011808 Thursday Bloody Thursday

My internet has been very intermittant so I've missed a few day's worth of postings. I'll try to catch up. As a civilian on an Army base, we're expected to 'pull our weight' at times and this includes potentially caring for wounded personnel at the business end of a mortar attack. Last summer there was a bad day here at Balad when several soldiers, airmen and civilians (US and Turk) were killed in a mortar attack. I think there were 9 deaths and 13 serious injuries. Recently an opportunity came up to attend the 'Combat Lifesaving Course' and I chose to do so on my off hours. The course is also at night so my schedule has been up at 6 AM, office at 7 AM, leave work at 6 PM and then Combat Lifesaving Course till 9:30 PM. It makes for a long day. The class is about half discussion about 'what to do and why' and the other half is hands-on training. Part of the hands-on training is administering an IV. Needless to say I'm pretty sure this is a skill that one improves upon with repetion and practice. Below is a pic of me getting 'stuck'. It really wasn't so bad as the pic seems to imply. Another hands-on skill that we practiced is shoving a 6 inch rubber down your partner's right nostril since airway breathing problems are the second leading cause of 'preventable deaths on the battlefield'. The trick here is lots of lube! And if you don't have lube the rule is to spit on it and it'll go in. After that tube was in I could feel it way down the back of my throat. Not everyone could do this however. There were a few guys that wussed out.