It feels like Indian summer here in Qalat. The mornings are cool, even chilly, while the days are warm and sunny. Unfortunately, unlike home, there are no leaves turning color to get the true feeling but oh well.
We have seen 69 patients in the month of September. I was frankly surprised that it was that many as the pace has been very uneven. There have been long stretches of quiet with little to do except train and clean interrupted by bursts of extraordinary effort. Perhaps this reflects the pace of the war itself in this region. Few engagements but many casualties when they occur. We seem to be busier on the weekends which coincides with the beginning of the Muslim work week. Go figure.
We have certainly seen our share of tragedy but I believe that have had our successes as well. Every patient who has arrived with a pulse has left our care with a pulse. That is something in which our team takes pride. Knock on wood.
Here is an update on one of those successes. Awhile back I wrote about 10 year old boy who was critically injured with a sucking chest wound. He survived and came back to us for followup. He is doing well and everyone agreed that he was one tough kid.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Life On The FOB: Part III - If Dust Were Water, We'd Be All Wet
We've been here a month and there hasn't been a hint of rain or, for that matter, hardly a dang cloud in the sky. This has lead to some interesting observations.
When you refer to tours to Iraq or Afghanistan, you call it a "trip to the sandbox". This makes sense because sand connotates tropical beach vacations and sandbox connotates carefree backyard childhood play which, of course, is exactly how we think of our tours here. (It also, ahem, makes for brilliant puns in blog titles.)
The problem is that it really isn't sandy here. It is, well, dirt with a little rock thrown in for landscaping. In fact, the FOB is the El Dorado of dirt. You swim in an ocean of dust. That is until it rains, when you supposedly swim in an ocean of mud. But then there is no worry of that since we've come to the conclusion that rain is just a myth.
Anyhow, having become experts on all things dirty, we have discovered some fantastic new uses for the stuff.
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| Tabletop Covers |
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| Drywall and Siding |
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| Advanced Vehicle Detection System |
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All of this leads to the point of this post which is to show the reader the covert war in Afghanistan. That which you won't find out anywhere else so that you know what is really going on. Here is the evidence of that hidden agenda.
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| War's Dirtiest Secret. America Hoarding Afghanistan's Most Abundant Resource. |
Screw WikiLeaks, you read it here first.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Helicopter Crash
More news. The crash victims came to us. There were three survivors.
Some news about the victims here, here, and here.
As one of the few navy units in this area, we have frequently worked with the SEAL units involved.
One of the SEALs was from northeast Missouri near my home town, St. Louis.
Some news about the victims here, here, and here.
As one of the few navy units in this area, we have frequently worked with the SEAL units involved.
One of the SEALs was from northeast Missouri near my home town, St. Louis.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Election Day
Saturday was Afghan Election Day. You might not have noticed it on the news but the elections definitely made their mark here.
It had been weirdly quiet for the preceeding week. We have been told repeatedly to be ready for more business but after the Labor Day chaos it had really not materialized. I would call the casualty rate a slow dribble until the elections.
The pages went out at breakfast. "3 casualties. ETA unknown." 3 turned into 8 ANA regulars all from one IED blast. Several were taken to surgery for stabilization. This lasted until early afternoon. Remarkably most of the patients had already flown out and clean up was underway. The flight system for MEDEVACs is always in motion and we often only treat patients for a few hours.
Then came the call that Americans were inbound. This round included an American sergeant with a missing foot and badly injured leg that could not be salvaged. Another limb claimed by IEDs and another amputee with a long rehabilitation ahead but fortunately still alive.
In the late afternoon came the day's final call. This was an Army soldier who committed suicide with a gunshot to the head. It was a tough gut check after so much expended effort to save other lives. It was also the team's first experience of the "ramp" ceremony. The body is bagged and draped in the American flag. The body is then borne by a guard on a litter, feet first, to a waiting ambulance. Its path is marked by parallel lines of service members facing inward and standing at attention. The body passes the ranks and a final salute is rendered before the door to the ambulance (or helo) is closed. It is the first step in the final journey home of the deceased soldier and a grave end to a difficult day.
It had been weirdly quiet for the preceeding week. We have been told repeatedly to be ready for more business but after the Labor Day chaos it had really not materialized. I would call the casualty rate a slow dribble until the elections.
The pages went out at breakfast. "3 casualties. ETA unknown." 3 turned into 8 ANA regulars all from one IED blast. Several were taken to surgery for stabilization. This lasted until early afternoon. Remarkably most of the patients had already flown out and clean up was underway. The flight system for MEDEVACs is always in motion and we often only treat patients for a few hours.
Then came the call that Americans were inbound. This round included an American sergeant with a missing foot and badly injured leg that could not be salvaged. Another limb claimed by IEDs and another amputee with a long rehabilitation ahead but fortunately still alive.
In the late afternoon came the day's final call. This was an Army soldier who committed suicide with a gunshot to the head. It was a tough gut check after so much expended effort to save other lives. It was also the team's first experience of the "ramp" ceremony. The body is bagged and draped in the American flag. The body is then borne by a guard on a litter, feet first, to a waiting ambulance. Its path is marked by parallel lines of service members facing inward and standing at attention. The body passes the ranks and a final salute is rendered before the door to the ambulance (or helo) is closed. It is the first step in the final journey home of the deceased soldier and a grave end to a difficult day.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Life On The FOB: Part II - Hooch Sweet Hooch
MAKE YOUR DREAM OF RUSTIC MOUNTAIN LIVING COME TRUE!
CUSTOM TOWNHOMES IN A GATED COMMUNITY.
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WELCOMING FOYER.
COZY SUNDECK.
MANY UPGRADES.
WALKING DISTANCE TO COMMUNITY AMENITIES.
4 BEDROOM UNITS FROM THE $1.40s
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The IED Threat.
Improvised Explosive Devices have been a weapon of choice for the insurgency in both Iraq and Afghanistan. We were given a (very, very) long brief about IEDs during our training at Ft. Dix. Since it is germane to our work here, I thought that I would write about it.
The design of an IED is more complex than you might guess. They can be command-operated by a remote "trigger puller" or victim-operated through use of a switch. The switches can be simple pressure switches attached to say, a garden hose, that activates when stepped on or rolled over or the switches can be sophisticated infrared sensors with heat-seeking capability. They can be connected to a cell phones internal circuitry such that when that cell phone number is dialed, the IED activates.
The "bait" for a victim-operated IED can be anything that will get someone's attention. Dead animals, traffic cones, trash piles, and abandoned vehicles have been used. Stuff animals have also been used which as you might surmise would get a child's attention. MRE pouches given away to locals have turned up wired to IEDs. Anything out-of-place or unusual has to be viewed with suspicion. One of our colleagues at Kandahar told me the story of insurgents wiring an IED to the dismembered leg of a US soldier that resulted in more casualties by members of that soldier's unit. He had treated them at Walter Reed.
The explosives are surprisingly simple made from easily obtained ingredients. ANFO is a combination of ammonium nitrate found in fertilizer and diesel fuel oil. A dense biomass booster agent such as flour or sugar or powdered drink mix can be added to increase the energy release and the destructive potential. The powdery result can then be combed into dirt to hide its content. This makes it hard to find. The homemade explosive (HME) labs are important insurgent resources and a critical target for coalition forces. They are usually chemistry lab-in-a-kitchen or -garage setups.
The penetrating power of the IED can be increased using a shaped charged known as an EFP, or energy formed projectile. These are curved copper plates with explosive behind it. The energy of the explosion bends the copper into a torpedo-shaped projectile that can penetrate armored vehicles. These types of devices are believed to be made in Iran and imported into the theater.
The US military has made a concerted effort to counter the IED threat by creating a whole new generation of armored vehicles. Known as MRAPs, mine-resistant, ambush protected, these have helped reduce the loss of life by US service members. Still the game of one-upmanship continues. Some of the IED explosives are in the 500-1000 lb range, capable of tossing these vehicles into the air.
Our brief at Dix consisted of six hours of Powerpoint which, as I mentioned was anything but "brief." However, there were some videos shown that kept your attention by the truly disturbing content. Insurgents, it seems, like to post video on the web of their handicraft in action. Jihadist soundtrack included. War-trophys for the internet age, I suppose.
One video showed an explosion that launched the Humvee gunner about 25 feet into the air and about 50 feet forward. Another video, made by a French film crew, showed the stages of construction of an IED. The construction site was a busy street corner in broad daylight where hundreds of cars and onlookers passed by. Guess nobody, including the film crew, was moved to report it because the video finished with footage of it hitting a convoy. (With friends like the French....) Finally, one showed an IED blast hitting a convoy followed by the rescue effort at the rear of the destroyed vehicle. About a dozen soldiers gather trying to pull the wounded from the wreck. This turns out to be a second "kill zone" and the insurgent/video taker detonates a second device that hits all of the dismounted troops including the wounded.
It makes you realize what we are up against.
The design of an IED is more complex than you might guess. They can be command-operated by a remote "trigger puller" or victim-operated through use of a switch. The switches can be simple pressure switches attached to say, a garden hose, that activates when stepped on or rolled over or the switches can be sophisticated infrared sensors with heat-seeking capability. They can be connected to a cell phones internal circuitry such that when that cell phone number is dialed, the IED activates.
The "bait" for a victim-operated IED can be anything that will get someone's attention. Dead animals, traffic cones, trash piles, and abandoned vehicles have been used. Stuff animals have also been used which as you might surmise would get a child's attention. MRE pouches given away to locals have turned up wired to IEDs. Anything out-of-place or unusual has to be viewed with suspicion. One of our colleagues at Kandahar told me the story of insurgents wiring an IED to the dismembered leg of a US soldier that resulted in more casualties by members of that soldier's unit. He had treated them at Walter Reed.
The explosives are surprisingly simple made from easily obtained ingredients. ANFO is a combination of ammonium nitrate found in fertilizer and diesel fuel oil. A dense biomass booster agent such as flour or sugar or powdered drink mix can be added to increase the energy release and the destructive potential. The powdery result can then be combed into dirt to hide its content. This makes it hard to find. The homemade explosive (HME) labs are important insurgent resources and a critical target for coalition forces. They are usually chemistry lab-in-a-kitchen or -garage setups.
The penetrating power of the IED can be increased using a shaped charged known as an EFP, or energy formed projectile. These are curved copper plates with explosive behind it. The energy of the explosion bends the copper into a torpedo-shaped projectile that can penetrate armored vehicles. These types of devices are believed to be made in Iran and imported into the theater.
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| EFP's in cement |
The US military has made a concerted effort to counter the IED threat by creating a whole new generation of armored vehicles. Known as MRAPs, mine-resistant, ambush protected, these have helped reduce the loss of life by US service members. Still the game of one-upmanship continues. Some of the IED explosives are in the 500-1000 lb range, capable of tossing these vehicles into the air.
 |
| MRAP |
Our brief at Dix consisted of six hours of Powerpoint which, as I mentioned was anything but "brief." However, there were some videos shown that kept your attention by the truly disturbing content. Insurgents, it seems, like to post video on the web of their handicraft in action. Jihadist soundtrack included. War-trophys for the internet age, I suppose.
One video showed an explosion that launched the Humvee gunner about 25 feet into the air and about 50 feet forward. Another video, made by a French film crew, showed the stages of construction of an IED. The construction site was a busy street corner in broad daylight where hundreds of cars and onlookers passed by. Guess nobody, including the film crew, was moved to report it because the video finished with footage of it hitting a convoy. (With friends like the French....) Finally, one showed an IED blast hitting a convoy followed by the rescue effort at the rear of the destroyed vehicle. About a dozen soldiers gather trying to pull the wounded from the wreck. This turns out to be a second "kill zone" and the insurgent/video taker detonates a second device that hits all of the dismounted troops including the wounded.
It makes you realize what we are up against.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Colbert Report
A group from FOB Lagman appeared via satellite feed on Colbert's Been There, Won That episode from Wednesday night.
I don't think that any of us actually are in the group. You had to get up at 0200 and the group was on for oh, about 2 seconds.
Don't know why we missed it. Must have been all the Near Beer in our evening blow out. But we were there in spirit.
The base held a 9/11 commemoration that was fortunately short on mosque location protests or debates on Quran burning. But it did include the unveiling of a mural.
I'll try to post again soon.
I don't think that any of us actually are in the group. You had to get up at 0200 and the group was on for oh, about 2 seconds.
Don't know why we missed it. Must have been all the Near Beer in our evening blow out. But we were there in spirit.
The base held a 9/11 commemoration that was fortunately short on mosque location protests or debates on Quran burning. But it did include the unveiling of a mural.
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| New mural in dining facility |
I'll try to post again soon.
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