Night Shift and Ninja Wars

                Well this update is coming out later than normal but there is a good reason.  On Friday I was moved to night shift.  There are only two anesthesia providers on at night and when you get cases they are typically trauma cases and require much more intensive care than our routine cases.  It is a good experience and so far I have had at least one trauma every night.  There are many positives and only a few drawbacks.  I work with a good crew which always makes it easier.   We have invented ways to pass the time.  We play a game called Ninja Wars where we shut off all the lights and try to capture the other team’s flag without getting hit by rolls of tape.  After getting hit in the eyebrow I instituted a rule that required safety glasses.  The teams are typically one of the OR nurses Kim Friesen and myself against two of the OR techs.  They take it pretty serious and have set up traps and obstacles that are pretty impressive.  We have talked some of the female staff in to joining us but I don’t think they find it as diverting as we do.  I told the two techs that I couldn't play until after I had finished my blog post and so they volunteered to help me out and write a bit about what the enlisted side of the Air Force is like so here are their contributions.  

Preparing to do battle.  Actually this was after the battle and I got beaned right above my right eye.  You can see the mark if you squint just right. 

Ninja War pre-game rule briefing for the ladies we talked into playing with us.

      

Wassup homies?  This week at Bagram Ab has been fairly quiet in a Surgical Techs perspective ( by the way this is two Surgical Techs posting).  My name is SSgt Haganman and I have been here for about two months and a surgical tech about 7 years, in the air force 8 years.  As I was saying it has been fairly quiet within the OR this week, which is a great thing because this means there is not a lot of violence going on outside the wire and I can spend some time lifting heavy things in the gym ;).  We have THE best team on nightshift currently at Bagram AB Operating Room and have even came up with a popular game amongst us all, this is called “ninja wars” and we have gotten pretty good at it (the score is currently 2-1 and the techs are down 1 haha).  Well I guess its time to take part in some “ninja wars”!!!

Staff Sergeant Haganman with his non-alcoholic beer.  No drinking is allowed on base. 

                Surgical technician number two front and center! My name is SrA Ally and I’ve spent the last 53 days on BAF. I enjoy long walks on Disney. Six dollar hair cuts from the local nationals. Haggling for some Dr. Dre head phones made in Tibet. Not to mention ninja wars to break the monotony. Real talk. Aside from the 9 lines that come through periodically or the holiday rockets, the experience out here has been great. My first month involved finding a routine. Second month is maintaining that routine while changing a little due to transferring to night shift. Luckily I have a great support system from home. Shout out to my better half (wife) at home, Andi with an “I” not a “y”. Marriage separation is tough now. The first month my wife was in ALS (Airmen Leadership School) which occupied most of her time and kept her mind off of the separation. Now we face the long stretch to the finish line, first week of May when I leave. Plus the talk about having kids being military to military when I get home. All in all I’m proud to be serving and grateful for my family who sacrifice at the same time I do. God bless and take care, signing out.

Senior Airman Ally.

There you have it.  These two make nights more bearable.  With this new assignment came several other changes.  First, I am now in a bottom bunk.  I took the bed of the maxillofacial surgeon that just left.  He left me a fan and a memory foam mattress topper that is heavenly.  One drawback is the lack of head room.  I can’t sit up but it is extremely private and I am able to keep it almost pitch dark even during the day.  Our roommates have slowly returned home and now we are down to only 4 of 8 and one (the cardiologist who is above me) never sleeps in our room so it is almost as though I have the whole bunk to myself.   Secondly, I am now awake at the same time as my family so I can call and chat with them any time I want. 

My new digs.

I have a headboard with some cubbies and I have angels watching over me while I sleep.

Caution, low clearance.  Looks like the last occupant of the top bunk may have exceeded the weight limit for the cross bars.

This has been an amazing week for mail.  I received many from my family that got together on Thanksgiving and had a group order on Amazon that they sent.  It was fantastic.   On Thursday the mail folks came by and dropped off six boxes with my name on them.  They said there is another six boxes but we didn’t have enough room on the cart.  So they brought twelve boxes all from the same address in Massachusetts.  Upon opening the first one it became apparent that a group called CAPTS (Calling All Patriots Troop Support) had received my name somewhere and had sent tons of food, clothing, toiletries and miscellaneous goodies to be distributed to those soldiers, airmen, marines and seamen deployed here in Afghanistan.  There were many cards and letters too.  I had the entire OR crew opening boxes and sorting things out to make distribution easier.   It was an amazing start to the Christmas season to see how this group had spent much time and money to send holiday cheer to total strangers.  It was fun to see the faces of those who received things from the packages.  They have a Facebook page if you want to check out their organization.

Thanksgiving boxes.  Thanks everyone!

12+ boxes from CAPTS.

Sorting of the packages.

One of the cards that I found particularly cute.

To wrap things up I just wanted to mention something that has been on my mind lately.  When I first arrived here I was acutely aware of all the noises that surround a base in a war zone.  The hospital and our dorm building lies just off of the flight line so there are planes coming and going constantly.  These are huge planes and they aren’t quiet.  A lot of times while laying in bed at night it was like someone was running a vacuum cleaner right by my head all night long.  There are also the sounds of attacks in the general vicinity.  The growling of huge vehicles and the rumblings of explosions both on and off base are not uncommon.  Old mines are detonated when they are found and there are controlled detonations throughout the base routinely.  Anyway the point is that there is a ton of noise and at first it was ever-present and pretty unnerving.  I thought the other night that it had been a while since I had heard the noises that used to be so common.  I lay in bed and listened and realized that the noises were all still there but I had grown so accustom to hearing them that I just tuned them out.  I had become desensitized in two months time. 

When I got here I realized that the TV is on all the time.  The Air Force has its own cable network.  They play sports, popular TV shows and movies around the clock with only occasional military type commercials with horrible acting.  I have watched a couple of popular television shows and have been horrified at some of the content that is completely acceptable on TV today.  Things that were reserved for risqué cable channels are on prime time for all to see.  The language envelope is being pushed and it is now acceptable to use all manner of filthy language.  Gore and violence is everywhere and as realistic and lifelike as what I see in the operating room from IED blasts.  Shows mock traditional values and families and slowly desensitize society to all types of immorality.  I cannot believe how far we have traveled down the slippery slide of desensitization.  I would just ask you to “lay down and listen” look around you and notice the noise that is there but may have become less noticeable.  Ask yourself about what you are entertained by.  Should we be entertained by senseless killing and violence?  Are we sufficiently sensitive to human suffering?  Have we accepted the language of the world as normal and acceptable?   The Lord says that His people with be a ‘peculiar people’.  If we turn off the violence and teach our kids that this is wrong we truly become different than the world.  I am certainly not telling anyone that what they do is wrong I am just saying that this experience made me think about how the world is becoming numb.  Numb to suffering, numb to need, numb to murder.  Satan is crafty and is using media as his main tool in his battle to change the hearts and minds of men and bind them down that he might sift them as wheat.  Like Lehi  I say “Oh that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound . . .” 2 Nephi  1:13.  Food for thought.  Have a great week.  I love you all and hope this wonderful time of year fills your days with wonder and the love of God.  God gave us the greatest gift in His son Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate.