USO Canteen FReeper Style ~ Burkas on Wednesday ~ 28 May 2003

Radix and FRiends of the Canteen

[Kathy in Alaska]

Hurrah for you!! I'm bearing, I'm bearing!. You are doing a fantastic job. Thanks Tom, Linda, and Beth. My computer locked up as I was writing to him.

Yo, 4, you have now been the recipient of the "learning" I got too. I have learned all my computer "skills" right here at the Canteen with lots and lots of help. Everybody is always willing to help anyone that whats it. And once you post your first picture, "Nothing can stop you now". BTW, your beach is beautiful!!

I'm having lots of computer, and people, problems this morning, so I'm way behind, BUT THIS IS WONDERFUL. We will be expecting great things from you now. LOL! Here, have some more bacon as a reward for your hard work.

[tomkow6]

ALLL RIGHT You did it!!!!!!!!!

[never4get]

Just another toy to play with......I will make all of you proud (especially when the day comes I actually start a thread). For over a year I have been lurking and only when I visit the canteen do I begin to reach my lurking potential. Coffee breaks over so if I can not get back to the canteen I hope the lot of you dudes and dudettes have a wonderful evening and of course may our troops keep safe.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Have I told you how much I enjoy seeing "________" welcome folks to the Canteen? LOL! Well, let me say it again. Surely he has a name, doesn't he? Anybody that cute should, you know.

[Kathy in Alaska]

My weekly attempt at humor. (I'm trying to up production from once a month.)

A woman's fourth husband dies. He had $25,000 to his name.

After everything is done at the funeral home and cemetery, she confides to her closest friend that there is no money left.

The friend says, "How can that be? You told me that he had $25,000 a few days before he died. How could you be broke?"

His widow says,"Well, the funeral cost me $6,000. And of course, I had to make the obligatory donation to the church, so that was another $2,000. The rest went for the memorial stone."

The friend says, "$17,000 for the memorial stone? How big was it?"

The widow says, "Four carats."

[Kathy in Alaska]

DOZER IN THE DIRT — Soldiers from the 326th Engineer Battalion, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), pull a bulldozer out of a hole after it got mired cleaning up a trash dump in Mosul, Iraq, May 23. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Derek Gaines

READY TO BLOW — Staff Sgt. Jason McClintock, 707th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, prepares to blow up unexploded ordnance found in As Salaam, a suburb of Baghdad, on May 21. Joint EOD in Task Force Neighborhood policed up or blew in place approximately 25 122mm and 125mm tank rounds, an assortment of rocket-propelled grenades, and also numerous 23mm rounds. The 707th EOD (Army) and MU6 EOD (Navy) were part of many assets in Task Force Neighborhood. TFN is designed to clean up Iraq and help show the people of Iraq that the United States is here to help. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jeremiah Lancaster

[tomkow6]

GROAN!

[Kathy in Alaska]

CHILD'S PLAY — Petty Officer 2nd Class Bruce Schmiderer, a U.S. Navy Seabee attached to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 15 helps to build a playground at a school in Al Hillah, Iraq, May 23. NMCB-15 is forward deployed to Iraq in Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and is involved in many humanitarian assistance building projects that are aimed at improving the lives of Iraqi citizens. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Arlo K. Abrahamson

TASK FORCE NEIGHBORHOOD — Soldiers talk with translators and civilian group leaders to get the number of workers needed to help clean up the Baghdad suburb of As Salaam May 21. Task Force Neighborhood is designed to clean up Iraq and help show the people of Iraq that the United States is here to help. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jeremiah Lancaster

[Kathy in Alaska]

As much as I don't do small, enclosed places, I'm thinkin' I might be able to do an open cockpit bi-plane. What a fun looking eating establishment. Lots of wall-reading to do.

YIKES! 106 F!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

.....and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror. There are teachers, and then there are educators.

Nothing more need be said. Excellent, SH. Off to email.

[Kathy in Alaska]

IRAQI RICHES — An estimated $200 million in gold bars is secured in a vault. The gold, discovered in Iraq, was escorted under tight security by the 119th Military Police Company to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, on May 24. The gold was transported to Kuwait for safekeeping in eight boxes by three flatbed tractor-trailer trucks. It will be used to help rebuild Iraq. The 119th is from Providence, Rhode Island. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jeremiah Lancaster

AMMUNITION LOADING — Waiting his turn in a 6K diesel forklift, Navy Airman Shawn C. Davidson, an aviation ordnanceman from Longview, Texas, transports 20mm ammunition on board USS Theodore Roosevelt, May 22. Theodore Roosevelt is one of the many warships in the Mediterranean Sea's area of responsibility supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Journalist Alan J. Baribeau

[Kathy in Alaska]

Redhead, we've missed you.

[Radix]

 

A polar bear investigates the top of the nuclear attack submarine Connecticut during a Navy ice exercise near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on April 27.

 

 

 

 

 

Marine Cpl. Joey Navarro hugs his son, Andrew, as his daughter, Amanda, greets him as he arrives home from Iraq to Willow Grove Naval Air Station, Pa., on Monday.

 

 

 

 

Army Spc. Jason Sperry mans a checkpoint in Baghdad, Iraq, on Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

 

Army Bradley Fighting Vehicles patrol in the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, on Tuesday, hours after firefight left two U.S. soldiers and two unidentified attackers dead and nine other American troops injured.

 

 

 

 

Lt. Cmdr. Max Shuman of Virginia Beach, Va., hugs his wife Kendall as he is welcomed home at the Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Wednesday, May 28, 2003. Shuman is an F/A-18 fighter pilot from squadron VFA-106, off the nuclear powered aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt. His squadron is returning from duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

 

 

 

 

 

A U.S. soldier scans the area with binoculars from a tower at the Tuwaitha nuclear complex in the village of Mansia, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, May 27, 2003.

 

 

 

 

 

US military police distribute 9mm Beretta handguns to Iraqi policemen in Baghdad. The new Iraqi police force were also issued police uniforms, intended to distinguish them from their predecessors under Saddam Hussein

[Kathy in Alaska]

NORTHERN ARABIAN GULF, May 5 -- The flight mechanic of a U.S. Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter keeps a sharp eye out as the helicopter operates over coastal Iraq. The helicopter, operating from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell, performed a wide variety of missions throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom, including search and rescue, logistics operations, escort, and surveillance. USCG photo by PA1 John Gaffney

I know it's the Hamilton. I can't find the Boutwell. LOL!

[Kathy in Alaska]

".....if I had known you were a police officer too, we could have avoided all this hassle."

Another groaner. Off to the email.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Submitted by: 1st Marine Division
Story Identification Number: 200352772056
Story by Lance Cpl. Brent Walker

7th MARINE REGIMENT, Iraq (May 12, 2003) -- On what they described as the worst day of the war, two Navy corpsmen took a pause from the death and destruction around them to save a new life.

The corpsmen, HN Jahmar Baybayan, 21, of Phoenix, Ariz., and HM3 Michael C. Herrington, 23, of George West, Texas, saved an unconscious Iraqi infant from overheating as their unit, C Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, stormed into Baghdad April 10.

On that day, the corpsmen treated some 200 patients over a 12-hour period, all in the same two-block radius of downtown Baghdad.

"That was by far the worst day of the war," Herrington said. "We saw more casualties that day than during this whole time combined."

"It was just terrible," said Baybayan. "We gave first aid to a lot of people. Ten or 12 hours, non-stop. Most of them were gunshot wounds, and many were kids under 12."

Herrington said corpsmen put out the same effort for American and Iraqi casualties, military or civilian. A patient is a patient, and when there are hundreds of patients corpsmen don't stop until the work is done.

"You don't think about it when it's happening. You just work," Herrington said. "Afterwards you start thinking about it. It hits you. I just treated a 5-year-old with a gunshot wound to the neck."

"All we could do for a lot of the people was give them first aid and have someone take them to the nearest hospital," Herrington said. He added that none of the casualties they treated that day were American.

In the midst of the carnage, one of Charlie Co.'s squad leaders told Baybayan about an unconscious infant in a nearby car.

"We got the call and went to the car the windows were rolled up and the baby was inside, bundled in layers of blankets," Baybayan said. "No wonder it was overheating."

The corpsmen checked for vital signs and proceeded to try and lower the baby's body temperature.

"The first thing we did was to check and see of the baby would wake up," Baybayan said. "It wouldn't. Next we checked breathing and circulation."

"The baby wasn't breathing, but it had a pulse," Herrington said. "We loosened the clothing. It was very hot. We poured a canteen of water on the baby and soaked a gauze field dressing to cool its forehead."

As Herrington worked to cool the baby's body temperature, Baybayan worked to revive the infant.

"I started by pinching its fingers and toes and rubbing its feet, which stimulates circulation," Baybayan said. "Pretty soon, the baby started crying. Once we were sure it was okay, an Iraqi doctor volunteered to take it to a hospital."

Few Marines or Sailors have the opportunity or ability to save a life in the middle of so much death, but Baybayan and Herrington don't see themselves as heroes.

"As far as helping people, that's our job," Baybayan said. "I don't feel like a hero. We did what we trained to do. We just wish we could have done more for the rest of them."

[firewalk]

Just bumping by to say hello (-:

[Kathy in Alaska]

How ya been, BIS? Weather treating you well?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Two helicopters take off simultaneously in central Iraq April 5 after unloading wounded Marines and enemy prisoners of war to Bravo Surgical Company for life saving treatment. Photo by: Cpl. Jeremy M. Vought

Two exhausted CH-46 pilots tell a Marine corporal with Bravo Surgical Company that there are two casualties on board the helicopter April 5 as he relays the message to the rest of the Stock, Stabilization, and Triage sailors in central Iraq. The SST is basically a tent emergency room in the field where sailors provide all the life saving steps needed to stabilize patients for surgery. Photo by: Cpl. Jeremy M. Vought

Bravo Company Tent Hospital Turns to Modern-day M-A-S-H

Submitted by: 1st Force Service Support Group
Story Identification Number: 20035278486
Story by Cpl. Jeremy M. Vought

CAMP COYOTE, Kuwait(May 27, 2003) -- "Incoming helo, patient inbound" echoes through the small tent city of Bravo Surgical Company, Health Services Battalion, 1st Force Service Support Group in central Iraq. Just then the pulsing blades of an Army Black Hawk helicopter kick up sand and dust as the "medivac" lands.

As Marines and sailors run to the helicopter to retrieve the casualties the "Devil Docs" of Bravo put on their war faces..."It's time to save some lives."

During Vietnam, Marines were transported and treated rapidly after an injury due to the small and compact battlefield.

In comparison because of swift desert battle during Operation Iraqi Freedom the battlefield spanned to roughly the size of California. This time, instead of devising a faster way to transport injured back to the rear for care, Navy medical service providers have become more mobile themselves.

To support a fast moving battlefield Bravo Surgical Company is able to break down and set up their mobile field hospital in less than a day.

Once set up in Logistical Support Area Anderson the casualties came streaming in - sometimes one at a time, sometimes-in mass casualty drops.

For four days during the climax of the war over 122 injured Marines, sailors, enemy prisoners of war and civilians were rushed into the Shock, Stabilization, and Triage unit in need of life-saving care.

"That's more than one patient an hour; nonstop," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Sonya M. Hamrick, pharmacy technician.

The SST turns away no one and treats not by order of friend or foe but of "medical necessity" says Cmdr. Robert P. Hinks, officer in charge of Forward Resesitative Surgical System Team 2.

"We provide all the life sustaining needs for patients - basically an Emergency Room in the field," Hamrick said.

Once patients are sustained, they are transported to one of the three operating rooms for surgery. Upon completion of surgery the patient is moved to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit where they are closely monitored while in the post surgery phase.

After the patient is listed in stable condition, the patient is taken to the ward where he will stay for less than 48 hours before being medically evacuated to either a Kuwaiti Hospital, a U.S. Army hospital in German or the USS Comfort which was located in the Arabian Gulf.

Because of Bravo Company's devotion to duty and respect for human life, sleep was secondary in their eyes.

"I get by on drinking a lot of coffee and drive," says Lt. Thomas A. Olson, physician's assistant. "You learn that there are certain situations that you can't worry about sleep. You must focus and get the job done first. I'm glad we have the chance to do this job."

When it came to operating on enemy prisoner of wars and Marines there was a common ground in the doctor's eyes - they're all humans.

"They're all human beings who have souls," said Hamrick, 33. "They all have pain. They all bleed the same, so we must save them all," said the Hiseville, Ky. native.

"If you don't do that you're playing God," said Navy Lt Kevin R. Poole, a Bravo Company physician's assistant from South Field, Mich.

Unfortunately during Operation Iraqi Freedom many brave men and women gave the ultimate sacrifice - life. During that time numerous Marines came to Bravo Company dead on arrival and Navy Lt. Laura J. Bender, 2nd Medical Battalion chaplain, read them their last rites.

"When I see them I think about their mothers, girlfriends and the things they never got to do in their life," Bender expressed. "They are brave in my eyes and heroes."

"These doctors have put everything aside and are focusing on saving lives," she said.

To the "Devil Docs" of Bravo Surgical Company the rewards never stop coming.

"It's really rewarding to see the Marines faces and hear them say 'doc, I'm going home.' I feel like I'm a Marines hero on a day's basis," Hamrick said.

An injured Marine Hamrick worked on said she was his "lifelong buddy."

"You're my doc," he said to Hamrick. "It's the greatest feeling in the world," she said. "It makes it worth being out here."

Courage as Hamrick says "is the ability to overcome fear and complete the mission."

"Whenever I feel I can't go on I think of that and suck up some courage," she said.

The "Devil Docs" performance during Operation Iraqi Freedom was both revolutionary in the deployment and operation and can be deemed a success by the Marines and sailors who are returning home safe to their families.

[firewalk]

I'm good Kathy (actually had sunshine briefly this afternoon) been raining forever it seems...

Hope your weather's been better...