Show me a claymore and I'll show you the start of unique counseling session.

We support a lot of medical people who run counseling and stress clinics for our guys over there. Here's a report from one of my favorites..

-Rog


Greetings from combat outpost Z.... The week started off in typical fashion and so I decide to check flights out of O-E (home base) to see what the next thing smokin as it is dubbed. Turns out it happened to be Z... which is particularly tough to get to since it is probably one of our furtherst forward posts that we service. And so I jumped at the chance to get back to see my guys along with an arm load of care pack boxes. Z....is tough to describe, it is nestled between three mountains which can make life here,,,,,, busy.

One of the interesting aspects is since we are pretty much out here in the woods we are now only allowed, but encouraged to become proficient on all the available weapons systems out here I get the opportunity to fire off some pretty interesting weaponry. Yesterday I ran through a hundred or so rounds through the Mark 19 (a belt fed grenade launcher, today I am going to ask about shooting the AK47 and 50Cal. I will ask about the AT-4 (rocket launcher) but who knows if they will pony up on one of those. Maybe making big booms is just a guy thing but it makes trips like this kind of fun. One of the big benefits is it gets me interfacing with the local troops; anything you can do with them like blowing stuff up gets the conversation going and it so far it has lead to 3 formal counselings, and 10 informal counselings, so that my friends is a good thing. Plus,,,,, I still get to blow stuff up. Whew hewww!! Show me a claymore and I'll show you the start of unique counseling session.

Z....is pretty,,,, austere. They have a bag that you fill with water for a shower, if you feel so inclined to have a HOT shower it is only limited by your imagination as to how you will warm up the fill water. Some people microwave it, other toss the water in the on top of the hesco barrier, by 1400 you have luke warm water. That will only work for a while longer due to it getting colder now. The chow,,,,,, hall,,, well it is not a chow hall. There is no hall for which to chow at, only a kitchen about the size of an apartment's kitchen, a blanket draped over the serving line to keep the light inside. Hey we have to practice 'light and noise discipline" so you can't let light beam off into the night. Sleeping quarters, tough to describe if you haven't been to basic training. Twenty plus guys head to toe, three rows wide, two rows high four people deep on plywood planks. I feel like a can of tuna on a shelf,,given the shower situation you can see a rustic picture beginning to come into focus.

I really don't care it's not like one person smells like roses and the other like, well,,,, not roses. We all are one big stinky family of war fighters who are trained to exact America's vengence. We'll worry about the Olfactory factor when someone is around that we are trying to impress. I will try to download some of the pictures, they truly are worth a thousand words. At any rate, I may try to head to the next location in a few days, or maybe not, just have to see what air is available over the next week. You all be good, keep the home fires lit.

Msgt D

"I'm tired of looking at skin"

This from one of my medic buddies at Camp Bucca, Iraq.


I'm tired of looking at skin. that sounds a little crazy but as of late, I find myself either cutting it open or sewing back up again.

I'm tired of smelling that metallic smell of blood and seeing infection oozing from wounds. it gets old.

I have been a Combat Medic now for 8 years, and I was in the Navy for 8 &1/2 years as a Hospital Corpsman. I am a Desert Storm Vet as well, and this is my 4th time in Iraq.

I'm glad we have young and eager people here that are excited about this type of stuff because I am more than happy to let them take the reigns of this horse for a while.

I have reached my hand into more than one situation and snatched a patient or two from the depths of the unknown. It's scary but you have to control your emotions. If you don't, they will control you.

well, that's about all I know. talk to you soon, d


"there is no greater love than one who lays down his life for a friend."

In awe,
Rog

"I'm tired of looking at skin"

This from one of my medic buddies at Camp Bucca, Iraq.


I'm tired of looking at skin. that sounds a little crazy but as of late, I find myself either cutting it open or sewing back up again.

I'm tired of smelling that metallic smell of blood and seeing infection oozing from wounds. it gets old.

I have been a Combat Medic now for 8 years, and I was in the Navy for 8 &1/2 years as a Hospital Corpsman. I am a Desert Storm Vet as well, and this is my 4th time in Iraq.

I'm glad we have young and eager people here that are excited about this type of stuff because I am more than happy to let them take the reigns of this horse for a while.

I have reached my hand into more than one situation and snatched a patient or two from the depths of the unknown. It's scary but you have to control your emotions. If you don't, they will control you.

well, that's about all I know. talk to you soon, d


"there is no greater love than one who lays down his life for a friend."

In awe,
Rog

This was the love of a grateful nation laid over a young Army Soldier

This is one of the most moving emails I've ever received. It's from Chaplain Andrew McIntosh, at the Bagram Air Force Base hospital in Afghanistan. Over the past few months, they have become the busiest hospital in the entire middle-east, and are now treating more American casualties than Iraq.

It is extremely unusual for us to receive a photograph of a wounded American soldier. It is only the deep respect the medics, chaplains and the soldier himself have for Soldiers Angels that gave us this gift, and I want to share it with all of you. Because you help make it possible. Here are the Chaplain's own words.....
-Rog


Yesterday was one of the busiest days yet and we had one of
our Purple Heart Warriors coming back in from the Operating Room to the
ICU for recovery, the ICU was cold and this poor guy was lying on his
side shivering. As God would have it, I entered the ICU with his Soldier's Angels backpack at the same time he was being wheeled in. When they
parked his bed in his room, I opened the backpack and laid his new warm
blanket over him to keep him warm.

This was one of those moments that
would have made you cry if you were there, this was the love of a
grateful nation laid over a young Army Soldier who placed his life
on the line in defense of freedom. The blanket kept him warm as he healed
from his surgery and I know he felt the love that went into the packing
of that blanket and the sending of that backpack. His name is Chez
Carter and he is from the Virgin Islands. I got his permission to take
this photo this morning and send it to you. You can still see he has
the blanket and backpack with him.


Blessings, Ch Mac.


To learn about how to make a Blanket of Hope for a wounded soldier, click HERE

To donate a First Response backpack to send to a wounded soldier, click HERE

This was the love of a grateful nation laid over a young Army Soldier

This is one of the most moving emails I've ever received. It's from Chaplain Andrew McIntosh, at the Bagram Air Force Base hospital in Afghanistan. Over the past few months, they have become the busiest hospital in the entire middle-east, and are now treating more American casualties than Iraq.

It is extremely unusual for us to receive a photograph of a wounded American soldier. It is only the deep respect the medics, chaplains and the soldier himself have for Soldiers Angels that gave us this gift, and I want to share it with all of you. Because you help make it possible. Here are the Chaplain's own words.....
-Rog


Yesterday was one of the busiest days yet and we had one of
our Purple Heart Warriors coming back in from the Operating Room to the
ICU for recovery, the ICU was cold and this poor guy was lying on his
side shivering. As God would have it, I entered the ICU with his Soldier's Angels backpack at the same time he was being wheeled in. When they
parked his bed in his room, I opened the backpack and laid his new warm
blanket over him to keep him warm.

This was one of those moments that
would have made you cry if you were there, this was the love of a
grateful nation laid over a young Army Soldier who placed his life
on the line in defense of freedom. The blanket kept him warm as he healed
from his surgery and I know he felt the love that went into the packing
of that blanket and the sending of that backpack. His name is Chez
Carter and he is from the Virgin Islands. I got his permission to take
this photo this morning and send it to you. You can still see he has
the blanket and backpack with him.


Blessings, Ch Mac.


To learn about how to make a Blanket of Hope for a wounded soldier, click HERE

To donate a First Response backpack to send to a wounded soldier, click HERE