\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So how are you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d asked the email.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Haven’t heard from you in a while.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
It’s one of the inevitably simple things that takes you by surprise, much like a grenade.\u00c2\u00a0 Very simple.\u00c2\u00a0 Heat applied to combustible material .\u00c2\u00a0 Too easy.\u00c2\u00a0 But the ramifications of pulling the pin, well, that’s not so simple.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is the obligatory reflex answer of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not bad\u00e2\u20ac\u009d snapped off without thinking.\u00c2\u00a0 And that is true, but it doesn’t give and specificity.\u00c2\u00a0 Some detail is probably wanted by the questioner.\u00c2\u00a0 A noncommittal answer is only going to invite follow-up questions, more probing this time, possibly with the accusation of being sheltered and withdrawn.<\/p>\n
I fished out a cigarette and lit up.\u00c2\u00a0 The cuffs on my uniform were still rolled up to hide the blood stains on the cuff.\u00c2\u00a0 This morning, it had been a fresh clean uniform, hopefully the last for a while until I got the dirty ones to the laundry, then to be packed up until we move out of this base.\u00c2\u00a0 The stains had seeped through though and could be seen faintly still.\u00c2\u00a0 I looked down.\u00c2\u00a0 On my thighs there was blood, someone else’s, mixed with dirt and salt and still damp with sweat.<\/p>\n
A reply of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I’m dehydrated and covered with someone else’s blood\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is also a true statement.\u00c2\u00a0 For me, for most of us that don’t hang out in the air conditioning sipping fruit smoothies, this is no big deal, a simple recitation of observations.\u00c2\u00a0 But to transmit this to the outside world would be a bad idea since there is a lack of knowledge and context of these things.\u00c2\u00a0 This is simply real life, as real as it gets, life in the Third World away from the shopping malls and suburbia.\u00c2\u00a0 Most people cannot, or just do not, want to handle that.\u00c2\u00a0 Putting them on full-on blast with an answer is just not an option.<\/p>\n
Screw this, I thought.\u00c2\u00a0 I had jumped on the Internet quickly to check my email one last time before cutting the connection and pulling out all the wires so that I could clear housing.\u00c2\u00a0 I have to clean up and get done.\u00c2\u00a0 Waffling over an email from left field was going to hold me up and waste time.<\/p>\n
*click*<\/p>\n
It’s the stream of a motion blur that swirls around til you drown…<\/em><\/p>\n This morning has been easy enough.\u00c2\u00a0 Pat down people, search them, banter in a mix of Arabic and English with the regulars.\u00c2\u00a0 Then the normal slack period and slow trickle until lunchtime.\u00c2\u00a0 Patrols come in, patrols go out.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n There was some scheduled maintenance for the afternoon.\u00c2\u00a0 Those due an afternoon off, like myself, were going to stick around to service trucks, generators, and other equipment i preparation for the new unit taking over.\u00c2\u00a0 No problem, we bang it out, and we go home.<\/p>\n I walked into the Command Post and dropped my ruck and armor.\u00c2\u00a0 The struggling air conditioner was a welcome relief from the 120 degree humidity outside.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So what do we have going on?\u00c2\u00a0 What do we have to do?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I asked the NCO In Charge.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, you’re going to work with Sergeant Robert until he’s done with you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, we have what?\u00c2\u00a0 Generators, trucks, forklift, the C-Vehicle.\u00c2\u00a0 Anything else?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, wait until after lunch, then we’ll see what Robert has.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n I don’t wait until after lunch.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not hungry.\u00c2\u00a0 I am tired and would like to go.\u00c2\u00a0 Now. Waiting around for specific details was crap.\u00c2\u00a0 Give me a task and an end state and turn me loose.\u00c2\u00a0 Damn it.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cee Pee, this is Checkpoint Alpha.\u00c2\u00a0 We have a pickup coming down the lane with lights flashing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the radio crackled.\u00c2\u00a0 What the hell?\u00c2\u00a0 I just came from that checkpoint.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s going on?<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Turn the camera on it and let’s see what what we got,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d someone said.\u00c2\u00a0 We were all glued to the screen.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cee Pee, this is Alpha.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re coming kinda slow, this might be some bleeders.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n The radio operator called down to Alpha. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alpha, Cee Pee, can you see what’s in the bed of the truck?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Negative.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Roger.\u00c2\u00a0 Checkpoint Delta, this is Cee Pee.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you see into the bed of this truck coming down the lane?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cee Pee, this is Delta.\u00c2\u00a0 It looks like there might be some people in the back, but I can’t really make them out from this distance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n The pickup was clearly in the lane on the screen now, the cab blocking a clean view of the bed, only some heads poking up and frantically bobbing.\u00c2\u00a0 The front passenger door opened and a policeman jumped out.\u00c2\u00a0 From the neighboring fields, a few people stared running in towards the truck.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, we got bodies. Get that camera off the truck.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t want Base Command to see this shit,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said the NCO In Charge.<\/p>\n Doc Luscious sprinted for the door from his position of radio operator and I was behind him by half a step.\u00c2\u00a0 The armor was thrown back on in one fluid move. Doc scooped up his aid bag without breaking stride and bolted for the ambulance outside.\u00c2\u00a0 I was hot on his heels with Cool Breeze piling out the Command Post donning his armor behind me.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Doc heaved his aid bag on the hood of the ambulance and started the engine.\u00c2\u00a0 I scrambled into the passenger side and jumped in the middle.\u00c2\u00a0 Cool Breeze, about twice my size hopped in the passenger seat.<\/p>\n Doc stomped on the gas and we flew down the lane in a cloud of dust.\u00c2\u00a0 Loose rocks from the gravel bed pinged on the floor of the ambulance as Doc steered around the Jersey Barriers along the lane.\u00c2\u00a0 I started pulling out blue Nitrile gloves, pairing them off, passing some to Cool Breeze, one for me, putting a spare in my cargo pocket just in case.\u00c2\u00a0 I held a pair for Doc for when we stopped.\u00c2\u00a0 The stones crunched under the tires and the floor continued to pop from the ones being kicked up.<\/p>\n Brush away all the memories. Keep the cries curbside…<\/em><\/p>\n In my room, I was cleaning up to clear out of housing.\u00c2\u00a0 My bags were stacked on my bed, a mop and\u00c2\u00a0 broom in the corner.\u00c2\u00a0 I had taken off my uniform top, my tee-shirt still being soaked from the day’s heat.\u00c2\u00a0 In front of the air conditioner were two bottles of water that I had taken in from outside and added some mix into for electrolytes and flavor.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n I went outside to the pallet of water that was in the next housing pod.\u00c2\u00a0 Our First Sergeant could not be bothered with dropping off a pallet of water in our housing area.\u00c2\u00a0 He instead left it at the TOC, preferring that we walk the kilometer or so for water.\u00c2\u00a0 The reason was that if he got some for our housing area, other units would come by and swipe it.\u00c2\u00a0 Thus, he would be supplying everyone with water.\u00c2\u00a0 But, in reality, we were the only ones without water, so we did all the swiping.\u00c2\u00a0 And besides, what is so bad about providing other soldiers with water?<\/p>\n Halfway across the parking lot to my destination, I pulled out my lighter.\u00c2\u00a0 On my hands was a clump of red stuff, thick and granulated.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, shit.\u00c2\u00a0 Did I forget to clean up?\u00c2\u00a0 Miss something?\u00c2\u00a0 I had worn gloves, right?\u00c2\u00a0 Where the hell did this come from?<\/p>\n It took me a second to figure it out, but it came from the powder mix I used for the water.\u00c2\u00a0 I had used a red powder, some kind of cherry or cranberry.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Maybe I should avoid using red mixes in the future.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t need this kind of confusion.<\/p>\n I’ll be ashing on the images that have all been caught inside…<\/em><\/p>\n We came up on Checkpoint Alpha and jumped out.\u00c2\u00a0 The inbound pickup was pulling in the gate and off to the side, out of the main lane, partway into the search lot.\u00c2\u00a0 In the bed was a mass of people, screaming, yelling, noise.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, this was going to be a doozy.\u00c2\u00a0 Four, maybe five.\u00c2\u00a0 Women in black abayas were wailing shrilly making a racket.\u00c2\u00a0 Men in bloody dishdashas, the man-dresses, were hollering and screaming.\u00c2\u00a0 Doc peeled off, threw open the ambulance doors, and ran up with a stretcher that he pulled out.\u00c2\u00a0 Other soldiers were coming up now, one with another stretcher.\u00c2\u00a0 He put it down on the ground buy the bed of the truck.\u00c2\u00a0 Doc tossed his down on the ground next to it.<\/p>\n Iraqi Policemen came out the front of the truck.\u00c2\u00a0 The men in the back started pulling their wounded down.\u00c2\u00a0 One was limp, manhandled down in a supine position. Another was holding his arm.\u00c2\u00a0 The rest seemed fine at first sight.<\/p>\n The one holding his arm was standing at the bed of the truck.\u00c2\u00a0 He was staring at his friend being carried by six or seven other people.\u00c2\u00a0 Sobs and wails from him cut the air.\u00c2\u00a0 I took him by the shoulders.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Habibi,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I told him.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lie down.\u00c2\u00a0 Lie down here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d pushing him towards the nearest stretcher.\u00c2\u00a0 His friends put the other body on it as I was cajoling him towards it.\u00c2\u00a0 Immediately, I put him on the other one, with a little more gusto this time.<\/p>\n He wouldn’t lie down, preferring to sit.\u00c2\u00a0 Doc was checking the other people, doing a quickie count of what the other injuries might be.\u00c2\u00a0 I looked at this guy in front of me.\u00c2\u00a0 He had a hole in the front of his forearm.\u00c2\u00a0 Blood was all over his shirt.\u00c2\u00a0 Tied above the hole was a shamagh, not quite tight enough to be a tourniquet.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Any other wounds?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I asked him.\u00c2\u00a0 He was awake and alert, staring at his friend on the next stretcher.\u00c2\u00a0 He wasn’t paying any attention to me.\u00c2\u00a0 His breathing was good, though, which is a good thing.\u00c2\u00a0 He could certainly make enough noise, so there was not likely any perforation of the lungs somewhere.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n I looked at his dishdasha.\u00c2\u00a0 Other than spattered blood, there were no holes.\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing was on his legs.\u00c2\u00a0 I turned over his arm with the tourniquet and he screamed in pain.\u00c2\u00a0 On the back of his wrist was a three inch gash, a chunk taken out clear down to the bone.\u00c2\u00a0 Ligaments were visible with bits of meat hanging out.\u00c2\u00a0 Blood oozed thick and tarry, a minimum of fluid plasma.\u00c2\u00a0 The blood was bright red, in clots, moving like honey, a byproduct of his chronic dehydration.<\/p>\n Running up his arm, there was another hole in his bicep on that arm.\u00c2\u00a0 Feeling and looking around on the backside, there was no exit wound.\u00c2\u00a0 Very little blood was coming from this wound.\u00c2\u00a0 Simple gunshot wound.<\/p>\n Glancing over at the other patient, I saw him unattended, lying on his back motionless, staring at the sky.\u00c2\u00a0 The one in front of me could wait.\u00c2\u00a0 He was going to last another five minutes.\u00c2\u00a0 The other one needed attention and needed it now.<\/p>\n I sprinted over to him and before I knelt down, I could see part of his brain was hanging out his left side.\u00c2\u00a0 He was completely unresponsive.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, brother, are you with me?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I asked in English.\u00c2\u00a0 No, he wasn’t.<\/p>\n There was another dark stain on his left chest where a bullet punched into his lung.\u00c2\u00a0 He was still breathing, but it was labored.\u00c2\u00a0 His emaciated frame showed his heartbeat, but it was slow and weak.\u00c2\u00a0 The pulse at his neck was hard to find.<\/p>\n A friend of the patient knelt down at his head and began sobbing.\u00c2\u00a0 He reached out to cradle the wounded man’s head, but I stopped him.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Back up!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I hollering in Arabic.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Back up now!\u00c2\u00a0 Go over there!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d pointing to a spot by the truck.\u00c2\u00a0 The Iraqi Police took up the call and produced batons.\u00c2\u00a0 They began yelling and herding the women and others with their waving sticks.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Doc!\u00c2\u00a0 This one has a head wound and sucking chest!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Doc came sprinting over with his aid bag.<\/p>\n Doc didn’t so much kneel as collapse on his knees next to the man.\u00c2\u00a0 He did a quick assessment too, looking over what he had.\u00c2\u00a0 I pointed out what I found: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Shot to left head, brain matter exposed, shot to left lung, shot to left upper arm, that’s all I got.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Another soldier crouched down too.\u00c2\u00a0 I looked back over at the first patient with the arm wounds who was struggling to sit up again.\u00c2\u00a0 Doc started pulling stuff out of his bag.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, Doc.\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t need me to assist, I’ma tend to that other one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Doc Luscious nodded.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n La-La was pulling up with the trauma bag.\u00c2\u00a0 I knelt back by the first man picking up his injured arm.\u00c2\u00a0 He screamed again, holding his wrist with his good hand. I looked at the tourniquet.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This has to come off,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I said, in English to the people around me.\u00c2\u00a0 Fumbling with knot, I could not get it undone right off.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Anyone got a knife?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Someone produced one from behind me.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a large flip open type that looked vicious and came open with a nasty snap.\u00c2\u00a0 One look at this and the man started clawing at the tourniquet, getting it off in a flash.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, that’s better.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I’m sorry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I told him in Arabic.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is going to hurt.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Rummaging through the trauma bag, I pulled out the Curlex gauze to sop up the blood and stop the bleeding.<\/p>\n Blood was flowing a little more freely now, but still thick and viscous.\u00c2\u00a0 One roll I jammed in the gash on his wrist to plug the hole while he screamed out again.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Quiet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I told him in Arabic.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tell the interpreter your name.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 One of our ‘terps, MacBeth, stood over us.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Get his info,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I told him.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n I rolled the man’s arm to the side to get a better angle at the wound.\u00c2\u00a0 La-La held up the arm as I unrolled the other roll of gauze around the arm to cover the wounds and hold everything together.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, I need an Ace Wrap,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I told La-La.<\/p>\n He rooted around the trauma bag some.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ain’t got none.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, need more gauze then.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I tied off the Curlex in a knot on the top of the wound to give a little more pressure.<\/p>\n La-La put another roll in front of me.\u00c2\u00a0 I tore it open and started wrapping his bicep.\u00c2\u00a0 He continued to scream out with every motion.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You’ll be fine,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I told him Arabic.<\/p>\n Once I was done wrapping his bicep, I looked over at the second one.\u00c2\u00a0 Doc and Cool Breeze were working feverishly.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nine Eleven is on the way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d someone called out.\u00c2\u00a0 I elevated the arm up loosely by the forearm to elevate the wound in the wrist.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153La-La, here.\u00c2\u00a0 Hold this up.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ma give Doc a hand with the other dude.\u00c2\u00a0 If it starts bleeding through the bandage, lemme know and we’ll do something else.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 La-La took hold of the arm and I took off to the other patient.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n This second one had a dressing on his chest with a valve where the sucking chest was.\u00c2\u00a0 Another dressing was on his side to stem the bleeding from another wound that I missed on his trunk.\u00c2\u00a0 There was blood all over his stomach, but it didn’t appear that he was too badly hurt there.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n He was rail thin, skeletal almost.\u00c2\u00a0 Bones and hips held up his skin.\u00c2\u00a0 His heartbeat, faint and erratic was clearly visible on his exposed chest now.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, I need you to gently lift his head,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Doc Luscious told us.\u00c2\u00a0 Cool Breeze cradled his head behind his ears.\u00c2\u00a0 I straddled him over his chest and held his head from the base of the skull, heels of my palms on the side of his head, my thumbs along his jaw line.<\/p>\n One eye was swollen nearly completely shut, the other stared blankly at me.\u00c2\u00a0 His jaw was slack, spittle pooling on one side slowly oozing out of his mouth.\u00c2\u00a0 His face was covered with a short stubble of a badly maintained close beard, teeth brown from lack of care.\u00c2\u00a0 The skin on his face was a leathery olive, years of hard work in the sun having taken its toll.\u00c2\u00a0 Rasping, he still fought for air, clumsily sucking it it, making noise occasionally with what was probably agonal breathing.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey buddy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I asked him in Arabic, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153you with me?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 He stared at me with his one unseeing eye.\u00c2\u00a0 There was still a glisten to it, the dark brown of the iris standing out, framing his pupil, normal in dilation, looking out ahead.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Whatever stimulus was coming from the light of this world, he was clearly only seeing the next.<\/p>\n Doc loosely wound the bandage around the man’s head, keeping only enough pressure to keep the padding on his brain tissue in place.\u00c2\u00a0 The man’s chest kept rising and falling.\u00c2\u00a0 His unseeing eye never blinking, holding steady my gaze, staring through me, beyond me.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Allah be with you,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I told him softly in Arabic.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n We set his head back down gently.\u00c2\u00a0 I looked back to the first patient as La-La called me.\u00c2\u00a0 The other patient’s wrist was visibly darkened as the tarry blood seeped through the dressing.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey Doc, if you don’t need me right now, I’m going back to that other dude.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Doc grunted an okay as he dug back in his aid bag.<\/p>\n Coming back to La-La, the bandage was soaked through on the wrist.\u00c2\u00a0 His blood might have the consistency of asphalt, but it was still not stopping.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, I need some more gauze.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Looking through the trauma bag still open on the ground, I didn’t see any.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit.\u00c2\u00a0 What the hell?<\/p>\n The other day we had used up a bunch on a group of four that had come in riddled with holes.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, the following day, we had another one.\u00c2\u00a0 Normally, we would restock the bag immediately.\u00c2\u00a0 But with the pending change of command for our replacements, the aid station was closed down and the stocks packed up in conex containers.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 We couldn’t get to them because they had been checked and sealed by customs already.\u00c2\u00a0 This was all done because we did not think that the incoming unit had attached medical staff.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, we were specifically told by the incoming unit that they would not have any medics, and would rely solely on 911 to support them.\u00c2\u00a0 We would find out shortly that they did have medics, and they wondered why we were not planning to just leave the medical stocks.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n I was going for a standard field dressing to put on top of everything, and thinking maybe a tourniquet, when Doc Luscious came up behind me with more Curlex.\u00c2\u00a0 He jammed a wad on top of the dark spot to the renewed howls from the injured man.\u00c2\u00a0 An Israeli field dressing was unraveled and wrapped around the wadding with the man writhing the whole time and making as much noise as possible.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This one has an exit wound?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yup, two shots to the left arm, wrist had exit wound, about three inch gash.\u00c2\u00a0 One wound to the bicep, no exit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I told Doc.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nothing else on him?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nope.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, let’s give something for the pain.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Doc whipped out an autoinjector of Morphine while holding the wadding f the pressure dressing.\u00c2\u00a0 Holding it out in front of him with his free hand, he pulled the cap off, then asked La-La to hit the purple colored end.\u00c2\u00a0 A needle popped out.\u00c2\u00a0 Doc sized up his target and jammed it in the man’s thigh.\u00c2\u00a0 Another scream came out of him.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hold this for a ten-count, La-La.\u00c2\u00a0 Then pull it out.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 La-La took it and counted to ten, then pulled it straight out.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, now bend the needle,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Doc told him, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and set it over here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 He put it down.<\/p>\n An ambulance pulled around the corner of the Hesco barrier from the main road.\u00c2\u00a0 Air Force medics jumped out.\u00c2\u00a0 Doc went over to meet them and give them the rundown.\u00c2\u00a0 They went to the brain injury patient and went to work on him.<\/p>\n Our arm patient was sitting back up again.\u00c2\u00a0 He was staring at the other man still gazing blankly at the sky.\u00c2\u00a0 Eyes glazing as the morphine was hitting him, he didn’t have the struggle left to call out his friend’s name.\u00c2\u00a0 Only some mumbling escaped.<\/p>\n But I couldn’t put it down.\u00c2\u00a0 No, I couldn’t put it down… <\/em><\/p>\n There were still streaks of dirt on the floor.\u00c2\u00a0 The water from the bottles was hot since it had been sitting outside all day.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, after two washings, the ingrained dirt and dust was still coming out of the floor.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter how much I cleaned, there was still dirt coming up.\u00c2\u00a0 This was a Sisyphean task.<\/p>\n One more pass with the hot water and floor cleaner this time.\u00c2\u00a0 Then that was it, no matter the result.<\/p>\n I took the bucket of water and tossed it out the door onto the sidewalk.\u00c2\u00a0 Water flowed off into the surrounding ground, leaving an alluvial wet spot of dirt that was rapidly evaporating off in the summer sun.<\/p>\n Let’s break the window panes and separate the walls from all the nails…<\/em><\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Shit, we’re losing him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 The Airman straddled the man and began pushing on his chest rhythmically doing compressions.\u00c2\u00a0 The chest of the man collapsed with each press down.\u00c2\u00a0 The other took out a respiration bag and began ventilating him.\u00c2\u00a0 My patient sobbed some more, no tears falling from the dehydration and fluid loss.<\/p>\n ‘Cause maybe if we’re loud, we’ll stay alive while everybody wants to join the fight…<\/em><\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I yelled outside.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Internet is going off.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I produced a knife and slashed into the wires coming from the ground outside my trailer.\u00c2\u00a0 The last few remaining lights on the switch flickered out.<\/p>\n Cut even if we barricade the door and seal it with the blood found on the floor…<\/em><\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153C’mon man, stay with me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 He continued to do compressions stopping every ten or so to check for a pulse.\u00c2\u00a0 One and two and three and …<\/p>\n We’re always going to cross the finish line…<\/em><\/p>\n The room was set up back in its orginal configuration.\u00c2\u00a0 I picked up my bags and took them outside to the five-ton truck that was going to carry us over to housing.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n While everybody wants to run and hide…<\/em><\/p>\n Satisfied with what they could get from him, they prepared to load him into the ambulance.\u00c2\u00a0 Adroitly, the medics moved to the corners of the stretcher and two others appeared to assist.\u00c2\u00a0 In one fluid motion, the stretcher was lifted and moved to the ambulance.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, buddy, you’re next,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I told my guy.\u00c2\u00a0 We lowered him down flat on the stretcher.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153La-La, still have that sharp?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I asked about the morphine needle.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Doc secured it already.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cool.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Two others came up to the stretcher and glanced quickly at our guy.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, lift on three. One, two, three, lift.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 And everyone pulled up to bring the stretcher smoothly up.\u00c2\u00a0 We went around to the back of the ambulance\u00c2\u00a0 His head was by me, so I had to turn around quick so that we could get him in head first.<\/p>\n We had to bring him to shoulder height to get him in.\u00c2\u00a0 Same drill.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ready?\u00c2\u00a0 One, two, three, lift.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 And he was up and in with no problem.<\/p>\n Doc came up with the paper that had the patient information.\u00c2\u00a0 While we were working, the interpreters had gotten names, ages, and information about the incident for us.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And this guy here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Doc said pointing to the arm injury patient, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153had 10 milligrams morphine.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, we got it from here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said the attendant on the back of the ambulance.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Are these your stretchers or ours?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They belong to us.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okay, we’ll do a one-for-one for now.\u00c2\u00a0 Later, we’ll come back and straighten it out.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No problem.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can you close the doors for me?\u00c2\u00a0 Thanks.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 And the ambulance took off.<\/p>\n But now it’s too late…<\/em><\/p>\n The housing representative came in and looked at the room.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I told her.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is a lovely studio that can fit two decorated in Early Modern Government.\u00c2\u00a0 It comes with plenty of room for a little kitchen area and a common space for entertaining.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n She smiled a little while she glanced around and then signed the release forms. I was done.<\/p>\n …<\/em><\/p>\n We picked up the garbage on the ground and kicked dirt on a couple of puddles of blood.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I pulled off the Nitrile gloves and threw them out.\u00c2\u00a0 Hmm, some blood on my cuffs.\u00c2\u00a0 Rolling up the cuffs of my sleeves, the problem was out of sight, so it was fixed for the time being.\u00c2\u00a0 I reached down to my ankle pocket on my pants and pulled out the bottle of hand sanitizer that I always kept on me.\u00c2\u00a0 Squirting some in my palm, I rubbed my hands together to make sure that I was reasonably clean in case something had punctured or rubbed against me, or something.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n In theory, I was supposed to burn these uniforms.\u00c2\u00a0 But this was one of my favorites, old, broken in, worn thin like pajamas.\u00c2\u00a0 There were burn marks on one of the legs, reminders of past times when I was careless with a cigarette in the gun truck rolling on patrols and convoys.\u00c2\u00a0 Like hell I would burn them.\u00c2\u00a0 I would, however, write up a memo stating that to cover myself and then take it to the laundry near the hospital that had a separate medical laundry just for this sort of thing.<\/p>\n We got back into the ambulance that we had driven down and rolled back up to the Command Post.\u00c2\u00a0 Doc Luscious was positively ecstatic, smiling widely as he dropped his gear back in next to the door where he kept it for easy access.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey can I bum a light?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 he asked me.<\/p>\n I gave him the lighter and we smoked together outside.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yeah!\u00c2\u00a0 I got to do some work today.\u00c2\u00a0 I got some action today.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You know, the other doc, what’s his name?\u00c2\u00a0 The one here yesterday.\u00c2\u00a0 Rogers?\u00c2\u00a0 He’s going to be pissed at you.\u00c2\u00a0 He came down here for a shift hoping to get some patient action going on, and all he got was one guy with the clap.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yeah, he’s going to be pissed when I tell him.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Doc took a drag.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The clap?\u00c2\u00a0 They came here for that?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, it was a urinary tract infection or something.\u00c2\u00a0 We wrote it up as the clap.\u00c2\u00a0 Doc was pissed.\u00c2\u00a0 He was counting on a bleeder when they called ahead about it.\u00c2\u00a0 Told us the guy was unconscious.\u00c2\u00a0 Turns out he’s on meds, didn’t drink water, surprise! what a shock!, and passed out in the heat.\u00c2\u00a0 So we called it the clap and sent him back.\u00c2\u00a0 I think Doc was ready to shoot him just to make it worth his while.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Doc Luscious smiled and took a drag on his cigarette.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yeah.\u00c2\u00a0 But I got some action today!\u00c2\u00a0 Heh.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n …<\/em><\/p>\n I climbed in the back of the truck.\u00c2\u00a0 My bags were in the corner, next to my armor and K-pot.\u00c2\u00a0 Rules were that when riding in the back of a truck, or in any tactical vehicle, I was supposed to put on my K-Pot.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead, I laid down flat, staring up at the sky.\u00c2\u00a0 I was now invisible to the outside world.\u00c2\u00a0 For all intents, I no longer existed on this plane.<\/p>\n The sky was a deep blue, fillling my view.\u00c2\u00a0 Some clouds were passing over.\u00c2\u00a0 The rumble of the truck’s deseil surrounded me as we took off.\u00c2\u00a0 Vibratations came up and wafed over my body.\u00c2\u00a0 It felt good.\u00c2\u00a0 Soothing.\u00c2\u00a0 Relaxing.\u00c2\u00a0 Like a massage.<\/p>\n Slowly, the truck rolled to our new desitinaton in transient housing.\u00c2\u00a0 Clouds spun lazily as we turned corners.\u00c2\u00a0 A MEDEVAC chopper came roaring over, passing on the edge of my sight.\u00c2\u00a0 I was still enveloped in blue sprinkled in white.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What turns we had made were beyond me, having lost all sense of direction long ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Soothing.\u00c2\u00a0 Relaxing.<\/p>\n I started to close my eyes and drift away.\u00c2\u00a0 We had come to our new home.<\/p>\n Lyrics: “Common Reactor” by Silversun Pickups. Copyright Silversun Pickups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So how are you?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d asked the email.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Haven’t heard from you in a while.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It’s one of the inevitably simple things that takes you by surprise, much like a grenade.\u00c2\u00a0 Very simple.\u00c2\u00a0 Heat applied to combustible material .\u00c2\u00a0 Too easy.\u00c2\u00a0 But the ramifications of pulling the pin, well, that’s not so simple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-and-babble-on"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitytestsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitytestsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitytestsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitytestsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitytestsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitytestsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitytestsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitytestsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitytestsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}