Getting Closer to Coming to America

I am happy to say that this may be one of the last Sunday emails that I write from Afghanistan.  My friend Brian Landreth welcomed his replacement to Bagram about 12 days ago and is just leaving today so I may have a similar experience but at least for now I am cautiously optimistic.  This week has been totally nuts.  You may have heard about some of the stuff going on in nearby Kabul where 3 American physicians were killed and another 10 or so people were injured.  The shooter was one of the Afghan soldiers we have been training.  He turned the gun on himself but only managed to shoot half of his face off.  I am not sure where he is now.  We were supposed to get some of the trauma from that shooting but they all ended up going somewhere else.  A couple of days before that shooting in Kabul there was a mortar that landed pretty close to the hospital near one of the dining facilities.  It was well timed because the area was pretty crowded at the time and the explosion killed 3 contractors and injured another 8.   We were busy in the OR all night stabilizing the injured.  It was the first time since Thanksgiving that we have seen injuries from rocket attacks on base.  It was unclear whether the C-RAM shot the mortar and it was the shrapnel that cause the injuries or if the C-RAM missed. We were told earlier in the week that intel suggested that the Taliban forces were striving to make a statement following the elections and recent incoming trauma cases certainly validate the intel.

I hesitate to proceed with my next little commentary not wanting to disrespect the lives that were lost in the bombing earlier this week but I feel there is an important lesson for us all in what happened.  On base we have a large mixture of active duty, guard and reserve military as well as civilian contractors and DoD civilians.  All of us are taught to hit the ground when you hear the ‘incoming’ alarm sounding across the base.  There have been many occasions when walking outside that the alarm would go off and all the military people hit the ground but everyone else just keeps walking and sometimes pointing and laughing at those of us on the ground.  It must look pretty ridiculous.  On the night of the attack the alarm went off seconds before impact but not one of the three individuals that were killed got on the ground.  Some of the non-fatal injured had gotten down and it was because of that that they survived.  The morals of this story are many but one I wish to mention is to heed the warnings you have received.  Listen!  Warnings will come before attacks and though we may experience pain and possible injury we will survive if we heed the warnings and take cover. 

It is nearly time to turn things over to the day shift folks.  My replacement will be here by the time I wake back up tonight.  Yeehaw!  Thank you to all who pray for me and for my family.  Please take the time if you can spare it today or tomorrow to call my sweet Cami and wish her a happy birthday (the 28^th officially).  I love you all.