Have you ever seen a construction site?  You know the portable buildings/ aluminum trailers that they use as offices at those sites? That is what I live in......with somebody else.  We call them CHU's (Contanerized Housing Unit) So, its not too bad...it could be a tent like the one in Kuwait.  The trailer is outfitted with a cheap metal or wooden locker and a single bed with an extremely cheap mattress.  (It beats a cot) These trailers are like a magnet for sand/dust, especially the inside of the trailer.  Keeping it clean is impossible.  You can wipe off your desk and before long(5min) its covered in sand again.  Its rediculous.  Thank the lord that I bought a computer case that was dust proof.  And of course, after having my own bathroom for years, I now share a bathroom with 100 other guys.  I haul my stuff to and from this bathroom (about 100yards across a gravel lot) in my shower shoes.  This bathroom is a trailer outfitted with showers sinks and toilets.  Its pretty disgusting, especially when its been a while since they cleaned the place.  Sometimes I just assume wipe down with baby wipes.   I'll be lucky not to acquire some transmittable disease before I get back.:)  But i'm immunized for just about everything so....no worries.  My roomate in my trailer is another provider here in my unit.  Nice guy.  Thankfully we get along, and in truth, I just assume have a roommate.  Otherwise it would get rather lonely.    

Well its official

I finally saw my first patient in the clinic here.  It was good to get back to the chair.  It definitely made the day go by faster!  We see nearly everybody that walks in the door regardless of who they are.  Mostly active duty soldiers, and some contractors, and a few locals.  Most of the work is pretty routine, nothing too exciting.  The clinic is rather nice considering the location, the situation, and considering the fact that I was expecting it to be pretty sketchy.  Very dusty though. You can wipe of the tray table next to you and by the end of the procedure you can see dust(sand) on your instruments and table top.  So much for a sterile field during surgery...but we do our best.  I share the clinic with another doc from California that is with another unit. Nice guy. I have a great assistant. They have or can get just about anything I need so thats a big plus.  I apologize that I don't have pictures, but for some reason the network is really slow at data transfer.  :(  I hope to get some pictures on their some other way.  Its truly amazing how many different countries provide contract labor here at the base.  I've made friends with a guy from Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Kuwait, Turkey....and others.  Just no Iraqi's.....yet.  I don't get to go outside the wire, and I don't plan to anytime soon.  Just fine here.....

Here at last

Well its been a while since my last post....but I made it.  Finally.  I arrived here in country on Saturday morning at 0300 and have since been trying to catch up on many things, the most important being sleep.  I am thankful that from here on out I should have only one roomate and so far he doesn't snore....either that or the AC's drowning him out.  First impressions were not so good of Camp Speicher, but I was tired and in the dark its hard to really to see anything.  So I can say after being here a couple of days now that things will be just fine.  I hope.  The unit I am with seems to be really squared away, and they seem to be very motivated.  Something I am not used to.  I ask for something and boom its done.  I get to hit the clinic on Monday, so I am excited.  Its been a while(4 weeks) since my last patient, so hopefully I won't have the shakes.  Feel sorry for the first guy.....JK:).  Anyway, its gonna be difficult to post pics it seems....the network is slow....and expensive!  They rip you off here! I thought Time Warner cable was bad.  Anyway, the food is good, and so far the weather is nice.  Be in touch.....

Patience.....is a virtue....I may lose over here

Well if your expectations are low then you can't get be disappointed right? Wrong! Well I was told on Tuesday night that I needed to be up at 4 am so that I could be bussed back to Ali Al Salem for my flight out of here. I had assumed that everything was going to go as planned. Wrong! There was no flight, never was a flight and I was misinformed. So.....I am stuck here in paradise....far from it. I'm in another tent....with a bunch of random people.....and there is less to do here. This must have been where Laura was. I was told that I would have to wait here until the next flight to where I am going. Who knows when that will be. FYI... I have some good pictures, but I can't hook anything up to the USB ports here....so I will post them later. I hate using these PC's anyway. The keys are sticky and it take for ever for the pages to load. Its like dial-up....if you can even remember how slow that was. I Can't wait to get back to the mac. I wish norm and murphy were here....lots of places to dig.....sand and rocks

Another day in the desert

I could get really spoiled over here with all this food. I am so bad about not eating breakfast back home and now I find myself perturbed if I miss it. The food is pretty good and there is plenty of it. So don't send food.....The past day or so we have had some additional training, we went to the range and fired our weapons...five times....that was it. That was the highlight of the day. I definitely have some pretty cool and pretty interesting people around me, and that makes for some good conversations. Some guys have been here before, so they are a big help, and some guys are green like me. Most are MD's, so the other dentist and I get ragged alot. Everybody has a tooth problem.....I guess that they think that that's all we have in common. The days go by extremely slow....so I will be grateful to be back in the clinic next week... I hope to fly out of here Wed.....

Kuwait

Why anyone would want to live here I have no idea.... So much for weather....There is only one weather...hot,dry and the sun is always shining. Like a heat lamp, and like a flashlight in your eyes. Well not that bad. But you get my drift. After a long day of traveling, Sunday I awoke in a strange place. This is the desert. You pretty much have to wear sunglasses and a hat all the time during the day, and you should pretty much carry water everywhere you go. Its not too hot yet. Around 85. We have had a couple of training briefs which were extremely boring, but other than that I have spent most of my time trekking from the tent I'm in, to the dining facility(DFAC), and to the USO where they have Tv's, computers and phones. I'm actually living well, considering the situation. No complaints. Except that Laura was right....its hard to sleep. Pictures to come.....

The flight i was dreading

Well the flight wasn't too bad. It was long....15 hours, but fortunately we got to stop in Ireland for a much needed break. Didn't get to do a pub crawl or anything, had to stay in the airport which was the size of GSP it seemed like. Would have bought some gifts for the family but everything in there you could buy in the U.S. All made in china. I didn't even have to take a Dramamine at all on the flight, I can't believe it. We arrived in Kuwait on Saturday afternoon at around 4 after leaving the states at 5pm on friday. One heck of a time change. We were bussed to Ali Al Salem a camp nearby and were stuck there for a few hours. After scanning our Id's to officially start my deployment we got our gear from a bunch of trucks and were bussed to another base nearby. We got in there around 2pm and were given our tent assignments around 3. I crashed. Didn't wake up until 11am. I promise there will be pictures to come......

Boarding for Kuwait!

Well I made it to Friday!  The day we get to fly out of country.  I'm definitely excited that we are gonna get this show on the road.  My deployment doesn't truly start until I get to Kuwait so I'm ready to clock in!  Woke up at 4 am and had to turn in my linens, draw my weapon, pack my bags (2 duffles and my backpack) and of course....get some breakfast!  Love me some breakfast.  Had a formation with all of our gear at 530 and we did some final checks, turned our bags in and we were whisked away on buses to the terminal.  AKA "Freedom Hall".  Looks like a convention hall.  This is where we wait until we fly.  No news on when we go or anything yet.  So right now I'm sitting in a recliner.......will post later.....

Pictures to come

Well today was the day I've been waiting for....the range!!!  Had to be up early to draw my weapon from the weapons room.  Had some breakfast(MP I could get use to this breakfast thing).  Had a formation at 0630 and off we went to the range.  Had an hour long briefing on how to use, and clean our 9mm.  Then we lined up one by one and went to the range.  Got to shoot fifty rounds or so at various targets.  Had to hit half of them to pass.  Very difficult to do with your body armor and kevlar(helmet for the lay)  and ballistic shades on.  Especially since I only had the tinted ones and it was 7 in the morning.  If you want to be in a safe place.....stand in front of me with my 9mm... I'd miss you from 6 feet out...  I think its my weapon.  Anyway... I passed....barely.  And back we went to the CRC.  Done for the day.   Whew!  This time off is killing me.   

Day 5

Today was a killer....I had a wonderful breakfast....Followed by a formation at 530.  Then hopped on a bus at 7 and had a briefing from 8-10 on IED's and terrorists.  Since I had a special badge(given to Health Care Providers) I was done for the day!  Got out of some First Aid Training and some combat life support training.  I went back to the CRC and had the rest of the day off.  It is impossible to find anything to do in this place.  Thank You for the internet!

Day 4

Well today was truly a test.....Had to be up at 630 which wasn't bad, but after 3 hours of sleep (couldn't sleep) I was no happy camper.  Drank 3 cups of coffee in the dining hall in about 5 minutes, because I was late getting up.  I ran to formation and from there we went to personnel, legal, finance, chaplain, and to the warehouse again to pick up even more gear.  Body armor-the brand new IOTV, 9mm, and lots of goodies.  Lugging all of it around was a bear.  After that it was back to the CRC and lunch and then we were given instruction on how to disassemble our body armor.  It would be a bad joke to disassemble somebody's armor.  What a pain in the rear it is to get back together- but kind of cool to see how it works.  At 2 we were done for the day.  I am really loving all of this down time.  Went to the gym and dinner and that was a wrap.   

All on my own

What crappy weather we woke up to....at 4am.  Had to be in really early on mine and mp's  last day together.  But like always, Mp was right there with me making it happen.  And she says she's not a morning person:) I thought I could make it without shedding a tear....nice try though.  Mp watched me walk away and then off she went back to the Capitol City.  I miss you already.  Today was a busy day until 9am.  Lots of medical/dental in-processing.  I was done in 10 minutes, but had to wait 4 hours.  Thankfully I hadn't gotten alot of sleep during the night, so I had something I could catch up on.  At 9 we went to a large warehouse and I got lots of gear.  Expensive gear.  And there isn't a single thing I was issued/given that I will even take with me....... Best not lose any of it... Back to the CRC and that was  a wrap at 10.....am......Time to Kill..................

Day 2

Day 2 came quick and unfortunately it happened to be Easter Sunday.  Probably the first Easter MP and I didn't get to wear our finest at church.  Sorry Mp, I will make it up to you.:(  Had to be in around 7am and upon arrival we were told to be back at 8... so much for that hour of sleep!  At 8 we were briefed and given lots of paperwork... isn't this the digital age?  Big government....go figure.. 30 pages of "fill out your name and SSN at the top, list your favorite color, height, weight and mom's maiden name" .  We had 10 briefings on everything from the map of the CRC (where we are staying for the week) to lessons on why we shouldn't drink and dial.  After that 8 hours (that truly could have taken 30 minutes) of torture we were done and Mp had to put up with my crappy disposition.  Thanks MP:(.   Back to the hotel for our last night together.  

Getting Started..

Well I finally made it to the CRC (Conus Replacment Center) on Saturday morning.  This will be my home before my deployment for the next week.  This day has been on my mind for some time.... I am glad it is finally here and we are finally getting the ball rolling.  I had my better half with me the whole time so she made the day great!  Checked in at 10am.  First impression...not too bad at all.  I  didn't have to be back until later in the afternoon so we enjoyed a Red Robin birthday for MP's 30th!  I returned around 2 for a briefing about the week and then was done around 5pm.  We headed to dinner and a good nights sleep.