August 19th, 2011

I cannot believe its been almost a month and I didnt write anything in my blog. All these days I could have written down pages of drama which went on during my stay here at FOB Pasab. Yes, I am counting my days now until I head back to KAF. I feel that I have done enough and its time to go home now. Also, when one sees that people are getting aggitated on smallest matters which involves food, its time to go.

I totally forgot to mention one of the most amazing facts of Kandahar, Afghanistan and that is the night scene. Besides the firing of big guns and feeling its thumping right in the heart, there is no need of light after midnight. I had noticed every night there is no clouds and full moon/half moon will emit enough light to see every stone on the ground. It is so beautiful and romantic. I have never seen anything like that in my entire life where almost 3 months had passed and I havent seen clouds/sand storms or any other climatic changes. The bad thing is even if I want to be without uniform, I cannot pull it off because somebody will see me. 

My patient load is decreasing day by day because of Ramadan. All the devotees are fasting or suppose to be fasting. I have seen some fakers but some do it religiously. The policies were changed by the command in order to respect the faith of the host country natives. As mentioned earlier the thumping of the big guns and loud roars of hellicoptors are still keeping me up every night. I wonder if I am going to have any sleeping problems when I get home to my family. 

Before I felt the need to exaust me and see every individual who might need my help. But for some reason due to the response of some of the jealous folks in my unit, I have decided to slow down a little. Afterall, people who take it easy or exaust themselves gets same kind of respect/honor right before they go home. But that doesnt mean I stopped caring, I just dont feel the need to drag me to exaustion no more.  

It is an interesting feeling when one knows that the time to go home is coming real close. This is when I feel that no matter what happens it would be horrible if I die while doing my mission. But then again life/death is in the hands of AkalPurakh. I hope I get to see my beautiful wife and enjoy her calm and soothing company.

July 31st

Some of the Sikhs think I am crazy when I say we got a lot to do. I can freaking proove it......wink

1. When a Private from Afghan Army thought I was a Talib.....lol

2. When a civilian from US working in a remote area called me Talib

Its very interesting dealing with  different kinds of people. My personal mission was to work myself off until I get exausted. I guess I am getting there but still got a lot of time left in my deployment. There are folks who are very thankful for what I do to help and there are those who after recieving their successful treatment still have the courage to question my existence in the Army. Its hurtful, but I believe in what goes around comes around and on top of that I have earned my share of selfless service.

It feels nice to accumulate selfless service points, I feel that God is watching over me just because I am being nice. I had the pleasure to visit another FOB(Houzi-m-Dad) for a mission. Its interesting to see how smaller the FOB's get people generally gets nicer or atleast mind their own business. What strikes me the most and I believe I have mentioned this in my previous blogs.  If people/soldiers have hard time dealing with my existence in the Army then how is their behavior towards the locals of Afghanistan. Afterall, our mission is to win the hearts and minds of people. But in the end I do realize that we are in the middle of a war.

At Houzi-m-dad, I was told to go check in for a sleeping tent. The civilian (American) lady who was suppose to help me called me a Talib and after I said excuse me, she had the audacity to repeat. I tried to contol myself and was very successful and asked her name with furious bottle necked eyes and went straight back to the Aid station and yelled at the poor seargent for not doing his job. There is usually an email sent out to places I visit which tells about my visit and my appearance being a Sikh. Anyhow, I worked from 5pm till midnight that day and it was one of my most exausting days here in afghanistan.

The month of Ramazan, the holy month for muslims is approaching and insurgents are suppose to go back to their families for a fulfulling, holy time with their families. Its interesting how people who like to kill innocent kids and women also end up going back to their families to rest and pray and relax. I wonder what Allah has lined up for them for all the innocent people they killed.

I have almost 2.5 months left until I get back home to my family. I can truly say it out loud that I have worked my behind off in Afghanistan and served my people as well as their people same.

July 14th- blog after almost a month

I am sure some of the reader of my blog must be waiting to hear new things. A lot happened since the last time I wrote in this blog. I manage to treat hundreds of soldiers (American as well as Afghans). I saw things I have never seen before and also enjoyed the hospitality of some Afghans living in the same FOB as myself.

About 2 weeks ago, I travelled to a FOB which very much looked like a COP about 40 minutes from my FOB. Initially, it was kind of nerve recking because getting outside the wire can mean anything. Being part of the medical staff here at my FOB, I believe I have seen a decent amount of trauma coming through and most of it deals with the war. I would consider the experience priceless because all the dentists who deployed with me are not going to get the same experience. My journey started early in the morning where myself and my assistant had to attend the convoy briefing. I got to meet the gentlemen who were running the convoy and the convoy commander knew I was a Sikh. He seemed excited to talk to me because he read about my existence in Army times, apparently thats a big deal in the Army community.

His welcoming nature was very pleasant and we all sat in a big hall and the convoy commander and NCO discussed the potential threats and dangers and few convoy manuvers. About a few hours after the brief everyone was assigned a vehicle and we all got to out assigned seats. Everyone was laughing and talking about our everydays business until the convoy hit the road and we were out of the wire. Everyone locked our magazines in our weapon and for some reason everything seemed caffinated and we were wide awake. Afghanistan is a poverty stuck country and the mud houses, literally the mud houses seemed like the houses we see during Christmas times which are made to reproduce biblical times. The terrain in Afghanistan is interesting, some areas are green and some are dusty. Whats cool about the houses is people actually got creative and started designed their mud houses with fancy doors, windows and from far they look very impressive and clean.

On our way to our destination we had to take a detour because the insurgents blew up a good chunk of the highway with improvised explosive device a few days ago. On our way the local kids were waving at us and there were orchards of pomegranate in the backyard which looked delicious. Unfortunately, there was no way we could get to those orchards. After passing a few villages we got to our destination. My unit made me a "Doc in a Box", connex which was utilized to take care of our soldiers and others. I met a whole bunch of our soldiers living in that facility which was kind of run down and remote but it still had showers. The food was horrible but you learn to appreciate it when you see everyone cherishing it. I stayed there for 2 nights and my command called me back to our facility because the line of patients was getting longer than usual.

It is humbling to see our soldiers work day and night when they are deployed. Some are staying within the FOBs but still working their tails off building and fixing stuff. Contrary to that Afghans are been here for years and years and they still were living in Mud houses and had handpumps for water.

June 15th,2011

I had to share today's experience with the readers of my blog. At the end of my busy day I was called in the trauma center for Role 2 facility. I was told the patient who was brought in was a 12 year old who had a motorcycle accident. He was definately in pain and could'nt speak because apparently he fell on his chin. Kid was pushed from a role 1 facility to role 2 facility in a vehicle. Apparently the doctor/PA who evaluated him did a bad job and considered him non-emergent. While examining him I found 2 fractures one on the symphysis and other on the angle of the mandible.

Everyone in the trauma room was surprised why was this kid sent to us, a role 2 facility instead of sending him to a role 3 hospital with an OR attached. I immediately went to my office and grabbed a syringe and 2 carpules of marcaine and locally anesthesized the patient at the site of the fracture.

Apparently, I pissed a lot of people off because I called in MEDAVAC (a hellicopter) to take this kid to a role 3 facility. Some people thought this was not emergent. I stuck to my guns and because of this gesture the kid will recieve good treatment and heal well. All together, I had a good day because my decision will better the life of this kid for future.

June 14th, 2011

Life is pleasant here, its a small FOB and there is not much going on. However, thats not true in the medical and dental world. We have a lot going on and I stay busy seeing the US and ANA soldiers. The Afghans have no concept of oral hygiene and they premake their mind befor ethey come to my chair. they want to get their teeth fixed even when they have very little or no tooth structure remaining. I look at it and have no words what to tell them. Hence they frustrate me to my bones. I am the officer in charge of this clinic at FOB Pasab. I am trying to make the clinic up to date by putting cabinets and organizing stuff around.

Everyone complimented that I have managed to change the look of the clinic. I ordered a television and DVD player from walmart so we can play and watch movies while working on the patients. People generally leave me alone and I get busy in treating patients all day long.

A few days ago the highlight of the day was the vetenarians caught a BOB CAT in a cage. It was a vicious looking bugger and kept on banging his head with the cage so it can escape. A few of our guys put the cat in the MRAP and took it out of the FOB and dropped it off. The vetenarian told me there are jackels, wolves and other wild animals running around the FOB at night. It was painful to hear that we live in the midst of these wild animals. They I imagined myself in the laterines and getting attaked by one of these vicious looking creatures.

One of the other observations for me was the caliber of our enlisted soldiers. I kind of compared this generation with my generation. I consider them as video game playing and very lazy. They have no fear until they hear stuff from the commander or the NCO's. The morale changes if the commander and NCO's are doing their jobs and everyone is all squared away.

I have spent 15 days here in this FOB and I have 74 more days to go back to KAF.

Cont 13: Transition to a new FOB

I know everyone who is reading my blog is up for another good read.

Yes, a lot happened since the last blog thats why there is a bit lag in it. I moved from being a Fobbit to a smaller Forward operating base close to Kandahar. There is a war going on in this region, soldiers living within a 30 mile radius are living in a combat zone. I get to see them when they have Dental issues. Its interesting to see how infantry live when they come to a combat zone. Over all soldiers are very nicely behaved and know of my existence. When in a gaggle they whisper and wonder who I am and why I look the way I dress.

Highlight of my first day at Pasab, I got to see General Petraeus where a lot of 10th Mountain soldiers gathered in a formation and he gave out awards. It was an interesting gathering and we stood in formation for atleat 40minutes in a 102degrees temperature. Yes, I saw him looking at me using his peripheral vision.

I am the OIC of the clinic(Afghanistan Dental Clinic) and Yes super busy. I extract a lot of teeth and at a point where I almost feel a little bad about extracting teeth. The ANA soldiers are my patients and I am picking up on Pastu and Dhari. The oral hygine is horrible with ANA soldiers and they have no clue about keeping up with the oral hygiene. They come and say meshah, which means pull it. It seems like taking teeth out on Afghan soldiers is very easy, probably the lack of essential minerals in their diet. Hence the short stature and skinny built.

I was told by the 1SG to be careful at night where a lot of these soldiers drive under the influence of drugs. The terrain here is still sandy with hills all around this place. The hills have no green in them, they look like man made. There are hot showers and they are communal and they are at a walkable distance.

Part of my assignment is travel from FOB to FOB and treat our soldiers in a Dental Van. I will be accompanied by infantry and we will travel on road. My first CLP(Convoy) was from KAF to Pasab and it was a little nerve wrecking and my eyes were on the road 24/7. It is the pits on the roads, the locals on motorcycles/cycles/cars. I was put in a big truck called Hemmat, it was loaded with supplies. While talking to the brave driver from NY, he mentioned that his hearing is bad in the left ear. I asked him what happened and he looked at me and said sir nothing crazy but "we get hit by IED's often". For a second it made me numb and then I felt fearless for the rest of the trip.

My coworkers are stationed here for a year in support of our soldiers from all over the southern region. I salute them for their work they do in providing the care the soldiers deserve. 

Cont 12

May 21st, 2011:
I had to share my few hours of interaction with the locals at the "Chor" Bazaar, I call it. Some of the items were legitimate but a lot of them were fake. Like the 10 dollars I spent on a watch which was pretty much giving away my hard earned money. Oh well, I learnt to suck it up. I bought whole bunch of gifts for my family, especially for my wife.

It was super easy for me to communicate with these people because they all spoke urdu. Some pretended they didn't speak it but as soon as I mentioned my interest in their product it clearly jumped out of his skin.

What I learnt from one of the very young vendors (Daulat Khan) was that these people start lining up by the gate of KAF around 3AM and wait until given permission to come in and set up their products for sale. I saw boys from very young ages of 4 and 7 years old, some of the little ones were awfully cute.  It made me want to talk to these kids and ask them "do you go to school", The answer was, " Yes Sir, we study in a school at Kandahar". It made me wonder if these school were Madrasas or a proper school which offers education in a few different subjects. There were no females with these vendors, all men.

It makes the bargaining a little hard when one sees poverty stuck people asking for money. For some reason the whole "Bad Talibans" goes down the drain. It is for sure this kind of poverty which pushes these people to accept the money Talibans have to offer to them to blow themselves up or shoot a rocket at an American Base.  I saw many Americans and NATO soldiers buying a lot of things from these vendors and they interacted with afghans in a very respectable manner.

One more interaction with a kid who wanted me to buy one of his hand made bracelets. He asked me in Urdu,"Are you from India", I said yes and no. He clearly got the idea and replied back, it must be nice in United States. I didn't say anything and he asked me another question,"What are you doing in Afghanistan", he asked me that question in a tone that, America is such a nice country and why was I in Afghanistan. I replied, "to serve the humanity". I felt good about that answer and paid the kid a dollar for his hand made bracelet.