Home

Well, the fanfare has died down and I sit in my own bedroom across from my wife who is nursing our brand new baby girl and I think to myself, “Wow, thank you God for giving me everything I ever wanted.” Being away for so long, gives you time to reflect on who you really want to be and what you want to accomplish in life. I realized while I have been gone that I have almost everything I have ever wanted. I still have some things to accomplish in life that I feel that God wants me to do, but on the whole, the mission is clear: Be a godly leader for your family, raise your children in the ways of the Lord, and do medical missions.
The next big hurdle is the certifying board examination in October. I have been studying for that for some time now and need to kick things into high gear now. I know that God is faithful and I am excited about all the things I have learned and am learning.
I have enjoyed this little blog as an outlet for my thoughts. And now since I am no longer “abroad” (thank GOD), I will sign off.

Sincerely,
Eric

Promotion Abroad

It was a hot evening (102 F) as the sun sunk below the horizon over western Mosul. The high of the day was 112F. All day the dust could be seen layering out over the flight line. And the sound of a few dozen soldiers working in the heat of the day to clean up the veranda we call, “the eagles nest” overlooking the flight line could be heard through the squeltering heat. As the sun relinquished its grip on the parched earth, people started to ascend the uneven staircase to the eagles nest. Smiles and handshakes were exchanged and people posed for pictures as the sun in its last effort to be the center of attention displayed an amazing sunset.



The casual veranda was transformed to a regal hall as the flags were posted and a small table with a black tablecloth became a display stand for the framed documents promoting four officers to the rank of major. The sun cooperated by providing a beautiful back drop and allowing the temperature to drop a few precious degrees.





We all socialized, telling stories of the day’s events and joking about our enthusiasm for the climate. Sweat dripped down our backs as we all waited for the guest of honor, the commanding officer for the coalition troops of northern Iraq’s Ninewa Province.

Upon his arrival we moved to where the ceremony would take place, the courtyard of the Flag. After a few remarks to the group, he addressed each of us individually talking about our families and our pathways that brought us to this point. He also spoke of the significance of this type of promotion, a battle field promotion. He challenged us to remember those of the past that were promoted to the rank of major in previous battles and the challenges that they faced; and for us to execute our duties with the same conviction that they did.


After those remarks the Executive Officer for the CSH boomed out the “call to orders” for each of us being promoting. We were then “pinned” (velcro’d) with the gold oak leaf and our patrol caps with our new rank were placed on our heads.




We said a few words of thanks and then all headed over to the local café for snacks and drinks (non-alcoholic of course :)



All in all it was a fun time and a memory that none of us will forget.
Sincerely,
MAJ Eric

Random Stuff

So here at the CSH we have all sorts of things going on. We now not only do surgery on Dogs, but we care for wayward falcons as well...its our little nod to the Air Force, I suppose. Anyway this little guy was found on the flight line out side our facility and brought in during a big dust storm. The Vet felt that based on his good health (after the work up) and docile nature, he was probably someones pet...like a real live falconer. Who knew. Anyway we let him go so he could fly home....wherever that was. But for a little while, we had the Air Force mascot here in the Army's CSH. HOOAH! In other news, I have determined that everyone who goes through the CRC (CONUS replacement center) has their appendix moved to the retrocecal position and then promptly gets appendicitis upon arrival to theater. I have not had one antececal appendix since I've been here. But all in all, things are going very well. It is getting hot as expected, 100's all week, but thats nothing new coming from El Paso. In fact it really does feel like El Paso whether here. I am missing home now, as one could imagine, more than ever. As individuals start to trickle out, those of us left long for home, like camel for water. But the good thing is that we now can allow ourselves to start planning the things we will do once we get home. On this Memorial day weekend, I praise God for the rich time of personal professional and spiritual growth he has let me experience here in the desert. I can't wait to see everyone at home real soon. Love, Eric

A Fun Day At The Range

We took a little time yesterday to sharpen our warrior skills. A break from the norm.

May Flowers

It has been raining, and it continues to rain. Whether down on my knees or in the ICU, I have felt desperately close to God. Both petitioning and thanking Him for all this stuff that is going on. So today, for now I can say we have made a big leap forward. Answered prayer indeed! But as all things in this field, there are always a few steps forward and some back too....so who knows maybe tomorrow will bring its own new situations that continue to drive me toward closer dependance on him, but for now the May flowers are blooming! Thank you Jesus! And thanks to everyone for praying! I love you guys.

...PS I am sitting in my CHU eating a microwavable Taco Bell meal for lunch (compliments of my wife) and the rain is pouring outside. The Rockies game is going to be broadcast tonight on AFN and my CHU is nice and dry. Late, late, last night I spent some time with some good friends, talking about life and parenting and relationships while smoking cigars...deployment life doesn't get much better than this.

Rain

It rained today. It rained in a lot of ways. All day long it was dusty and dry. And then in the evening, when the wind was blowing up the most dust, to the point you couldn't breath...it started to rain. And the dust went away. Now I sit in my bed, listening to the raindrops tap on the AC unit above my head, and all is well.

Prayer is like rain. It washes away the dust and confusion so that at the end of the day, you can see what is really important and take a deep breath of fresh air. Thank you God for prayer...and for always being there for me.

Busy

When it rains, it pours...at least thats what they say and right now it is raining.

Saint Elijah's Monastary

Yesterday I was able to take a trip to the adjoining FOB Marez, and tour an ancient monastery built circa 600 AD. It is the site where 150 monks were given an ultimatum to convert from Christianity to Islam or die.... they all met the Lord that day. It was a very rich experience that I videoed and photographed. These were some of the pics I took there. For more information about the monastery here is a good link from the Smithsonian Institute

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/in-iraq-a-monastery-rediscovered-12457610/

Things To Look Foward To...

Well I am over half way through...Praise Jesus. I miss my family very much, but skype has really revolutionized deployment. Now I am looking forward to the opening of a new "restaurant" on the FOB. They say only one week till it opens…this is a really big deal. Imagine it like this, remember the movie CastAway with Tom Hanks…now imagine how different the movie would have been had he had a McDonalds on the Island…see what I mean.

And I also want to take a moment to say how awesome my wife is. She is really amazing, since I have been gone she has painted 5 different rooms, done all the landscape pruning and weeding, figured out how the sprinkler work (a feat I wasn’t able to do in 6 months at home), and raised a 6 month old and is helping God make a new human being inside her…oh yeah and she traveled to Kansas with herself an infant and two cats, dropped the cats off in Kansas, drove to Colorado, then back to Kansas, then back to Texas all while pregnant. She is beautiful; she is a great mom, a loving friend, a solid Christian, and an amazing wife. I definitely married up. And I can’t wait to get home so I can tell her that face to face.

I love you sweetheart.
Eric

Someone who is gonna get a big hug when I get home!

Academic Day

Today I am trying a little experiment. I am going to see if I can stay in my CHU all day long. So far, I had to get up for morning report, but after that, I came back and slept for another couple hours. Once I got up (at around 11AM) I had a QT and read todays passage from “Streams in the Desert” (thanks Mom), I started reading some surgical texts, then listened to some SESAP (surgical education and self assessment program) lectures. Now I’m bloging and still have no hair… very low maintenance. It’s already 4 PM, and I’m not on call. Of course, being “on call” is relative here…like saying, my cat, papaya, likes me. And then just as I wrote this a group of people knocked on my door and asked me to go to the gym….so much for staying in my room al day…..Love you all. Have a great day, I know I will have one too.

Go Rockies!

The Rockies won yesterday against the San Diego Padres! I am thankful that AFN (armed forces network) sees the Rockies as worthy enough to show a complete game, even though I had to stay up till 0100hrs to see the eighth inning....then I fell asleep and then woke up at 0200 to the sound of sportscenter and saw that the Rox held on to a 4-2 victory!

I'm on call today but hopefully I can take a little nap now and be ready for any late night shananagans that the Mosul night life has to offer.

Also, it seems I have had some missadventures with shaving my mustache off....

Its A Beautiful Day

It is an absolutely beautiful day. I am sitting on a deck overlooking the FOB and the helicopters going in and out. Recently I’ve been earning my money, usually in the middle of the night. But today it seems like things are quiet and I have some time to reflect on the past few weeks.
Things here go in waves. Whether boardem, squabbles, drama, loneliness, happiness, or real work, it seems that it goes and comes like the waves on the shore. The sand doesn’t have to worry about the water permanently submerging it. The water will go and come as regular as a heartbeat. And so it goes with life in the CSH.
With the waves life is now about the battle rhythm. We have adapted to the new normal, which no one back home would find normal. Midnight trips to bunkers, or the whole CSH waiting on a medivac to arrive (just like the opening credits of MASH), it all is peculiarly normal. Now most of us come from a hospital setting back home, so we are already used to a lifestyle that others would find atypical. But now, with the addition of a war zone, and guns, our lifestyle can be downright comical. For instance, where else would you find yourself in boxer shorts, t-shirt, boots, and an M16 huddled in a small dusty bunker just the right size for a hobbit, with 5 of your coed colleagues from work in similar attire?:) Now imagine that encounter happening on a semi regular bases. After a while…this becomes normal.
Now this is one normal occurrence among many. Other things include, the “executive game” poker night, cigars, bon fires, finding the best “ingredients” to add to your coffee, trips to the PX to find the newest shipment of stuff you don’t really need, new techniques for redecorating your CHU.
In addition to having new norms, you also acquire new skill that will be useless in any other setting such as: being able to tell what type of aircraft is arriving by how it sounds, knowing the least popular times to use the showers, how to season fish using normal condiments so that it tastes like a different dish than the week before, how to combine a PT reflective belt, a Ipod, and your ID so that it is one unit and can be easily doffed and donned when going to the gym, how to make an online ordering form fit in such a way that things can get delivered to Iraq, convincing your insurance agency or really any company in the US that you are not driving in your car on your cell phone, and that you have no “land line” to call from, and that you really are in Iraq.
And so, as I have said before, “life goes on.” I am now about half way done with my tour here, and I can tell I write a lot less than earlier in the deployment. I think that is because things become like I have said, so normal, and sometimes it’s hard to write about normal things. The other reason is because there are many things that I just can’t write about (but that is for the good and safety of the soldiers here…I would be naive if I thought that no one with nefarious purposes would have access to this blog and use the information herein to the detriment of the troops here).
I try to write down the significant things that happen to me here…and by far the thing that is the most amazing so far is how God protects our soldiers (see previous blog entries). That’s not to say there aren’t tragedies that we deal with here. As in any war, there is death. And here those losses are felt acutely by those that knew and lived and worked with the guys that don’t make it home…a soldier that just got engaged, or the one who’s wife back home is pregnant. We see those too. Right now in Iraq the culture is violent…but our nation has its share of violent culture as well, so I can’t throw stones. Weather its south side of Chicago, Washington DC, or Mosul violence abounds. With just a google search you will find that 4 people were killed in DC, 3 people were killed in Mosul, and 3 people were killed in Chicago all yesterday. What for?...gangs and domestic dispute in the US but here it was some police officers and a random guy; for what reasons… maybe ideology…..I do not know for sure, but not as easily classifiable as our home grown violence that we seem to be comfortable with, or at least aren’t reporting on the mainstream media.
But even death is part of the battle rhythm. Now for some of us working in the hospital, death is no stranger…especially people who deal with trauma back home. It happens. Death here or back home always feels the same… and now that this blog entry has turned very morose I don’t feel like describing the feeling. Needless to say the feeling ain’t great. But today is another day with new possibilities and problems to solve. And I need to leave you now to go take care of the medivac coming in….something about a peritonsilar abscess. But I will leave you with a few shots around the FOB…little glimpses of my life here.

Poker Night...no real money at stake of course.

The winning shot...March Madness has nothing on us...move over Blue Devils

This little book from Hood Publications Inc. has every one here jealous that they too aren't "hoodlems" too. Happy Birthday Don...am I the first to wish you Happy B-day?


Thanks Mom and Dad for the Posters!




They Have some pretty scarry banditos over here

Two things that makes life here very sweet!

Palm Sunday

Today I spent the day in my little room. It was great. I went to church this morning and was able to spend nearly the whole day in reflexion and playing games on my ipod. I had no schedule to keep, no deadlines, no obligations. Just one whole day of rest and relaxation... so I can still say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and just enjoy the day. Maybe thats what some of the citizens of Jerusalem were doing: Hey we're not doing anything else, lets go get some palm branches and see this rabbi into town...who knows maybe he'll bring some much needed change to this old town......little did they know the world as they knew it would all change.

Happy Palm Sunday everyone.

Half Way To Home.

This afternoon, the weather is perfect: Sunny, 75 degrees F, light breeze from the south, and just enough clouds to block the sun from getting too hot. But it’s not home. We all have, in our own ways, found things to occupy our time and minds. We distract ourselves from the tugs on the heartstrings: the little boy at home that needs a daddy, the wife that needs a husband, the colleagues at work that faithfully cover their partner’s call, the friends that miss their buddy. Whether it is working out at the gym, reading books, taking on-line classes, playing computer games, socializing, journaling, eating, or sleeping, we all avoid thinking of home.

This task is at times very easy to accomplish. The army tries its best to make a very foreign land feel like home. There is a movie theater that plays just released movies. There are great fitness facilities that rival anything in the US (although they are usually covered in the ubiquitous fine dust that finds its way into every corner of one’s life here). We have internet and pool tables in nicely appointed “coffee shopes” with nice names like “aloha” and “the palms” and “the VIP room”.

For us that would normally be working in a hospital, the easiest way to have time pass quickly is by doing our job. The irony with this is that when we are working it means someone else is hurting. So in a way, we feel a bit guilty that we want to do what we are trained to do. Now one might argue, “It’s the same situation back home…if you are operating, someone else is having a bad day.” Now this is true, but back home, they are….well….HOME. They recover at home, their loved ones are at home, their friends are home, heck, even their pet is at home. They can shower in their own shower, they can go to the bathroom in privacy of their own bathroom, they can shave without wondering what the heck yellow stain is from on the tray under the mirror where you have to set your razor as you rinse your face. And you don’t have to use lamisil to prevent athlete’s foot from ruining your runs in the morning. All of those things are taken for granted when you are home. And our soldiers, when they recover here, go back to work when they are done recovering, hence the expression, “soldier on…”

But that is what makes the military so unique…so much like a family. We must provide a home for each other when our loved ones are millions of miles away. We rely on each other. Each MOS (Military Operational Specialty) is designed to be a part of a whole. And only when we are all doing our best in our given field do we feel truly “at home in the army”. That is when you hear sentiments expressed that indicate that the soldier doesn’t fight for a cause, but rather for the guy on his right and his left. It’s TRUE! I, as an individual, am not here for some glorious cause of freedom…although at times I do desperately wish that everyone could experience the freedoms I enjoy, rather, I get the most satisfaction, the most fulfillment, the greatest sense of purpose, when a soldier rolls into the ER in need of medical care! In that instant he has come “home” to the CSH…and his family here will fight (sometimes, unfortunately, to the death) to see that he gets the best medical care available anywhere in the world!

So the days go by, and lives move on, both here are back home. Each connected only by skype, email, letters and care packages. (speaking of care packages… when there is mail call, the best thing in the world is to get a letter or package from home. You could put a piece of dirt from the gutter in the road in front of your house in a package and send it here, and it would make the day of the soldier who received it. Really! It doesn’t matter what you send…its amazing. A friend of mine got a gum wrapper in an envelope that his wife sent with a little note saying: I just popped this piece of gum in my mouth and thought of you. And you know what he did… It is now proudly displayed on the wall in his CHU as a reminder that his wife was thinking of him when she put that silly little piece of gum in her mouth.)

And now that this blog entry is far too long for my attention span, I will close with a few pictures of the surprising greenery in the desert…the tigris river runs nearby and so here we are by the “stream in the desert”, 7-11, the care package that my awesome brother, sister-in law, nephew and nieces sent to me, and the crescent moon that shines above while “call to prayer” eerily echoes through the streets of Ninevah………I hope they are praying for peace.

In like a lion...

Not much new here...a few mortar rounds, some artillery fire, you know how it goes. But the most amazing thing that I see is how God protects us. Even those of us who get hurt from certain small, fast moving objects…God so far has intervened and helped those little nasty metal meteors wind around important structures, around bones, leaving the injured only small cuts to deal with rather than major repairs and disability. So the prayers from back home and here, from our brothers in arms, are apparently very effective…more effective than the “weapons formed against us”. Bottom line…Keep praying, it saves lives.

That’s all for today from this dusty town that God cares about very much. I love and miss you all back home.

Reflecting On February

In like a lion out like a lion, no lambs here. The 1st entry on the blog for February was trauma and the last is trauma. We were sitting out by a makeshift fire pit listening to the crackling of a modest sized bon fire under a full moonlit night, while smoking some cigars. My thoughts drifted up to the heavens as I watched the sparks float into the blackness of a starry sky. I remembered many nights doing the same thing but over a certain prairie of northeastern Colorado.

We talked and laughed around the fire unhindered by the normal drone of aircraft coming and going. But this evening the ebb and flow of the traffic was low and thus we were even able to bring out some portable speakers and listen to some music. The breadth of the topics casually covered was staggering and before I knew it, several hours had passed and the majority of the world around us had gone to sleep. Our laughter cut the silence of our sleepy little area of the world and we all felt a warm glow akin to the fire that had now died down to embers.

As our eyelids started to feel heavy and the folding chairs began to get folded in for the night; as the hiss of water filled the air when coals were doused with water, a particularly cruel sound punctuated the now dark night. Small arms fire. Hmmm. This was followed by the other familiar sound, athis time emanating from my hip…beep, beep, beep, beep. Sure enough, “Trauma to EMT…ETA NOW” read the glowing display from the pager on my hip. I guess I am not going to bed now, I’ll just have to store that warm glowing feeling away for now and switch gears. And with that I headed for the back door of the EMT.

As dawn broke, I exited that same back door of the EMT. Having helped repair a femoral artery and vein, thankful that his buddies knew how to use a tourniquet, thankful that my CHU has blackout shades, thankful that I have great colleagues here, thankful that this isn’t every night, thankful that the PX has plenty of socks so I can throw these blood stained ones away. But most of all I’m thankful that this soldier won’t lose his leg, whether he knew that was a possibility or not. I hope he realizes his medic saved his life with that darn tourniquet.

As I drifted off to sleep, I could see those sparks floating into the sky from the night before…who knew February would hold such diversity.

Battle Rhythm

The roar of helicopters and planes go by unnoticed, and the ¾ mile walk to the DFAC seems right next door. Morning meeting and workout schedules are set. The new normal has come. And yet every day there seems to be one, two, or a few things that make one realize that this is not normal. Back home, when I left the house, I just left the house. Now when I leave, I need to keep in mind, “How fast could I get back if I needed to,” or “will they be able to find me if a mass cal came in?”
This morning was punctuated by two separate explosions shaking the CHU’s. Each time an explosion is heard, it seems one has to make a decision, “Will I let the enemy defeat my spirit, or will I live victoriously?” Victory itself takes on a whole new meaning here. Last Sunday I went to a new church service. One of the scriptures that was read dealt with God knowing our coming and our going. Here when you go outside “the wire”, your life is at stake. So as we all recited that God knows our coming and going, we were affirming that God would be in control of our very lives while we lay everything on the line. The Bible is very much a survival guide here.
I am still of the conviction that I, like David as he faced Goliath, am a servant of the most high God who upholds my right hand and triumphs over my enemies. Whom shall I fear!

Tosca

The other night I did a neck dissection on a working dog that had been shot through her neck. She did well and by that night was playing with her squeaky chew toy, and wagging her tail.
The familiar feel of petting a dog, brought a little piece of home to Iraq. On top of that, my heart was grateful to God that this Gunnery Sgt was going to be OK.
I love dogs and I love operating. I am thankful that God allowed me to combine the two. And I didn't even have to go to vet school:)
I guess this is another example of a treasure God had in store for me from the beginning.

"Don't Forget The Past"

There are so many small moments that God can use to effect a person. I learned quickly that if one is not looking and listening for Him, complacency creeps into every corner of one’s life. Every day, on the walk to the dining facility I pass by an old building and a large bunker. I never pay any attention to these two structures, save there use as landmarks as to how many more mud puddles I have to dodge until I can eat. However, for some reason today I looked at the old building and thought it looked vaguely familiar.
A long time ago in a very small town in northern Colorado, there was a bank. This bank must have been a source of security and point of pride for the rural community of farmers that frequented this little bank. This bank brought respectability to the town and validation that these farmers were not forgotten from the rest of the world. These farmer’s investments, whether in land, stock, or equipment were just as valuable as any in the big city. And so this little bank remained as a landmark through the years, long after the town had moved and the people migrated to better land.
As a child I remember exploring around this old bank. Now destroyed, the only standing part of the town is the vault of the bank. My imagination vividly painted scenes of what this old vault must experienced as it stood alone on the prairie of northern Colorado.
Twenty years later, with my M16 and dressed in ACU’s I turn around and look straight at this old building I have passed by many times before and find myself transported back to that old bank. God whispers, “Don’t forget the past.” Here I am in a town in northern Iraq imagining what this old building has seen in its lifetime. What amazing things have taken place on this very soil. I can’t fathom what Jonah must have felt as God told him, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” Jonah 4:10-11.
This great city needs the Lord now as they did then. I’m reminded of that every day 5 times a day: Once two hours before sunrise, once at dawn, once at noon, once at sunset, and finally two hours after the sun goes down. As God shines over me, may the impression I leave be greater than the person I am.
What a great old building.