I'M HOME!

I’m finally home, and it feels like I have been gone forever.

I survived my combat class – and guess what? It wasn’t so bad. I met amazing people (Ms. Erica if you’re reading this – yes, I’m talking about you) and the energy was high and positive. Sure, the food was disasterous and the shower head was installed so high that shampooing my hair was about impossible, but no biggie. I adjusted and so did everyone else.

I realized I never mentioned what I do in the military. I manage patient evacuation. So in easy terms, I am in charge of getting wounded soldiers onto the airplane to send them to a larger hospital. When I was in Iraq I would send them to Germany. Now that I'm going to Germany, I will be on the receivng end of the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan.

DISCLAIMER: Since I work with patients, please know that I am very discreet in my postings due to privacy and hippa requirements. Any patient information shared will only be becuase I have been allowed to do so, or else I have changed the information to protect the injured.

Moving on.......

 

After Texas I rushed to Seattle and spent all day Saturday firing the M-16 semi automatic rifle. This sounds cool, but in reality it jacks up your cheek and shoulder since you have to wedge it in there to get a good shot. This is one of the least glamorous training items I have to do. Bleh. I'm definetly not a gun girl.

 

Here is a brief recap of last week in photos:

Since I'm the lightest weight, I'm always picked to be the pretend 'patient'. The black cot is called a 'liter'.





Me and my awesome troops. I wore my old uniform so I would't dirty up my new ones.



This is the dangerous ramp we use to carry the wounded into the aircraft. Very steep!



The graduating class. Dirty and ready to go home.



Training on a C-130. These are much safer since we can walk up the back ramp with patients.

Training on loading helo's. You can load 4 patients on these.



We had to unload the cargo box (on the left) and build these tents. It sucked.




The interior of a C130. It crowed and tight inside. Imagine being injured and strapped down on the litter for hours and hours.



Questions?? Please send me an email or ask in your comment