Synchronized swimming routine

One of the "events" here at Kirkuk to look forward to is the base-wide talent show on the last Saturday of every month. After attending a couple and seeing some great acts, it has become part of our monthly routine. There is a kid that can do the most incredible "beat-box" routine that I have ever heard. This last show he did the song "Low Rider" with all of the sounds, beats, and vocals at the same time! I wish I had a video of him!

There is another kid that can dance like you wouldn't believe. He does a perfect Micheal Jackson impersonation and last show did some moonwalking on his knees!

Anyway, there are a lot of people with real talent, but I'm not one of them - or at least the small amount of surgical talent I have managed to aquired doesn't lend itself to display in this type of a setting. So I did some thinking and remembered a sychronized swim routine that was originally done at a Church talent show (Summit Ward) and posted on YouTube. I talked to Amber, who agreed to send out some props, and I put together a "crack(head?) team" of guys who thought it would be a lot of fun to do.

After a fair amount of film watching, choreography and practice we managed to put together a pretty funny show. Here we are getting ready for the "dress rehearsal" the morning before the show.

Here is Levi (Sundermeyer - FP doc from Eglin) giving his usual gang signs.

And here is Alex (Lee - FP doc from Ramstein)

Magnum (Macrae - support SSgt from Eglin) presented a problem because of his size. We could barely fit the shirt over his shoulders and the swim cap was so tight on his head that it gave him a headache. The goggles were the worst, though, because the distance between his eyes is so much larger than the goggles that the edge would dig into the middle of his eyeball! Even with modification he had to leave them on his forehead for the performance.

The performance went off better than we expected. Here is a copy of it (filmed by our BioHealth guy Capt Joey Bruner and edited/finalized by Col Mark White on his MacBook).

As you see in the video, the crowd went wild and we were instant celebrities! It has been fun to see people in the dining hall or somewhere else since then and have them recognize us and say how much they enjoyed the routine! They say everyone has their 5 minutes of fame - I suppose this would be mine.

Work Conditions

It has been well documented, both by me and by previous surgeons, that we are completely underutilized here at this location. Although that is always a good sign for the troops around us it does give one the sense that their time could be better spent in other ways (or at least in other locations). The trauma location at Bagram does more on a daily basis than I have cumulatively over the 3+ months I have been here - having only 2 orthopedic surgeons there they could really use the extra help. But the wheels of beaurocracy roll very slowly and it doesn't look like they will be able to reassign me somewhere where I would be more useful, so we do what we can to help the time pass. This blog is part of that process.

I thought it would be interesting to show some pictures of my office and some random stuff around our EMEDs unit. Below you can see the space that multitasks as an office/ clinic/ warehouse/ ICU (if we had some really sick patients).


A close up of my workspace shows my countdown calendar as well as pictures and letters from the kids on the wall.


And here is a picture of my desk. I change the desktop background picture on my computer once a week and you can see that the week I took this picture was a "Clara week" for the background.


Here is one of Greg at his desk, hard at work (as usual :). I enjoy sharing an office with him, due in a large part to the fact that we have very similar interests and have a lot to talk about in the times that we spend in the office (since neither of us have a lot of patient care to do). It is no surprise that some people have a hard time figuring out which of us is which. We are both the same height, same build, incredibly handsome (obviously) and talented. We are also both supremely humble (me more than him :).

In all seriousness, I feel extremely well blessed to have two roommates (Greg and Levi, and Glen before Levi) that are family men of good character, enjoyable to be with and who are committed to working to live Christlike lives. We have a great time "working" together and spend most of every day, from our morning runs to our evening card games, hanging out as a group. Here is one of us at the KRAB island signpost showing how far it is to our repective bases.


There was a while where we were watching an episode or two of MASH every day to pass the time, and here is one of me (and a patient in the MSU) during our MASH time.


The extra time also lends itself to many time consuming projects to "better our environment." Here is one of the crew hammering the decking down for the pool area (with a 3 foot wading pool) that we constructed behind the EMEDS.

All in all I would have to say that things are pretty good here - and they could certainly be a lot worse! I've got great people to be with, we find activities to occupy our attention and pass the time, and the food is pretty decent (I'll get a picture of the dining facility in here later). The only true hardship is the separation from family, and fortunately we have the phone, email and Skype to better keep in contact while I'm away. Even with all of that technological help and as good as things are, I'll be glad to put this deployment behind me in another three months!

Hawiian Luau

The Communications squadron here on base is a reserve unit from Hickam AFB, Hawaii. They are nearing the end of their tour and decided to throw this huge party for the base. It was a giant affair - I think they said that there were 450 people in attendance - and they had shirts and "flowers" for all of us.

They also fed us an authentic meal including pulled pork, rice and beans and a coconut based "jello" type dish that was pretty tasty.

They had constructed a stage with tables, chairs and bleachers in a semi-circle around it in preparation for the festivities. They gathered in Hawaiians from other units and performed a bunch of traditional dances and songs - like the kind of entertainment you would get if you went to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Below is Charlotte (Shealey, one of our IM docs from Nellis) posing in front of the mural they painted on the T-Barrier.

They also had some audience participation events and drawings and handed out over a hundred boxes of chocolate covered macadamian nuts! I guess they had found sponsorship for the event from local businesses around the AFB in Hawaii to provide for the food, shirts and prizes.

Despite the fact that there were many individuals at the Luau with weapons -For a brief time I could almost forget the fact that I'm in Iraq and thousands of miles from those who I love. It was a well run event and one I was greatful to be a part of.

Water Dodgeball Tournament

Services set up a fun tournament for teams from different units to compete playing dodgeball with water balloons. Each team (of 5) would get 25 balloons to throw at the opposing team and when either the balloons ran out or the time ran out, whoever had the most people left won.

Greg and I hand picked three more athletic guys (Alex Lee, Magnum Macrae and Matt Wright) and formed a team we called "the Non-Potable Water Slingers." We figured that the level of athleticism on our team would be high relative to most teams, which could give us a tactical advantage (you all know that I'm not competitive at all).

Below is a picture of Magnum, Mark Coakwell (Flight doc), Melissa Dooley (ER doc), John Ensell (ER tech) and Joey Bruner (BioHealth officer) waiting to watch the festivities.

We figured out a second tactical advantage when we discovered that each team was to fill their own balloons between matches - which, although creating a huge hassle in running the event since there was only one hose, gave us the chance to somewhat underfill our balloons so that they would be easier to throw and wouldn't break in our hands.

Below is Col White holding the hose while balloons were filled.

We decided that these advantages were not enough and that we needed "strategery" on our side as well. We started with a plan of supporting fire teams with "fields of fire" that got us through a couple of matches but didn't really work all that well.

Below is a pic of Alex and Greg on one fire team and Me and Matt on another, with Magnum in reserve.

Our next strategic initiative was a plan to all throw at one individual on the other team at the same time - with all of those balloons coming in someone was bound to hit him/her. We would pick out this individual based on perceived ease of targeting (lack of athleticism), which could be seen as either very mean or very smart. That person would be designated as the "primary target," and we all knew who it was before the match started.

You can see us coordinating the attack on the primary target in the picture below.

Once we eliminated the "primary target" we would transition to the "secondary target" (also determined before the match). Once we got one or two guys out, we had numeric superiority and could play conservatively until either the time or the balloons ran out.

This plan worked beautifully and we won every match after implementing it. We even beat the Firemen's team (that had originally beat us under our inferior plan) twice in a row in the finals grudgematch to win the tournament.

We won some portable DVD players (for the guys without kids) and electronic picture frames (for Greg and me) as a prize. Pretty cool prizes - I'm really happy having the pictures to cycle through my frame on my desk.

It was a great afternoon of fun and we decided that the word of the day was "strategery."

EMEDs Running Club

Anyone who reads this blog probably knows me well enough to be aware that I like to have something in my life (when I have the time) to physically challenge me - a goal to focus my efforts and pit my will against. When I first arrived in Kirkuk, my plan was to run a marathon during the hottest part of the summer - just to say that I did. After consultation with my local medical provider (my roommate Greg the general surgeon), I started my training with the plan to ensure that I drank plenty of water to replace the fluid lost during exercise.

Especially when the thermometer looked like this:
After a few days sweating in the heat (the hottest day I ran in was 117' F) and maintaining a sustained heart rate that was way too high for how slow I was running, I realized that I might have trouble packing enough water to replace my losses. There are various places where supplies of water are stashed along the run, but that water is pretty dang hot - making it less than refreshing despite the fact that it is wet. These issues, coupled with the fact that I was getting good outside advice (like "I'm not sure that you aren't too stubborn to stop even if you know you should"), motivated me to rethink my goals and plans.
I decided that I would plan to run a marathon on my birthday (09/09/09), after the temperature had cooled a bit from the summer highs and still on a notable date. Most folks don't run outside here on base, especially in the summer, thinking that the temperature and the dust are too much to make it enjoyable. We (Glen, Greg and I) started running at 5:15 AM and found that the coolness of the morning, combined with some really beautiful sunrises, made the trips very enjoyable.

Here is a picture of Greg and me doing a hill workout on one of the high points of the base.

Amber even sent us some cool head-bands (at my request) so that we could keep the sweat from running into our eyes while we ran.

Pretty soon word got out to the rest of the hospital personnel, and we started to have others join our morning forays. We have continued to swell in ranks and have formally become recognized as the EMEDS running club. Here is a picture of some of the club on a "hill day."

(from left to right: Me, Greg, Col White, Alex (FP doc), SMSgt Pehrson, A1C Sleeman, TSgt Minshew)

Shortly after this picture was taken on top of the "hill," we found out that we weren't supposed to be running there because all of the hills in our area are really acheological "tails" that are the remnants of some ancient dwelling. Apparently the human garbage/refuse, etc over the years made the ground around the ancient dwelling harder than the surrounding terrain, leaving a "hill" in places where the rest of the dirt blew away. Unfortunately, that meant that they shut down our running hill - leaving us without a location for our hill workouts.

On a more positive note - with the help of the running club and our Services section here on base we have managed to schedule the First Annual Kirkuk Regional Air Base Marathon and Half-Marathon on 07 NOV. That will give a lot more people time to prepare and I'll still run a solo 26.2 on my birthday :).

Sunrise and Sunset

Perhaps it is because the most enjoyable weather of the summer is associated with the sun going down or about the time the sun comes up (when we usually run), but I think some of the best pictures we've captured while here in Kirkuk are at those times as well. Here are a few that you may have seen in other blogs, but I really enjoy them so I'll put them here again.

Here are the fires burning at the oil wells 24/7 to get rid of the natural gas and other useful fuels found with crude oil (but too difficult for their system to capture and use).

Here is a great picture of sunrise behind one of our Blackhawk Air Evacuation choppers.

Here is one of sunset behind a C-130 on the taxi-way.

The above pictures are of a sunrise over a bunch of the tactical vehicles called MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protective).

Above is a sunset where the sun is barely visible through the dust haze.

A clearer sunset behind our (former) running hill and some more MRAPs (there are hundreds of them on base).

You can see the reflection of this sunrise (a little bit) in the one pond on base.

And this one is of the moon over the mosque and our ambulance Humvees.

Nearby Mosque

There is the small Mosque (with it's surrounding cemetary) close to our EMEDs building that has apparently been there for hundreds of years. I guess the Iraqi AF base just "grew" around the mosque over the years and those that used to use it were cut off by the military presence. With the US forces taking over the base, there was a restoration of the mosque and some allowance some local residents the opportunity to come back on a periodic basis to honor their ancestors who are buried there. Things like this have done very well to help endear the US forces to our host nation. Here are some pictures of the Mosque that I liked.


The above picture is of the front of the Mosque and below is a picture of the back side.

Despite the fact that we "restored" the mosque, since it is a religious/cultural symbol no US personnel are allowed on it's grounds, so all these pix are taken from afar.

The next few pictures are of a sunrise sequence over the Mosque.

And I liked this last one taken at dusk with the full moon over the dome.