An Eager Attempt to Try Everything!

As most people may or may not know, I like to try out different things and take advantage of all that is made available. For instance, if I am put in business class, I am not going to pass up the opportunity for that free glass of wine. I think that if I have the chance to do something that I may not be able to normally do, it would be foolish to pass it up!


In this same vein, a couple of days ago I was forced by my coworkers (and supervisor) to go to the clinic. I have been having nausea every time I eat or drink anything, and they were getting quite concerned. I have also been very tired and sore as well. So, off to the CSH, (combat support hospital which we pronounce as cash) I went! I gave them my Letter of Authorization (LOA) so they would be able to treat me, but the receptionist sent me back to the back to have the person authorize me for treatment. The Specialist (E-3) behind the desk told me I was only authorized for life, limb, or eyes according to my LOA. This had been a problem before and a letter was sent to them to explain the circumstances. I mentioned this, but he said I had to wait for his NCO to arrive in about 2.5 hours!

I left. I went back to work very unhappy. I don't like doctors to begin with, and this was just the reason I needed to not go at all. Of course upon telling my supervisor, he found and printed the letter and told me to go back, so, sadly, return I did. I showed the letter to the Specialist and he paged his NCO. When the NCO finally arrived, he said that it was fine, so back to the receptionist I went, and I was able to start waiting for the next half hour or more to actually see the doctor.

When I was finally able to see the doctor, she asked questions, did a couple of exams, and then decided that she needed to draw blood. This was done, and I had to wait around waiting for results. She stated that as a result of the examination, she wanted a CT scan and an ultrasound, so I would have to go to a different hospital because they don't have those capabilities at this one. It was an interesting prospect, but not one I was really looking forward to. Still, she went off to make the arrangements.

While I was waiting for blood test results, they found an ultrasound machine and decided to try it out. As the three doctors fiddled with the machine to try to get it to work, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. They worked on the machine for 15 minutes before they were able to get it to work and attempt to perform the procedure. As they were in the midst of the procedure, they realized that they couldn't really see what they were looking for, so they decided to stop. They told me that they had arranged for me to go to the ER in Baghdad and that I was to get my stuff and come back ASAP. They would then call the medivac people to come.

I went back to my CHU (containerized housing unit), packed in 3 minutes, and returned to wait for the medical helicopter that was going to transport me to Baghdad. The chopper ride was interesting. The medic, wearing his helmet with the dark shield down to shade the sun, sat on the gurneys across from my seat, the only one in this part of the helo. He placed the blood pressure cuff over my arm and took vital signs during the whole flight. We had to land and change helicopters as part of this trip, so I was handed over to another medic.

The seats on this were a little different. This chopper was able to carry 4 people sitting, plus the medic (and of course the gunners on each side and the pilots. There was a flash outside the helicopter as we were flying, but as it only caused irradic flying for a few minutes, I figured it was better to forget about it.) Anyway, I finally made it to the ER where they did the CT scan, urinalysis, more blood tests, and an ultrasound. So many fun things including having to drink some concoction that numbed my insides and some type of lemony crystals that expand in your stomach and give you gas (this was to help in the CT scan). They also injected me with something that would make my veins light up so they could see them. This stuff caused me to become warm all over, almost to the point of being uncomfortable... it was really kind of cool!

Then came the arduous task of getting back to my current residence! I spent the night in temporary billeting in Tent City. My tent had about 30 or 40 cots set up, but fortunately most were empty. In the morning I checked out and went to the helo-terminal and registered for a flight. I had to go to a different base where I would have to register for another flight to my base. I did finally get out of there as well, but not until after 9pm..

This morning I didn't wake up until 11:11am! Even given that, I am still a little tired and VERY sore. Because I have no authorization for sick days, I will have to use vacation days for this, so I will probably have to give up my vacation. This isn't the worst thing in the world, but I am not really happy about it. This is all just part of the process of figuring out what is coming next for me.

The Dangers I Don't Face!

The days here have been pretty frustrating for the ELTs and the cadets alike. The constant changing of information with little to no explanation seems to get on people's nerves. The cadets were supposed to leave some time ago, but for various unknown reasons, they are still here, and we are still teaching them. We are now planning on giving them a test even though we really don't know if they are still going to be here that day or not (we are suspecting that they will be).

All of this uncertainty has made the cadets grumpy and whiny. They don't want to come to class, and when they do come, they don't want to work. This in turn causes the teachers to speak poorly about them. As these discussions happen, I can't help but wonder how much we don't know. I have heard it said that they "have no honor", "they are lazy," "they agreed to something so they need to do it", and even "if they don't come to class, they should be docked pay". I find myself wanting to agree. Then I stop, take a step back, and reassess the situation. I start doing what I seem to do best: asking questions!

The cadets have taken a job which puts their life at risk. I don't mean in the same way that one puts their life at risk by joining the military back home; that merely carries with it the risk of going to war (not a risk to be taken lightly for sure). When a person in Iraq affiliates themselves with the military, they become a target of their own people. Before the Iraqis leave the base, they must all be in civilian clothes, and they are not allowed to leave, for the most part, by land; they, like us, must fly back to bases close to home and take taxis and such from there.

As part of their uniform, they are required to wear a beret. This beret can leave a black line on their forehead. If they don't take care to clean this line before leaving, it could cost them their life. They also are a little skittish about getting their pictures taken as these could also fall into the wrong hands and possibly get them killed.

So, I have to ask myself, "are these cadets without honor? Are they scared, whiny little brats as some seem to claim?" When I think about all the dangers they face just by being there, the fact they don't get paid for the time they are supposed to be on break but are forced to continue with classes because the plane didn't come, the general respectful actions, I can't help but come to the conclusion that for whatever reason they have become cadets, they are behaving honorably and much better than most people I know would. I can't help but think they are being misjudged and that before we attach labels and judgements on people, we should attempt to put ourselves into their shoes and try to understand where they may be coming from.

Women's "Place"

I went to another seminar in the series on relationships, marriage, and parenting. This one was about making your marriage last a lifetime. The video that was shown gave a lot of good advice and made associations and used real examples that made it much more understandable and practical. The best part, however, was in the discussion.

One woman talked about when Adam and Eve were created, and how people often use this story to indicate that the woman is subservient to the man because it states that she is to be his helper. As it turns out, the Hebrew word means, basically, someone who helps in all things. She is to be a sounding board, a builder of character, someone to help when he is sick, and a nemesis (I really liked this last one). And, apparently, in Psalms this same word is used to refer to God as out helper! If we talk of God and of woman using the same word, this definitely did not have the connotation of subservience or of being unimportant or menial in nature!

Each day is bringing fresh, new ideas as well as just reopening old ones. I am learning a great deal here and hope that I can continue to do so until it is finally time for me to leave.

Tomorrow is a day off from work, but hopefully not from learning. There are many things happening here that I can feel but have no knowledge of. I did ask about it and learned that my feelings are right about this. Oh the inconvenience of being so affected by others feelings...empathy can be negative sometimes!

The Frustration Continues!

It seems that working in a location where much of what you do cannot be discussed makes it very difficult to keep a blog with very much consistency. Unfortunately, the lack of consistent frustration is not a problem here.  It seems the cadets don't want to always come to class, and the US military is concerned with this. Of course their interference is going to cause the Iraqis to become a little discontent, and the English teachers manage to bear the brunt of it all. I don't really mind for the most part, but it seems a little counter productive to me.
Of course I am out of here in about 5 weeks, so no matter what happens, I don't have to put up with it for very long.

After all of this, many new things are on the horizon. I am not sure what they will settle into, but it will prove to be a very busy next couple of years no matter what I end up doing. I hope I am able to manage it. I need to probably find some sort of job while I am at school, but I don't know what it could possibly be! Perhaps it is just out there waiting for me to take it.

I wish I could write more, but I am neither in the mood nor do I have a lot that I can say at the moment. I guess I will just have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens and what I can report then.