So I have made it home again.  We arrived back a few days ago and I have been spending all my time enjoying my family and catching up on all the stuff that I have missed.  Its kind of surreal right now.  My mind and body is on one set…

Due to a complete lack of anything interesting to write about, I bring you the boredom that is my current situation…. We are definitely winding down.  My CHU is packed and I am just waiting on word to move to the temporary billets. We have to get Connexes inspected…

We went out on patrol the other night down in the South of our AO.  We went out on a more or less “feel good” mission.  The kind of mission where you interact a lot with the people, get to hand out toys to kids, eat Iraqi Chow (<em>which I…

Ran across this song/video at one of my daily reads, The Mudville Gazette (<em>who found it on A Soldier’s Perspective</em>) and thought it was worth a post.  I am not a big country fan, but I wouldn’t mind grabbing this in MP3…

Hmm…  what to say. Well 20-something years ago, in a small community in North Alabama a child was born.  This small new life had no clue what was in store yet, and just smiled at being in the world.  That infant grew into a happy, pretty, little girl who loved…

Yes, I have sold my soul to the US Government.  I re-enlisted.  I got a buttload of cash and a Flight Medic slot (<em>the very last class slot for 2008 it turns out</em>).  We will soon be mostly out of debt, and possibly able to take a real vacation when…

Yesterday I flew out to FOB Anaconda and back here in one long day.  Why did I do this miracle of military transportation?  So I could get a Class 3 flight physical and hopefully get slotted for flight medic school upon…

I just got back from the memorial services for a friend of mine and two others that died in an IED earlier this week.  That was harder than I thought.  I was doing good till the end.  They were traveling down…

As you know, I am paying for internet in my CHU.  Most of the month it has been useless.  The connectivity is generally in the bytes/second range if there is any at all.  It takes upwards of two hours to check my e-mail, if it connects.  I…

I hate counseling.  Monthly, performance, event, negative, or positive it doesn’t matter.  I know as an NCO its one of my primary duties and its a necessary component to growing good soldiers and future leaders.  That doesn’t mean I hate it…

<em>Not sure if I should really post this, but I feel I needed to transcribe it for some reason. Beware, its kinda graphic.</em> I am sitting inside my makeshift aid station in a remote outpost.  Its a 20 foot Connex boxcar and one door is cracked slightly.  Even with an…

Ever had a pair of boots or shoes that just fit perfectly?  You know, from the moment you put them on, they were your favorites.  Well, my best pair of boots in nearly a decade passed on…

I now have internet in my boxcar!  We shall see how it works.  Now to update some stuff, and install a Gnome IM client so I can talk to my wife.

Well I am back here in the “war zone.”  Leave is over.  Nothing much changed here while I was away.  I guess that’s a good thing.  The bad guys are a little more riled up, but that makes it easier to…

This is the result of 10 hours at the ER. I got a really nasty case of food poisoning from a burger at Fudrucker’s.  I was nauseous and vomiting for hours and I was so dehydrated my hips and knees were…

Just a note to all my regular readers: I checked my Army Records and I have been awarded the Combat Medical Badge.

It’s going by way too fast.  I have already been here more than a week!  Its been really nice to see my family and spend time desperately needed with them.  My daughter is growing up so fast!  When I left last fall, she was speaking words, now she speaks sentences…

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail requesting an interview about my blog from a new site, The Blog Reader.  They interview the authors about the content, thier views on issues, and thier reasons for blogging.  My interview has been published.  All in…

Yes, we actually had a real honest to goodness save yesterday!  The patient recovered and was discharged from the ER sometime during the night. The patient had overdosed on a combination of narcotic pain medications, including oxycontin and morphine, at some point during the day.  When family came home that…

So we get paged out to a MVC the other night and race off to the location.  As usual the responders onscene have called the patient a priority 2.  She was, in reality, a priority “go home and sleep it off,” but we C-spined her and transported her to the…

<em>“You have a 60 year old male complaining of Chest Pain.  Responders have scrambled air transport, ETA 6 minutes.”</em> Two minutes later we pull into the driveway and maneuver around all the responder vehicles to the house.  We grab the Lifepak 12, the Jump kit, and head into the house. …

Responders: Blood Pressure is always an even number when taken manually, and a systolic BP above 110 is considered normal in most of the population.  Saying something like, <em>“His blood pressure is low, its 117/87!”</em> will lose you a fair amount of credibility.  Yes, this has happened at least…

Ok, so yesteray had a few things worth mentioning. :D First, sometimes I really hate being a paramedic in Alabama.  Due to the way the state law is written, we can’t carry Morphine at our service yet.  We had a man who dislocated his hip and his pain was a…

Yesterday was our last shift out in the North end of the county.  Instead of going out with a whisper, however, the residents decided to go out with a bang.  We went in service at 7am and didn’t see the station for more than 10 minutes until about 0100 this…

I hate trying to get the ER to understand the following two situations: 1) The patient who’s symptoms were pretty serious on arrival, but almost completely resolve enroute to the ER either following treatment or spontaneously.  The thing is, we are there to affect changes to the patient’s condition and…