The Book of Brett: 2014 Comes In With A Bang

We did not end up having a white Christmas but it did snow quite a bit on New Year’s Eve. In similar fashion to our Christmas Eve party the anesthesia crew got together to bring in the New Year. We had food and played games. We were on high alert because of the holiday and so we were all making predictions of when the next rocket attack would be. Earlier in the day we had already had two mortars hit on base with no injuries. Our party ended around 9pm and the day shift crew went home amid jokes that they shouldn’t even get undressed because they were bound to return shortly when the New Year’s ‘fireworks’ began. The night was remarkably quiet. Us nightshifters were sorely disappointed when we went to midnight chow and found the usual overcooked, dried out fare and nothing special for the New Year. It is amazing what good food can do to boost morale and what lousy food can do to deflate it. I had bet that we would hear from our extremist friends sometime between 2:30 and 3:30 in the morning as that seemed to be the time they most frequently became active. However, the hour came and went and all was quiet. We had been placed on what is called posture 2 for the 24 hours surrounding the holiday so no one was allowed to be outside or in the gyms. You could only go from the hospital to the dorm building without loitering anywhere. At 6am we were preparing for the day shift crew to come in for the day’s cases when there was the loudest earth shaking boom I had ever heard. I literally felt the ground beneath my feet tremble. All of us hit the floor and remained there for a couple of minutes. We then put on our individual body armor and prepared to receive any casualties. I went to the trauma room and listened to the chatter over the radio. The initial report was that the impact had occurred at the Russian Tower and that there were casualties. We set up multiple beds knowing that in the area of the Russian Tower there was the largest gym on base and was a pretty populated area. As the seconds ticked by there was no confirmation of actual casualties. Eventually we did get two active duty soldiers who had been within 25 feet of the blast but had not received any physical injuries but were ‘shellshocked’ from the impact and resulting shock wave.

This was the closest rocket impact I had ever experienced. I was curious to see what kind of damage it had caused. One of the day shift guys said that he would check out the impact site when it had been cleared and report back to us. Once we confirmed that there was no patients to be bought to the OR we were dismissed to go home and get some rest. Surprisingly I slept like a baby and returned to work about 9 hours later. Once I got back to the OR I was informed of how close the rocket came to causing some serious damage. The story was accompanied by pictures taken with the teller’s phone. Apparently the rocket had landed right in the middle of a sleeping tent that had recently been vacated. It decimated the tent and sprayed shrapnel a considerable distance. The T-walls behind the tent were peppered with pockmarks from the flying debris. A television set that had been left behind exploded. There was a huge crater at the point of impact on the concrete floor of the tent site and holes were torn threw sheet metal where the splintered concrete had passed through. The destructive force of the bomb was evident despite the lack of any human injury. It was a sobering site to see and one had to assume that divine intervention had spared lives in more than one way that New Year’s morning.

I told this story to my parents and asked my Mom if she thought that it would scare people too much if I posted the pictures that my friend took on my blog. Knowing that my purpose in writing the blog is to let people see what things are really like here, she said that she would want to see them and thought that it would be a good idea. So I am posting them there if you care to look. I have heard that the fighting season ends when the snow flies but so far that has not been the case. We were told that the Taliban leaders told their people not to go into Pakistan for the winter as is customary but to stay in Afghanistan. I am inclined to believe those reports as I have not seen any drop in the number of wounded soldiers we are seeing. Most of the wounded are Afghan National Army soldiers. I have heard that our guys are no longer allowed to raid homes but the Afghan troops are now doing that and we are backing them up. It doesn’t make it any easier to see a young Afghan whose legs have been blown off by an IED. If anything it is almost worse. I know that our soldiers get the best of care for the rest of their lives with the best prosthetics and physical therapy that exists. These young men once they are stabilized are sent to the Afghan hospital in Kabul where if they don’t die of infection they are sent home without the ability to get around and likely without follow up. I have seen a couple of these guys that were injured years ago who finally make it back into our system and for the most part they are the living dead. They have horrible wound or bone infections. They have opium addictions from self medicating their chronic pain. It is very sad to see.

I look forward to the day when there will truly be peace on earth. There are so few places left where you can experience true peace. Cultivate those special places even if they are within your own heart. Don’t allow the anger and fear in the world to infect your soul. These times are what we make of them. They can be as dark and haunting or as fulfilling and incredible as we allow them to be. Prophecies of our day are being fulfilled all around us but we don’t have to let our affections and hearts grow cold with the rest of the world. There is a source of eternal peace and light and joy that no power can overcome. Grab hold of that peace and take it with you that you might spread its power where ever you may be. Have a wonderful week.