115 and climbing

What a week! For the most part this past week went by without any real excitement.  Work at the clinic has been very routine, with no real surprises.  This past week was marked by a weeklong preparation for a mass casualty exercise on the base.  The unit I am in is tasked to be responsible for the decontamination of patients in the event that they are hit by some chemical, biological agent out on patrol.  So we had a walk through on Wednesday where we made sure each person knew their job, and we had a simulated exercise on Sat where we donned all our gear and had patients come through our decontamination lane.  Being the unit dentist, my job is the Triage officer and the Officer in Charge.  And I've been here 3 weeks! Anyway, temps got up to around 113 the day of the exercise....and did I mention we were in all of our protective gear.  In the military its called MOP gear, but most people would know it as a big jacket and pants with overboots, gloves and a gas mask.  In a 113 degree heat.  We ran this exercise in the afternoon.  Not too bright.  For the most part everything went well with only a few kinks.  We probably should have weighed ourselves before and after because I swear I lost at least 5-10 pounds.  We were in the gear for 3 hours.  Hopefully we will never have to do it in real life, but that's not a guarantee.  Fingers crossed.