26 Jan - 05 Feb 2010

I feel like I say things like “defining moment” or “I’ll never forget” a lot when I go back and read some of my previous posts. I promise it’s not hyperbole, I do feel like a I lived a lot of interesting days on my last tour in Afghanistan. Maybe if you’ve deployed you feel the same way; wherever, and whenever that may have been.

The events of this particular week are generally what I’ve related to friends and family who asked what my Afghanistan experience was like. The brutality, the stupidity, the absurdity all captured very nicely by a few events.

It’s the week that only caused me to shrug and think wryly, “I’m surprised it didn’t happen faster!” when the news broke that the country fell to the Taliban mere hours after the last coalition aircraft left the tarmac.

Shocked…not shocked, as the saying goes.

Please keep in mind that by this point I was a pretty hollow and tired man. I didn’t give two fucks about the ANA, and all I wanted to do was get away from it all and go on my HLTA. So if these posts sound a bit more jaded then my previous ones that’s probably why.

It’s also the first time I’d ever had to treat dog in theatre. This didn’t help my mind set much either. Helping blown up humans is one thing, they chose to be there and have a go at one another. You train for that, and mentally prepare for it, but you don’t (or at least I didn’t) train or think about having to patch up a badly busted up dog. It pulls on a completely different set of strings when you looking into it’s eyes and see nothing but pain and confusion and listen to it whine while you start an I.V and wonder what dose of morphine it should get.

Sigh…

On that note though and before we jump into the journal entries I have apologize for not giving a proper shout out the US Army Doctors, Physician Assistants and Medics that I worked alongside at the Role 1 in FOB Wilson. I regret not having their names or contact info because they were truly wonderfully skilled, and friendly people. They patched up a lot of people (and a least one dog) and helped me out of several jams when I lacked supplies, and tolerated me bringing them all sorts of weird and wonderful cases the ANA would surprise me with. If you’re reading this, thanks and I hope all is well.

Lastly, if you didn’t catch the news on my Instagram or Facebook, I’ve decided to start a Unbloused podcast so I can expand & capture an audience who prefers to listen to stories versus read them. You can check it on Anchor by searching “Unbloused” or clicking here: Unbloused Podcast

All the best,

John

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26 Jan 10

Training the new Coy from Kandak 1 is progressing slowly. The two Captains are doing remarkably well being so shorthanded and being so close to leave. I’d like to think I’m doing as well as them. I did make some progress yesterday and today with the ANA medics. We cleaned out the UMS and organized a Mass Casualty box which I think is pretty outstanding. Also I had a decent talk with them about medications and knowing when to give antibiotics and other drugs. I think they understood the principles but the knowledge that they need will come from working in a clinic with supervision…and that’s not going to happen with the resources allocated to OMLT. Personally I think the best thing to do would be to take away their medications in order to reduce the amount of antibiotic drug resistant bacteria in the world. But I suppose not much point in worrying about it.

30 Jan 10

Well, I am now the S1/S4 for the Kandak until I go on leave. I don’t mind much since there isn’t a lot of stuff to do and it means I can relax a bit before going on leave. Bad part is it is just busy enough that I can’t do much medical mentoring. There is always something, be it the terps, water, dirty shitters, etc, etc. Been doing movie nights with Tom and the FOO the past few nights which has been fun. Usually a good chance to bitch and air out frustrations as well. Mostly we talk about how ineffective we all are as a result of having all of these new ANA here who can’t do anything. No trucks, no M249’s or M203 ammo and they are as green as can be. But I suppose we all were at some point and it’s better than throwing them right to the wolves. The London Accord has been going on the past few days. Usual politicking and promises; a real crazy one about desired troop levels for the ANA & ANP over the next few years. I should start a medical contracting company to train the ANA medics and Doctors…I would make a killing.

03 Feb 10

The past few days have been pretty hectic. We got, and lost our new dog handler on 01 Feb, he wasn’t even on the ground for 6hrs. He stepped on a PPIED and lost his left foot and broke a bunch of other bones. I worked on him and his dog when C-Coy brought him back to the FOB. He was tough as nails! The next night they caught two FAM (Fighting Age Males) lying an IED in the same area that Paul blew up. After they were questioned it turns out that they were 15 years old and had been paid $10 each to plant the IED’s…I wanted to puke. We all agreed we could outbid the Taliban and would offer $20 if they showed us where they all were. Yesterday was insanely busy with the ANA contractors, the ANA Colonel, ANA patients plus I walked through the shitter truck spray and to top it all off a bird shit on me. The latter is apparently good luck; I still wanted to kill the bird, or the ANA….either would have sufficed.

05 Feb 10

Yesterday the ANA truly out did themselves and proved why they should be given mittens and whistles instead of weapons. A fuel tanker overturned on Highway 1 out by Howz-e-Madad (HZM) and was un-recoverable. The owner and company decided to just let the locals take the fuel and so they started to show up. However, the ANA arrived and setup a cordon around the accident preventing the locals to get the fuel. As a result the locals got mad and started getting into fights with the ANA. Apparently the ANA officer started shooting warning shots with the heavy machine gun which ignited the fumes, causing the truck to explode in a spectacular “KARUMP” killing 3 outright, wounding 14 and starting a fire that burned for 2 days. Fucking idiots. Thankfully it was mostly ANA injured and they were treated in HZM. One civilian did come to Wilson and he was waiting to die. It was bad 3rd degree burns everywhere. His eyelids were burnt off, eyes scorched…he looked like a mummy with his skin hanging off. Can’t do much for burns in a Role 1 medical station so they cric’d him, started some lines, and shipped him out. He did die not long after apparently which was a blessing for sure. The smell was horrible and his skin chips were everywhere. Won’t be forgetting that anytime soon.