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.