to describe a good convoy.
Once we got there, I met up with Chewie, and talked to the medical people that have dealt with him up to this point. No one mentioned anything about "voices". They mentioned some pretty severe disorientation. It turns out that they think it might me something neurological. He's going to Germany for a CAT scan, and evaluation.
The medical unit took and locked up my M-16 and all of my ammo while I was there. I will get it back when I get back there. That feels weird. I've been carrying that weapon everywhere with me since February 10th. Surrendering it, knowing that I still had to travel through Iraq was disconcerting.
After that, they took us to the Medical Evacuation unit. We got there about 10 AM. (You have to remember that I am operating on about 6 hours of sleep over the last 48 hours, and, on a normal day, I don't get up until 1 PM) Basically, they told us to go to this tent out in the heat, and chill out until the flight. Went to the chow hall and had one of the worst meals that I have had in a while.
Got back and it was about time to get on the flight. We flew Black Hawks to Balad. It was interesting. Pretty much we flew "nap of the earth". That's where a pilot flies close to the ground and follows the contours of the earth. Well, this stretch of ground had the contours of your average table top. So, we flew 50-100 feet off of the ground, occasionally moving up to go over the taller power lines. Shortly after take off, we flew over the base that I am stationed on. That was a unique perspective. We flew over a lot of farm land. The homes/farms that we flew over caught my interest. Each one was a group small buildings of similar construction and size. From the air, they looked like boxes made of the same dirt that made up the farm. I play a lot of Ages of Empires II, and Age of mythology, and those farms looked an awful like that "Town Center" that you start the game with on both of those games.
We arrived in Balad, and were put in the custody of an Air Force medical unit. At first they told us that we would be flying out tonight. Then, they gave us an opportunity to get anything out of our checked bag that we wanted/needed. We were told that we wouldn't have a chance to put it back before the flight. I forgot that I had left the power cord for my laptop in there. Okay, no big deal. We're only going be here about 12 hours. I can catch up on some sleep, write some stuff for the blog, and that should kill my time. Well, then after they took everyone's vitals, and did an initial screening. (During this time, I was asked repeatedly, "Where are your medical records?" I told them I don't have them because I am not a patient.. Then, they would look up and realize who I am. We are in a party of 6 people, and I am the only one that is not a patient..) Shortly after this, they tell us that there is not flight tonight. It's tomorrow night (Sunday) about 3 AM. Oh joy.
Basically, I have a cot in a hospital ward that is a slightly updated version of the post-op ward on MASH, my laptop (with no power cord), my Palm, and my MP3 player. All of my toiletries are locked up in my checked bag, that I can't get to because of customs regs. Yay. So, even if I shower tomorrow, (they say they have toiletries on hand that I can use) I still have to put on all the same clothes that I have been sweating in all day today. Oh joy. I'll get to Germany smelling like an uncleaned gym locker.
Well, I have my MP3 player. I'm listening to Courtney Love. I have Iron Maiden, ZZTop, and some Toby Keith loaded into it. My laptop is fully powered. So, I have about 2 hours of use on it. I can change out the tunes if I want. I have all kinds of music loaded on the computer. The downside is that I only have this battery for the player. The PX on my base has been out of AAA batteries for weeks. We'll see how long this one lasts. I hadn't hardly used this one when I left. I'm going to see if they will let me get to the PX. The one here is supposed to be much better than ours. It was the last time I was here, in early March. This is the same base that my unit spent 4 days on waiting for transportation to our current base from Kuwait.
We are being told that the flight from here will take us straight to the military hospital in Germany. Whenever the flight is.
