Shooting

Well it is the start of the last week here in Idaho! It has been a long two weeks. The first week was a pretty slow start for us, But now we are going full speed ahead with training. We have been working 20 hour days out in the field just to come back to base and sleep for 4-5 hours and then go work in the clinic for 10-12 hours, they also mix in some training for the medics too! I'm exhausted.

The other day we did weapons Qualifications on our M-16's. So in my little medical section we have three medics and a Doctor right now. The Doc is a SF (Special Forces) Guy and if you don't know who the special forces are you should look them up! They are pretty BAD A$$ Dudes with cocky attitudes! So before qualifications the Doc was talking himself up about how good he is at shooting and he only needs 15 minutes to go qualify, but boy was he in for a treat against private DeMass! To qualify on your M-16's you shoot 40 rounds: 20 rounds in the Prone Supported Position ( Laying on your stomach and holding your rifle on a sandbag), 10 rounds in the Prone Unsupported Position (Laying on your stomach holding your rifle without support from a sandbag), and 10 rounds in a Kneeling Position (You can figure that one out on your own). The targets you shoot at range from 50-300 yards away and are in the shape of human silhouettes that pop up in sequence for about 3 seconds a piece. Sometimes 2 targets will pop up at the same time so you have to be fast on the trigger. To qualify with your weapon you have to hit a minimum of 23 targets out of 40. So Mister Special Forces Doc shot 30-40. Not too bad, since the the average is 23-28. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I got a 36-40! All I can say is PRICELESS!!! But because his tough guy image was in jeopardy, that look didn't last long. He immediately ordered me to sweep and mop the clinic. So I did....But with a big grin on my face, and laughing under my breath!

We also did NBC (Nuclear, Biological, & Chemical) shooting, which is where you shoot those same targets but with your chemical suite and gas mask on! I think only people in the military know how hard that can be. The mask sticks out about an inch where your eye holes are! So it is very difficult if not impossible to look through your sights. But what did I get you may ask??? 30 out of 30 baby!!!

One more qualification we did was night fire! Where you shoot at the same silhouette targets but in the dark! They put glow sticks on the heads of the targets. So all you can see is a floating glow stick. This one is very difficult because you cannot see your sights! You are basically just pointing your weapon towards the target and shooting in that general area. That is why god had someone invent night vision goggles or scopes! It definitely gives us an advantage against out enemies! In the night shoot I shot a 21 out of 40. Not to bad considering they were all shots in the dark :)

We're still not sure when exactly we're leaving Idaho but once I get home I'll have a few days off and then I'll be back to work and blogging. I'm not sure if I'll get another post up before then or not but stay tuned I promise I'll be posting more.

Fun on the Job

So now it's time for a little story on poor hygiene. The other day I was alone at our clinic. I had to fill in at a meeting for our doctor so i left the clinic unlocked in case someone needed medical supplies while i was gone. I got to the meeting and only 6 of us where there out of a usually 40! The meeting ended up getting cancelled, so i headed back to the clinic. Once I got back the clinic was locked, and I instantly remembered that I left the keys in there! As I lost hope and started to walk away the doc opens one of the doors slightly and says "Come in, I need your help." I walk in and see a guy lying on the operating table with only his crotch exposed! The doc throws me a glove and says "come and hold this." Kind of in shock I ask what is going on, the doc explains that due to poor hygiene this guy got a Sabacious Cyst on his twig and another on his berries, and we were going to have to surgically remove them! I was just the lucky guy that got to hold everything in place while the doc numbed it up and cut them out. So remember to always wash your under carriage.

But now to some cool stuff:

Every couple of days we have to work a 20 hour shift out at the FARP (Forward Arming & Refueling Point) for the Apaches. They like to do a lot of their training at night time because if they can do everything in the dark of night they can do it with ease in the light of day. They need to have medical staff on hand at all times while these birds are flying around!

So you may ask what do I do out there???? Well this is what I ended up doing most of the time! This is the joys of having the back of an ambulance to hide out in! But SSSssssssshhhhh don't tell anyone my secret.

We had to borrow an ambulance that actually worked from the national guard here in Idaho. As

you can see it is a lot nicer than the original one we got. I also had some night vision goggles that i

got to play with so here is a pic of the ambulance at night!

Now here are just some cool pictures of the birds as they do their thing:

Day 1

Well here I am next to my Crappy Ambulance that we borrowed from another unit! They gave us this thing to drive to Idaho with two tires ready to pop and all the belts frayed. Luckily we changed the tires and away we went crossing our fingers it wouldn't break down. After we loaded all of our gear and fueled up away we went.

I think you all know how fun road trips can be! Hitting the open road with all the snacks you can think of and you're most comfortable clothes and perhaps a pillow for when you get tired. Well this one was a little different. Since our top speed in this awesome ambulance is 50 mph going downhill, it took us 12 hours to do a 5 hour road trip. Not to mention we had to wear a 5 pound helmet and long sleeve uncomfortable clothes with military 2/45 air conditioning. (Meaning 2 windows down going 45 mph)

There's not to much to look at on the open road when you're in a convoy full of military vehicles.

Here's a picture of all the birds (AH-64D Apache Longbows) in our unit all lined up getting ready for some training! Here is one up close and personal! Too bad I will not be flying in one of these $30 million dollar machines.

Instead I get to fix up soldiers like this guy. My first patient was a heat casualty. This of course is the number 1 thing we see out in the field. That's why you always wear sunscreen and drink lots of water! So the doctor (me) ordered this guy to get some fluids quick! The best way to do that is by doing my favorite thing, Stick him with an IV! We had 4 people come in on the first day because they didn't listen to the the medics and stay hydrated. I will be a pro (as if I'm not already) at giving IV's by the time I get home. Well as the days go on, and the more stuff happens I will try to keep this blog updated.