It's been awhile!

   Okay so I know it's been awhile. And I will use the excuse that I have been busy. I am now in Afghanistan and doing good. On this post I will quickly update you on the last 3 months. And I will try to update more regularly now that I am in one place.

FEBRUARY        

So this was my gift to Whitney on Valentines day. 

Valentines day sucks away from your loved ones!

Whitney came in to town for one of my 4 day passes.

We went to SeaWorld, the River Walk, and spent some quality time together.

4 days is definitely not enough time for a visit.

Nothing beats some gold old fashion Texas style BBQ with some fresh Sarsperillas.

MARCH        

Here I gave Holman an IV before the big convoy the next day!

(Look..... No blood, that's how it should look my friends.)

 So here we go....... On a convoy to our Exit Evaluation, to make sure we are ready to deploy.

And our TOP speed is 45 mph! And it makes for a long drive!

 So here we are arriving at our location. The person that ordered the tents got the wrong ones. They accidentally ordered circus tents! Ha ha haaaaaa, it made sure we had a lot of space!

"So much more room to do activities!"  

 We're not even here 6 hours before this dude gets beet up by his own bed!

Nothing a little suturing won't fix!

This was my Highlight of the field exercise. Flying in a Huey! 

There are only 3 left in the Military's arsenal, so to ride on one was a pretty big deal. 

This is a view of one of the places we were at!

 If you look, you can see our birds (Apaches) lined up and ready to go.

 Here we are high in the sky :)

Here is our little Aid Station here!

And yes you did see the doc passed out!

Or as he calls it "Meditation Therapy"

The Doc sure does know how the relax!

Who says Special Forces Docs are to cool for a kiddie pool????

He calls this his "Dry feet Re-Hydration Therapy"

So we walk into our little Circus Tent and half the people have there shirts off.

So I told the Doc it was Topless Tuesday in the tent!

And this is what we got!

"Is that a Special Forces training bra doc?"

While Visiting the guys out at the FARP (Forward Ammo & Refueling Point)

we were attacked. I saw these Bow & Arrows, so I grabbed them and returned fire!

The instructors said this was the first time they have ever been attacked by Arrows!

I'm glad I could be there first.

So the food out in the field was excellent in every way! 

They threw some money out for this catering. 

Here are some of our birds all lined up.

After we passed our exit evaluation I had to get my Small Pox vaccination.

 Okay so here is a little time laps of our Small Pox vaccination that is required to be deployed.

Here is after 2 days

 5 days

7 days

 Here it is after about 2 weeks

 And 2 1/2 weeks

It took about a month to "Heal". But it still looks bad to this very day!

Here is the Docs wife going to ruin someones day! ha ha haaaaa

 We are the 1-211th Air Pirates!

So....... You can't be a Pirate without a little booty!

"Trust me you'll thank us later!"

If we can't establish an IV in your veins for any reason we will put this IO in your sternum!

 So not even after a week back from the field....... 

They tell us we are going back out to the field for 2 weeks for a Combat Convoy Training

Here is the type of MRAP they have in Afghanistan.

These have replaced the old Hummers!

 Pretty Intimidating 

 Here is a hummer roll over trainer. You sit in it and it spins you all around. Then they make you egress form it while upside down, or rolled on its side.

 And here is the MRAP roll over trainer!

So even though there are no hummers in Afghanistan they make us train how to convoy in them?????

 My Gunner Zimmerman!

 Crazy guy in the back seat!

Oh wait that's me :)

 Daily vehicle maintenance

Just riding in the back of a Truck back to base!

Thanks for looking at my blog.

The next post will be the next 2 months!

A lot of stuff to do!

     So today I had to do medical coverage out at the range. It was actually super cold, and it snowed! Snow in Texas??? And if you are wondering why my uniform is mixed and matched, it’s because my helmet and vest are part of our new Multi-Cam uniform that we wear in Afghanistan. But we are not allowed to wear it until about a week before we get in country. And we don’t have our other vests here in Texas. One of those dumb army rules, that doesn’t make much sense. The guys out at the range actually let me in on the action and I got to shoot one of these .50 Caliber Machine guns. As you can see in the picture we put the Night Vision optics on these ones. These guns are super heavy. It takes 2 people to move one of these bad boys.

Here is an overview of the range for the night shoot of the .50 Cal

Here is a video that I filmed of the other medic shooting.

And here is yours truly just blasting away. I didn't even really aim. I just wanted to shoot the thing!

Tell me who you think is the better camera man is ;)

This is my Valentine ’s Day away from home! Here is a picture of my two very cute Valentines J

Here is Whitney and Izzy’s little box of goodies. I got Whitney an Army shirt (It’s my size, and of course I had to spray it with a little cologne). Since I’ve been gone she has somehow acquired a lot of my t-shirts that she sleeps in. I think it’s pretty cute, so I thought I would add to her collection. Then there is a little army bear for Izzy. A couple of Twix bars because it reminds me of working with Whitney. We would always share a Twix bars on our breaks. I also put a couple pair of super fuzzy socks. Whitney’s feet are always freezing, so she usually puts them under me to warm them up, but since I’m not there to do the job now I had to get a replacement in my absences. There is also a little box of Ghirardelli Chocolates. And two little pins. One that has a heart in front of a pair of combat boots, which says “I Love My Soldier”,  And a nice little card to top it off. And the box was stuffed to the brim with Hersey’s Kisses and Hugs, and Rose petals (fake ones of course), and red confetti.

Whitney made me this candy bar message poem! IT'S awesome, I haven't really had any candy here so this was a very good excuse to eat some ;) Thanks babe! I loved it!

And here is the moment I have been waiting for since I left SLC! Whitney Lee is finally here!!!!!!! I can't even begin to tell you how happy I wa to see her smiling face!

Here we are being ridiculous with our Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

And here we are at SEAWORLD!!!!! YAY

Here we are petting the baby StingRays.

The onnly people ever to take a picture in front of this Shamu statue. Ha ha haaaaa

Being at SeaWorld with Whitney was so fun! I love that girl!

This is my favorite thing here! I told Whitney if I some how become a Billionaire I am buying one! I don't think she took me very seriously though.

Here we are at dinner at a little hole in the wall Italian diner. They had super good artisian pizza.

This weekend was seriously the best weekend ever! It went by way to fast. But I am so happy I got to see Whitney Lee. Although it was pretty rough to have to say goodbye to her once again! Now the count down begins of when I get to see her in April on my 4 day pass!

I hope you are all enjoying this little blog. So until next time.