So it's here, it's finally here!! And it's here before Christmas! So grab a cup of coffee, tea, beer, wine, really whatever your beverage choice may be, and snacks, because you'll absolutely need it! Essentially here's the highlights of what all has been keeping me so busy and therefore away from the blog all month!
To begin with though, here's a blast from the past. This is us back out at Spin Boldak (no, I didn't go back out there, it's just a picture I hadn't posted yet) with all of the civilian dog handlers out there. They were the ones that allowed me to be taken down by their dogs. Most of them are from South Africa and are a great bunch. They most definitely had some of the most delicious barbeques ever, with fresh local vegetables. A great group of friends that I still keep in touch with!
So now onto the events of November! This is from an outing that I went on with a few fellow Role 3 personnel. They arrange tours for us of different things around base, and I'm slowly making my way around to them in my spare time. That's probably the reason I haven't been on many is because spare time is hard to come by! We have had some awesome events thrown by the MWR, but man it's exhausting some times! And school is still ongoing, but I haven't been able to devote as much time to it as I would prefer lately. I only hope that all changes since I"m now working days! Yep, that's right, I was on night shift for about 3 weeks yet still had all of my responsibilities and meetings during the day, so I was exhausting myself. You know it's bad when your Commanding Officer doesn't even know if you work night or days because you're there so much!
Sorry about that, I digress. So we went on a tour of the Belgian F16 wing. I believe they said they have 6 total jets, and always fly 2 at a time. By no means are they the only air authority out here, they just help us out with some of the air coverage. This is us riding in the back of an ambulance in order to get there. Slightly sketchy, but I had good company at least!
Here's the tail end of the plane. It's really cool to see them take off at night because they use their after burners every time! It's like living in Top Gun...constantly...which can actually make conversations frustrating at times when they're taking off! All in all though, it's a pretty cool thing to have them here and watch them climb like pros!
Ain't she beautiful?
Here's the air intake for it. It's a really smooth machine to say the least. I still love the "remove before flight" tags all over it.
I was like a little kid in there!! There were so many buttons....and options...but I was sure not to press or accidentally kick any of them just to be on the safe side.
The pilot's call sign was "Stifler", although we never heard the explanation as to why. He just said it was a long story. He spent about 10-15 minutes with each of us answering all of our questions about the jet.
A shot from far away...
So what did you do today? Oh, you know, just played around in the cockpit of an F16 and looked pretty awesome doing it. How was your day?
Once again, I was like a little kid up there! It took so much willpower not to press every button...
Just a pretty shot from it from far away as the sun was setting.
Posing Afghanistan style! It's not every day that you're able to stand next to an F16!!
Personally this is one of my favorites....could almost be a postcard!
This is my friend LCDR Chris Watson. He's a pediatric intensivist out of Bethesda. I thought this was a great shot of him being pensive and looking out across the flight line.
It was a beautifully clear day, and we were able to see the mountains out across and past Kandahar City. Parts of this country are very desolate, but it can be fairly beautiful at times too.
Had to get another shot next to it!
Here's the whole group of us. Such a great looking jet, and a good looking group from the Role 3!
So jump forward a few weeks, I become more sleep deprived, and lo and behold, Thanksgiving arrives!! Here's our nursing team hanging out as I went around decorating with some of the things from the boxes from College Station. It was a fairly festive place!
I'm posing with a few of the Christmas and assorted holiday decorations sent with love from College Station! It was so incredibly generous of all of y'all and they have made their way into the Role 3 and beyond! Just wait for more pictures of that...I was just so grateful for all of it!
Our adorable little scarecrow...
And finally the glass door entrance onto the ward! Gobble Gobble!!
These are the nurses that I work with every shift. Pretty much team awesome if you ask me! This is us in the DFAC grabbing Thanksgiving dinner before heading into the hospital for work. They did a great job decorating!
So this was my Thanksgiving meal.....definitely not home cooking by any means, but the turkey was fairly moist and the prime rib wasn't too bad at all!!
So another thing I was able to do is go on a Reaper tour. These are UAV's that fly around and protect us. They are flown from little cockpits on the ground here and in the states. They have video capabilities and we were able to see some of the footage. They're really amazing, and the technology behind them is just fascinating. We have some really cool toys in the military, and the best part is that they save lives.
Here's an overall view of the hangars. There were 4-5 in each one, so there's definitely a few!
Here's me in front of it....this way you can get an idea of just how big they are!
And of course, one a little bit closer in. This is just before I exchanged my uniforms, so they most definitely aren't as baggy anymore!
So one of the highlights of this tour for most is the ability to sign a hellfire missile. Ok, I know it sounds incredibly strange to want to do, but these save lives. There are very strict rules for which they are fired, and all are followed to a T. These, however, have saved numerous lives of coalition forces by destroying IEDs, and other things as well. So here's me putting my John Hancock (Herbie Hancock!) on one of them.
My message is below. My hope is that it prevents us receiving more patients.
So most people out here will paint on the T-walls (as we call them) with their unit. There's some pretty cool ones out there. The tick marks on the wall all represent a confirmed kill of an insurgent. There are red ones as well, and those represent those from September 11 this year.
So, on to much more recent events!! One of them was a military working dog demonstration. This was my little baby, if you will, as I took it under wing and ensured that it happened. This was another reason that I've kind of fallen off the grid- I forget how much effort it takes to plan these sorts of things. There were most definitely a few hiccups, but in the end the event went off without a hitch and everybody loved it. This is in the back of the hospital. We had the screen set up for a slideshow to play during the event, the table was taken over by the K9 people to sell their swag (tshirts, sweatshirts, etc.)
The dogs began to arrive and they all were fantastic!! There were about 15 dogs total, with both civilian and military handlers. There wasn't much of a difference between the two, with the exception of some of the rules of engagement. They didn't go too much into detail, but from my understanding the military is more strict on when a person can be engaged and sought after by the dog. Most of the dogs are dual purpose, so both drug/explosive seeking as well as detainment. The labrador retrievers, however, were just search dogs! It was fun to throw a ball for them for a bit- but of course, none of them are as awesome as Dolce!
The individual on the left is our new Executive Officer. He stepped in at the last moment for our Commanding Officer and introduced the entire event on the fly. The individual on the right is our Command Master Chief.
This is the crew that proposed the idea and arranged for the dogs to show up! So without their help, I most definitely wouldn't have been able to pull it off. They are a great crew and do great things for our four-footed friends. They wanted to show their appreciation to the Role 3 for our help with the dogs. They use our facilities to give our pups the best care anywhere.
Here's one of the gorgeously large German Shepherds hanging out waiting to do his thing. The dogs were all very calm....until they brought out the bite suits!
Here was the demonstration for the searching. It was like the cup game in that one of the boxes had a substance the dog was supposed to find, and they would mix up the boxes between each go around. Needless to say, these dogs and handlers were 100%! They are all passive alert, which means that when they find something they immediately sit or lay down. When you're seeking explosives, the last think you would want would be for the dog to start digging at it!
And they're off!!
This was the dog passive alerting to the scent. He was rewarded with fetching his kong right afterwards!!
I tried to find this dog afterwards to get a picture with it, but it was unfortunately gone. He looked just like Von Minden, who was our all black German Shepherd growing up.
So now onto the bite suit!!! It was definitely the event that most people were looking forward to, but they enjoyed the entire event! Basically, we raffled off spots to be able to get into the bite suit and be attacked by the dog. I had individuals email me securely in order to volunteer (legal reasons), and then put out the list of volunteers to the command for people to vote. Each vote cost $1, and you could vote as much as you wanted for them. We had three spots to raffle off, and we were able to raise a little over $2,000 at this event!! That money goes straight back to our holiday party and other events at the Role 3, so it was pretty cool.
They had one of the professionals in the suit first, and they gave a show! The whip wasn't actually to hit the dog, it was just a sound in order to let the dog know he needed to back off a little bit. There's some pretty awesome action shots following!!
These are the individuals from the Role 3 receiving their safety brief prior to donning the suits. It's important, that way they don't injure the dog or themselves.
This was the group of people that came out from the Role 3 to enjoy! I didn't get a full head count, but I believe there was about 150 representing! We were graced with some gorgeous weather.
On that, our first volunteer was ready!! They used the military dogs for our appointed volunteers. Here they are setting it up....
And they're off!!! Look at how he stretches out, and grips the individual with his front paws. The dogs were left on the leash for the most part, unless the individual agreed to a running start.
Even when so excited about playing with their human chew toys, they were incredibly obedient. This is incredibly important, especially when the individual isn't in the suit. The dog needs to obey at all times, and with only a single word. It's amazing the control these dogs have, and the relationship between the animal and handler.
This is our Command Master Chief in the suit! The dog got a great bite out of the back of his suit....it was intact, but the dog had an amazing grip! There was only one individual to be taken down to the ground, and unfortunately I was videoing it for him, so I don't have any pictures of that.
After the event the handlers stayed around and answered questions, allowed us to take pictures, pet the dogs, and even throw a tennis ball! It was great therapy for all of us to just be kids and play with them again. There were a ton of stories of pets back home. It's amazing how even the people that can be the most difficult soften up when thinking about their four-footed companions.
So some of you may know, but I have been known to enjoy a cigar every now and then out here! We were at a farewell for the Australians, so we broke out some cigars. Needless to say, I impressed most of the people with my newly gained knowledge, and then my ability to smoke a cigar properly. I had the best ash of the night- there was another 1-1.5 inches after this photo was taken...and then it hit the deck. I just had to get a picture to share!
So another event that i attended (and wasn't able to participate in) was a crossfit event. This is at our outdoor crossfit box, where I attend classes at 0500 most mornings. It's an absolute blast and an amazing community to be a part of. They're a great group of people. The event was to remember all of the Fallen Soldiers. There was a huge number of participants, including General Abrams! The WOD (workout of the day) was a buddy WOD, in which only one person could be completing the exercises at a time. It was a 200m buddy carry, 100 pushups, 100 air squats, 100 box jumps, 100 kettle bell swings, 100 pull ups, 100 double unders, 100 sit ups, and lastly another 200m buddy carry. It was a beast of a workout, but there were many teams that completed it! The winners were two Marines that came in from Camp Leatherneck to compete. They finished it in 16:30, which is just unreal!! It was very fun to be there and watch and just enjoy the camaraderie there.
Just a few more shots, and we were once again lucky to have gorgeous weather!
This is a picture of my friend Jodi and I. She's a Physician's Assistant out here. She's been here for almost a year and will be headed home in January. I'm going to miss her a lot, but it's her time to head home! It was really cold outside so I think my face is partially frozen!
These are all of our coaches!!! One of my coaches, Mark, is on the very right hand side of the picture standing up. I can't find Adam in the picture- I think he was warming up to start the workout! All of them are awesome and encourage us during the classes- no yelling, no namecalling, just what crossfit is about! Needless to say, I've seen some vast improvements.
These are the two Marines that just killed the workout. They had quite a few people watching and following them throughout the WOD. It was absolutely unbelievable to watch them- they were just machines! One of them was a combat engineer in Japan, but didn't know Zac. The other was stationed in Pendleton, but it's a huge base and I again struck out.
So as y'all know, I'm the OIC (officer in charge) of the MWR. This is our bulletin board in the main hallway of the hospital. We post our events on it, and I did my best to make it look seasonal! These are all decorations sent to me from y'all. They are definitely being put to good use all throughout the hospital! There are also some up at our crossfit box pictured above as we're doing a Christmas event there too!
Here's the entrance to the ward as it currently stands. Unfortunately the red bell rotated right before the picture! There's clingy stickers on the glass doors too. We are going to decorate much more, but couldn't show our whole hand too early for the contest!! I have no doubt, however, that we will do incredibly well and hopefully win!
This is another decoration from the boxes sent with love. I put this in the common coffee area for the hospital so that it can spread cheer to everyone! The paper chain with all of the messages is in this room as well, adorning the walls so that everybody can read them. I'll send out more pictures of our Christmas touches throughout this month!
And last but not least, these are pictures from today!! Our flag football team was practicing for our big game this weekend. We were challenged by an Army unit to a flag football game on Saturday at 1500, so we're prepping for it! I will be amongst the cheerleaders on the sidelines.
This is the head coach and the "general manager" doing what they do and hanging out watching practice. The GM is our Public Affairs Officer, and the other is one of our chiefs. I don't know if you've noticed, but the recurring theme here is gorgeous weather!
I hope that satiates y'alls appetite for the time being!! I need another week to be able to gather some material since I've pretty much caught y'all up to this point! I love all of y'all and thank you for all of the support and helping me feel so loved from so far away!
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