Who is the Enemy

Being deployed is sort of surreal. From one minute you can go from goofing around with friends, with a levity that is almost like home (minus the gun strapped to you), to the next when you are fighting to save an arm or a face or a life. Even more unreal is trying to comprehend the objectives or thoughts of this insurgency we are facing.

Before I go off on dissertation about who actually is “the enemy”, let’s examine my day a few days ago. I will try to accompany the events of the day with chronological pictures I took that day.
The morning began very ordinarily. I woke up and went for a 3 mile run. I came back and hopped in the shower (which is much roomier than my last deployment, and cleaner; but I still fear that if I drop my soap I will never be able to reach it again), then back to my room for a QT (Exodus right now…just past the 10 Commandments), then over to breakfast.

After breakfast I read several books or articles and checked in at the hospital to see if anything was going on. All was quiet over there and back to my room I went until our lunch gang gathered and my traditional three lunch companions headed over to lunch.

After lunch we were feeling pretty industrious so we thought we would round up some wood and make a desk for an office that the officers had graciously been given to “do whatever you want to do with it”. So it became our mission to make it the coolest place in the hospital to “hang out” in….we’re not there yet. Ergo the gator and the construction hats.

We completed our project and placed it in the office (I was thankful that I didn’t cut my fingers off with the circular saw), just in time to have one of the medics find us and tell us that several traumas were coming in from an IED blast.
After evaluation of the traumas, it was determined that two of them needed to go to the OR. The first was an older gentleman that had been walking in the local market when the IED went off. He had shrapnel rip through his neck, chest and abdomen.



After we fixed him, we moved on to the next individual that had a hip fracture and his nose mostly ripped off from the same IED. We fixed him too. We then sent them to the local hospital now that they were out of the woods….so to speak.





So here comes the diatribe. What is the Taliban hoping to accomplish buy killing and maiming its own people? It is militarily incomprehensible. That is why there must be a spiritual answer. And for me, the only way to understand what is going on over here is summed up in Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

The works of the IED makers and those that place them are evil! It has nothing to do with Islam. They are misled by the devil himself. They are motivated by evil. They listen to those who are evil and they are unfortunately guided by evil prophets/imams or whatever you want to call them.

Not that I believe in the Quran, but to illustrate my point that these people are not “good Muslims” I quote from the Quran itself, “The Prophet Muhammad (s) said: “Anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should not harm his neighbor, and anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should entertain his guest generously, and anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should talk what is good or keep quiet (i.e. abstain from all kinds of evil and dirty talk).“ Sahih Al Bukhari, Vol: 8 Hadith 47.
Clearly these people don’t get it!

These people, as I call them, are still the same people that Christ came to die for. Let me never forget that fact!

Just Another Day

Today was the beginning of my second week here. This past week I began to settle into a preliminary groove. I am starting to get to know some of the personalities around the CSH. I have been introduced to some of the “drama” as well. But I believe that my daily testimony, and joy for what I do, should rub off on those around me. It seems that there has been a void or vacuum of leadership on the part of the surgeons in the CSH over the last few cycles. Now people are hungry for someone to fill that position and complete the picture of a high speed CSH. There just hasn’t been any driver at the proverbial wheel. Consider that changed as of now!
Its amazing how much the world longs for fellowship. Both religious and non-religious desire fellowship. Today a moderate sized group of us went, as is our custom on Sundays, to the Italian side of the FOB for lunch. I sat back and watched as we all ate, laughed, talked, and listened to one another. For 2 hours we all just “hung out”. Both enlisted and officers a like seemed to, for a brief period, forget that we were in a war zone. We talked about home, loved ones, music, movies, and of course “ragged on” one another relentlessly. It was also mentioned that the ICU was thinking of naming there new mascot….a camel spider that was caught in the ICU…any suggestions?
With full stomachs and smiles on our faces we loaded back up and went back to the other side. Once back at the CSH, we jumped out and scattered to each of our jobs again. But I think that each person that went to lunch was a little more confident in his or her abilities and purpose here. This is because they know the people they are working with, and who will be there with them when the proverbial excrement hits the rotating blades.
It is strange to think that this peaceful afternoon came after a hectic morning which began with a wakeup call to get the trauma team to the ED because there was a man there with bilateral GSW to the legs. After that case finished, we washed up and a few of us went to church then lunch…..just another day in Afghanistan. I feel so sorry for the Afghan people. They are killing themselves like we did in 1860. It is so sad. God please have mercy on us.

The Child

Last night sucked. We had a mass casuallty situation. A vehicle borne IED was detonated in a public place killing several and injuring eight people including a 6 year old boy, all of them afghanis. The first patient to go to the OR was a 65yo male who had shrapnel wounds in is abdomen, chest and neck. We explored his abdomen to look for any wounds, then opened his cardiac sac to make sure the heart wasn't bleeding. We then explored his neck to repair any injuries there. We then washed and closed the 30 open wounds that were made when the glass from the IED shredded his body. We finished that, then i when back to the ICU where the other surgeon was putting a chest tube in the 6yo boy. Apparently, a fragment ripped through his chest and out through his spine. When this occured, the lung on that side collapsed and simultaneously the child fell to the ground unable to walk, as the glass severed his spinal cord. Laying helpless on the ground and unable to take a deep breath to yell for help, the child rapidly started to suffocate. By the time the father who was not far away got to his boy, the lack of oxygen to the brain cased the brain to start swelling resulting in irreparable brain damage.
The father scooped the child up (the child dripping in blood from his injury) and carried him to the casualty collection point, all the while the child still could not breathe. It wasn't until the chest tube was placed at our ER that the child could then breathe. But by that point the damage was already done. When I got out of the OR to the ICU, the father was sitting by his sons bed, his traditional clothing soaked in his sons blood. The Father looked bewildered, sitting in the middle of the ICU with 5 other bleeding and burned patients in the other beds, and American ICU and ER nurses quickly and maticulously attending to the rapidly changing status of their new patients.
I walked over to the young boy with my scub cap, and OR attire still on. I placed my hand on his little foot and bowed my head and prayed. Fighting back tears, and thinking of my own son, I prayed that this was in God's hands and that he would care for this little child. I prayed that the family could recover from such a devastating loss, of which the father at this point clearly had no idea what was in store for the child. And I prayed for my family; to keep them safe. And I prayed that God would let me recover from seeing mankind's cruelty to one another.
As I opened my eyes, the child's father looked up at me and slightly bowed his head, to which I returned the gesture.
I then turned and walked over to my patient, made sure the the ventilator settings were correct and then left the room.
I still don't understand how mankind can be so cruel and thoughtless. My only comfort is in knowing that God cares for that kid and when he dies in a week or two after he leaves the care of an American hospital, that God will welcome him to Glory.

Amen

The First Week

I am through the first week. Things here have not been to bad. Yesterday I had dinner at the Italian DFAC complete with authentic pasta and fresh baked bread. I got to watch the Rockies beat the Nationals on AFN. And I went to church and found out my scrub tech is a believer too. I am thankful that God is abundantly providing for me here. We've only done one case so far....loop colostomy for a GSW that caused a rectal injury. We'll see how things change and evolve over the next six months. But for now, I couldn't ask for more.

The Camel Picture was from Kuwait.

Day One

I got in last night at about 3 AM. I found a phone directory by a special phone in the welcome briefing tent and found the number for the TOC at the 115th. There was a very nice specialist there that was over in about 20min to pick me up. After a short drive I was taken to my living area which is a small wooden cubical about 10 ft by 10ft that is inside a large tent and dropped off all my bags. My “room” has a bunk-bed in it with a real mattress that is quite comfortable. It has a few shelves and that’s it. Pretty Spartan. But after I dumped my stuff, I went on a quick tour of the FOB and the Hospital. Then at about 03:30 I went to bed.

The next morning I woke up at about 05:45 and had a quite time (Gen20-22). I felt God’s intentionality in the timing of this QT. It is the section with Hagar and Ishmael when they are wandering in the desert and God provides them some water. This place is certainly a desert and there is a huge need for water in the desert. I could empathize with the thirst.

After QT was shower and breakfast by myself. I sat with some Jamaican contractor named Kirk who was a nice guy and lived in the same area in Jamaica that I went to in 1992 on a medical mission trip. Then I went back to the hospital and met the rest of the Docs I will be working with.

We all went to Lunch together. Then I came back and took a nap. Then we went to dinner. Then we were rocketed. After that we all sat on the “front porch” of our living quarters and talked about “stuff”. Then I was tired and went to bed.

It seems like a pretty low key area out here. So far, I like the people that I am working with . The internet access is pretty sketchy so we’ll see how that goes. It is very windy and the internet goes down when the wind is gusting.

There is a lot of promise and adventure that this place holds. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us.

Brothers

I was thinking of family today…specifically my brother. There are few bonds in this world as special as that of two brothers. In brotherhood, one experiences life always with the presence of one’s brother, growing and maturing into manhood shaped by the presence of each other. As a male, the body is designed to be strong, and the mind to master all that it is able. Left by himself, a boy can grow and become a man, but a boy with a brother has the advantage. A boy learns from his own life experience as well as that of his brother’s. As they mature, brothers must adapt to each other and thus mark each other’s life. Certainly, of course, parents mark and influence a child’s life, but a brother is “in the trenches”. Whether for good or ill, brothers uniquely shape the lives of each other in ways that no one else can.
In brotherhood, a man’s ability to live life skillfully is honed by his brother’s influence. In order to live peacefully brothers must reconcile with each other. This process teaches each brother the importance of self-control, teamwork, and honor. Conflict that arises from brother’s innate desire to do the same thing at the same time, constantly forces opportunity to learn these qualities. Maturing through the adolescent years, brothers begin to understand the effect that one brother’s reputation has on the other brother’s life. Thus the concepts of honor and respect begin to take baby steps in the life of each brother.
Time seems to pass quickly as boys become teenagers and then go on to be young men. And as brothers navigate through these chapters of their life, they may realize that they have been unknowingly relying on each other’s presence to form an opinion of themselves. Unfortunately, by the time they are old enough to realize that their brother has played this crucial role in their life, the complexity of adulthood no longer affords them access to each other. At this point they are left with merely nostalgia, thinking to themselves, “I have a brother. I am glad I have a brother.” and remembering fondly even fights that they had been in.
But good brothers never allow life to become too complex. They may be separated, but still stand side by side, each complimenting the other in aptitude and ability. They value each other for who they are and the effect they have on those around them. They continue to learn from the other’s life and wisdom they demonstrate. And in the end they will both bow before the throne of God giving thanks to God for giving him a brother.
I have a good brother. I love you Erin.

CRC Ft. Benning

The first thing I thought when I got off the plane was, “So this is what Georgia is like”. On the plane however I was glad that I had seen a familiar face in the row in front of me. One of the Family Physician’s from Fort Hood turned around and said in a surprised manner, “Eric?!” It did not take much convincing to get him to go in with me for a rental car and off-post accommodations. We grabbed all our gear, which for me was two backpacks, but for him included a huge duffle bag and a jam packed backpack. I went to the rental car place and got a car for us. The only hitch was that the car wouldn’t be ready until 7PM that evening. So off we went to the bus. It was the typical Army white bus with a ton of everyone’s gear in it on one side and people on the other.
We got off the bus at CRC and carried our gear to the main HQ where we checked in. From there we loaded up a cart and schlepped our stuff to our barracks room. Now this room was about the size of a standard home’s master bathroom and jammed with two bunk beds and four wall lockers to allow for four soldiers to be billeted there. There were bars on the windows and the only impression that I had was that this room looked like I imagine prison being like.
Fortunately for me my family practice friend, Doug, had already arranged to meet with one of his former residents for dinner and said I would be welcome to come along. As I only brought one set of civilian clothes I was thinking we would go some place casual. But no…. doctors eat at nice restaurants and so I found myself in baskeball shorts, tennis shoes, and a white t-shirt eating at the nicest seafood restraint in town. I got a few awkward stares but I thought, “Who cares…in 5 days I’ll be in Afghanistan. Why not have seared Yellow Fin while I still have a chance?”
From there we made it back to the rental car place and then to the hotel that Doug had arranged …the econo-lodge. Now Joe Jeanette had been through CRC last week and he gave me the low down on the accommodations. He said that the econo-lodge was the closest hotel to CRC and rooms were only $64 per night. So I told Doug that we should stay there. He made reservations while I arranged for the car. However what Doug did not realize was that there were two econo-lodges. As we soon discovered, we were staying in a hotel that probably charges rooms by the hour. And this close to Benning you can imagine the type of women that were hanging around this “hotel”. Things weren’t so bad though. I had free wi-fi and my own shower. Who cared if the room smelled like cat urine? Besides in a few days I would be sleeping on a cot and this was surely better than that.
The kicker came after I called Kari that evening and said everything was fine. After watching the Rockies lose on MLB.com, I pulled back the sheets and low and behold…..PUBIC HAIR!!! Disgusting. Not just one or two strands…it was a lot. Gross! So I called the front desk (it was now midnight) and they said there was nobody available to change the sheets. So I asked if they could just get me new linen. They brought me some new linen and life was good again. But I still had that uneasy feeling about the cleanliness of my present accommodations. At least cots don’t have pubic hair!
The next day after I told Doug about the incident we moved to the Holiday Inn and paid more. But it was worth every penny.
The following few days were filled with training, vaccinations, dental exams, more power points, the weapons qualification range ( I was 3rd best shot in my firing line of 15), and a lot of waiting around. They marched us to many of our events. I always laugh to myself when I am marching. I think if only my family could see me now…I am a real soldier…look at me …I am marching! Left…Right…Left …Right….Halt….file from the right, column right…March. And as I write this I think it rather funny that I am sitting here with a M9 pistol strapped to my leg like a cowboy. I must look pretty tough. But after our little stop in Leipzig Germany (the same place I stopped last year to Iraq), I am on my way to Kuwait where I can upload this little piece of my history.

Here We Go Again

Well, the time has come for me to go back to the desert. Last time God did amazing things while I was there. I am confident that he will do equally great things. So I am starting up the old blog. The first few entries were written earlier but just uploaded now that I have some minimal internet capabilities in my room. My hope is that I can use this blog like an ebenezer, to look back and remember the things that God has done. The Picture is of Me and Scott (an ER doc stationed at Ft. Sill who is deploying with the same unit but to Dwyer) while we were waiting in Kuwait.