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.
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