Still here

Hi all. Borrowing some internet to check in. For those of you that have passed on toys in your packages, I've got some pics of the children that have received them. Thanks so much. These kids have never seen toys as such and are always so excited to get stuffed animals, cars, dolls, balls etc.

Not much else occurring here. Our missions have gone well without issue thus far and we take every one as serious as the one before. Safety first and stuff!

Anyway, not much else to report.

Still Here

Hi all. I'm borrowing one of the Romanian Security Forces computers and riding their net. It's about as effective as throwing a frog against a wall and hoping it sticks, so emailing everyone is tough. I love you all. Hopefully, our internet will be up in a week to two. Security issues have kept the guy from coming down to hook it up. Meanwhile, check out my buddy Partamian's website. He's up north in a "fun zone" and sees some good stuff. I love the pic of him the Marijuana plant. It's so..............him! Anyway, I'll start posting and emailing again when I get a chance.
Thank you all for your continued support ie. packages, thoughts and prayers etc. In the last couple missions we've ran I've been able to give away some of the toys some of you have sent. The children are very grateful and love anything they get.

N

New Blog

Some of you actually use the links to the right so I thought I'd give you and update. Corrigan decided to start his own blog. He's an very smart albeit interesting character with an interesting perspective on life and war. The views posted on his page, Helmand: 911, are not necessarily the views of this author, or him for that matter. Anyway, he's become a good friend of mine I promise it'll be interesting reading as he develops his page. Corrigan is serving his third tour, 2 in Iraq and now here. He volunteered for the last two. For me, that speaks enough on his behalf, despite his quirks.
For a softer look at life, check out the Malone's webpage, featuring Karli, their beautiful new daughter. I can't be held responsible for any content there as well, the parents are a little odd!!
Below, holding the beloved Maisel's is one of my best friends and college roomy, Scotty. He's a professor of Sports Medicine. One of his concentrations is researching head concussion and he probably got the interest in it by how many times we bumped heads drinking what he's holding.

N

Enough Said!

Um, has anyone seen the right side of my Humvee?

I find myself in a moment of reflection, while I listen to a little UB40. A momentary flashback if you will. Imagine driving to the local car dealer to pick your new vehicle of choice. Imagine driving it off the lot, traveling a little while through town to show it off to the locals, running a few errands and while doing that you turn a corner a little close and hit one of the few trees in your state resulting in the peeling off of the right side of your brand new vehicle. Well, that was a little like my day. Yes, while driving at a hefty 10 plus MPH I strafed one of about 10 trees on this post. It was a narrow road and this particular tree had some serious scuff marks from prior incidents. At any rate, the two right side uparmored windows were sheered right off. Gratefully, the mirror didn't break. The security team that stopped told me it happened about every other day which left me wondering why the damn tree was still in the ground. Then I thought, maybe some rogue Afghan tree hugger found a rare species of, lets say anything that can live here, under the tree roots. Maybe that’s why we spend thousands of dollars on vehicle parts instead of removing the tree. Anyway, the thought made me feel better. I didn’t really care much about getting the vehicle fixed as much as I knew the harassment that would be coming my way from “perfect” team mates that would nevvvvvver damage a vehicle. I could feel the sarcasm from miles a way. “OOHHH, doc wrecked the Humvee. Don’t ever let him drive again.” The fun started Corrigan and our interpreter, Habib. Corrigan cocked his 9mm and said, “no you didn’t just wreck our brand new vehicle and delay our stay here at KAF!? I was thinking it was nice to be close to the “S**t Pond” again and we could stay a few more days to let our clothes permeate before we head back. So, pictures had to follow along with berating behavior throughout the night.
OK, it's out in the open and I’ve officially owned up to it. I had a rough day and I’m glad it’s over. On the upside, my USAA premium shouldn’t go up!!

Thanks to my mom, R&R and the GMC Ortho day shift for the packages/letters. Love you all. It was like Christmas around here when we got out mail.

N

I got pics on. Below is us on 4th of July. The other half of the team is up north and we don't get to hear much from them. For more info in there direction link to Partamian Report on the right.
Our internet is being turned off tomorrow so it may be awhile before I'm on again. MWR in all their wisdom is cutting off funding to us because there aren't enough US soldiers here to warrant the funding. So, we are looking for other solutions. I'll email and update you all as I fly to other FOBs and hope we get this under control soon.

Thanks

While my hopes of pictures being loaded up are waining, I'll send out my public thanks to all of you that have sent care packages. Thanks to my lovely wife and mother, Gwinnette Medical Center (Orthopedic/whatever else) 6th floor nursing staff and Greg and Billi Aaron from Florida. Thank you all for thinking about us. It's great to get packages from home, kind of like Christmas for all of us when we open them!
OK the cursed pictures won't load. I miss high-speed!
So, July 4th has come and gone. We were given a grill by a KBR welder/woodworker in KAF and that came to good use. We built a little area by our Humvees and grilled out, thanks to the British Supply Officer. They were kind enough to give us tons of food: brats, burgers, steaks(skinny type) and all sorts of additional stuff. (no beer). Anyway, we grilled out, played some football, watched Saving Private Ryan etc. Several Brits came over to help us celebrate our independence. Before you say to yourself "that's weird" one of the Brit Captains said he considered the Revolution a way of purifying British blood and sanctifying the Royalty. My response was "Be glad. If we hadn't of left, you'd be speaking German." That ended that and we all had a good time, brother's in arms.
So, again back to the thanks. Ultimately, thanks to you all that have served and sacrificed for the freedoms out country has. No matter what your role is/was in it, service member, wife, child, sibling, morale supporter etc. Thank you!
You pacifist out there who sit back and take OUR freedom for granted, who go through the daily motions without thinking of the sacrifices of those who do the hard work(despite your feelings about the wars), go enjoy another Latte on us, we'll be here proudly working for who and what we love.

Miracle Man!

Yes, that's me. I know, many of you that know me might doubt that but I healed an ANP (Afghan National Police) officer. We did our first mission which the details I'll leave in wonderment but it had to do with trainees firing there AK47s. We went to support DynCorp and it was nice to get out of the wire. We were out there for quite a while so I pulled out my trauma (BlackHawk) bag to get some stuff out and the next thing I know I have about 5 guys surrounding me with all there medical problems. Reminded me of an ER in the US without all the fancy stuff and coffee. Anyway, this guy turns out to have a pretty rough episode of bilateral shin splints. Can't imagine why with the quality of sandles and shoes around here. The moonlike terrain couldn't contribute, eh!? So, I call our terp (interpreter) over and we talk to the guy and I give him a motrin there and enough to last a couple of days. So, the next guy hops up and he's got a huge friggin' abdominal hernia that he'd had for a few years and a rip roaring sprained ankle. He's asking for surgery on his hernia etc....so, I figured I'd get him a flight back to Atlanta so Massoud or Renz (inside joke) could work on him. He reminded me of one of there crappier patients that rode his bike into a train in Lawrenceville. That's a long story in itself but everyone at Gwinnett will get the picture, vividly. I have the funny feeling I'll be seeing him again. I sent him on his merry way! So, by the time I sent weirdo on his way (about three minutes later) the other guy walks back over and tells me he feels much better, thank you. Our terp, who's very western, looks at me and says, see Afghans in the south are very different than in the north. That's why Taliban were down here! So, to the title. One magic pill, a talented PA and 3 minutes saved the man from the agony of shin splints. Whew! Tough day at work but someone had to do it. Maybe, if you're lucky I'll get a picture to load.