I Get to Leave the Base!

The surgeon, CDR Rachel Burke, asked if I would be willing to take a field trip with her.  Of course I said yes even before she said where because I wanted to see the city.  As a humanitarian gesture, the Swedish Army had raised money to donate to Peltier Hospital, which is the Djiboutian hospital.  Their surgeon had requested that the money be used for drugs and supplies that their poorest patients could not afford.  So since the Swedish Army Major had no medical knowledge, he asked Rachel to come along to help to buy the supplies.  And since she needed a buddy to go off base and I speak some French, she asked me to come along as well.

When we walked from the car to the pharmacy, we were surrounded by children who were saying "My sister, my sister, do you have any money?  Do you have any food?" It is definitely a third world country but oddly enough, there are some resort hotel areas with casinos which I hope to get to soon. 

Here is my first picture of the city

Here is the surgeon, Rachel, with the supplies that were bought

And, here is a not-so-good picture of the Swedish Major and in the back you can see a woman who was begging us for food for her baby.  The women do not like to have their picture taken from what I have been told.  She didn't hide her face but she did hide her baby.  Luckily, the Major had a bottled water to give her.

That weekend, the Major got to present the surgeon at Peltier hospital with the supplies.  Mission complete!

CLUville

So, the first thing on all of our minds was where will be living for the next six months?  Well on the base, most people live in Containerized Living Units (CLU's) which are basically shipping containers, or con-ex boxes.  Sometimes, the junior enlisted sailors have to start out in tents and the senior level officers live in what's called "the White House." For now, I share a CLU with Anna, the ER doc.  Our CLU is in CLUville which is about a fifteen minute walk from the EMF where I work.  We are in what is known as a "dry" CLU meaning that there is no indoor plumbing, so we walk about 50 feet to the bathroom and shower facilities.  Not so bad, except when you have to go in the middle of the night!!!

Here are some pictures of CLUville

Here is a close-up of my CLU

And, here is the inside

It basically consists of 2 twin size beds, 2 lockers per person, and a desk behind that wall with two chairs, which Anna and I use as a vanity.

Here's a close up of my rack

This is home for me for the next two weeks until Bryan, the other anesthesiologist leaves.  Then, I get his CLU which has its own bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower.  It also has a phone and is only about a five minute walk to the EMF.  I guess there are some perks to being the only airway specialist on base;-)

New Adventure

After a bus ride to Norfolk, we had 5 days before the flight to Djibouti.  So luckily, I got to see my husband and drive to Washington, DC where I got to see girlfriends from med school and was able to get my hair, eyebrows, and nails done.  Woo-hoo!  After that, we got ready for the flight that would begin Tuesday night and end on Thursday morning.

Here's a pic of me as we were boarding

So, first stop was Rota, Spain

Next stop, Sigonella, Italy

I had to get a picture of real Italian pizza in Italy.  Funny part was that it was sold at the coffee shop!

In Bahrain, almost there

Then at around 6am (local time), we finally made it to Djibouti.

Final Days of Training

Well, the whole three weeks was in preparation for our "Superbowl," our convoy exercise.  Each platoon had a convoy of about six or seven humvees with a mission to accomplish.  Along the way, however, we had to avoid IED's and shoot insurgents.  On the first mission, I was a scout so I just was ready to open or return fire when we exited our vehicles.  On the second mission, I was the driver.  But when our gunner was killed, I also became the truck commander who radioed in when we cleared our checkpoints and kept communication for our vehicle.  It was pretty cool driving a hummer with one hand and holding a radio with the other hand.  But unlike most other platoons, we successfully completed both our missions!!

Saying goodbye is never easy, even when you've only known people for about three weeks.  But like they say, it's a small Navy and I'm sure I will see them again-- hopefully not in medical though.

Here's a picture of the female barracks as we were packing up



Here's a pic of the first group to leave

Here's a pic of my two favorite IT2's.  They bunked right next to me and kept me laughing constantly.

Here's me with LCDR Anna Miller.  I didn't have to tell her good-bye.  We'll be going together to Djibouti and she'll be the ER doc while I'm the anesthesiologist.

More NIACT

Along with the M9 and M16, we also were able to become familiar with some crew serve weapons which can be mounted on top of hummers during convoy operations.  We got to shoot a 50 cal, an M 240,and an M 249! 

Here I am playing with the "big guns"

Here is someone else with a "bigger gun"



NIACT

Well I'm not sure what NIACT stands for exactly but it is basically three weeks of weapons and combat training at Camp McCrady (Ft. Jackson) in Columbia, SC taught to Navy sailors by Army drill sergeants; therefore, we call it NArmy training.  When I arrived I was assigned to the female barracks with about forty other girls from junior enlisted to mid level officers.  In the next few days we received all of our gear which included a M9 pistol, a M16 rifle, and fifty pounds worth of body armor.  We were popping Motrin for back pain on a regular basis!

Here is how I looked most days (kinda like a teenage mutant ninja turtle).

There were people preparing to go to Djibouti as well as Iraq and Afghanistan and everywhere in between.  We received a lot of excellent training here by some fantastic drill sergeants.  I qualified as a marksman on the M9, shot pop-up targets with the M16, to fire a weapon under stress, how to clear a room (like a SWAT team doing a raid), how to get out of a humvee if it rolls over, and tons of other training I could never have imagined.  As expected, I was good at some things and not so good at others.  But I did receive some comfort when people would say, "Doc, if we're ever to the point that YOU'RE shooting the weapons, we're in serious trouble."  Still, I gave everything my best effort out of respect for those that have to use this training daily for survival and to protect our country.  Hoo-rah!

Here's a pic of the stress shoot exercise.  It's not as easy to hit the target with someone screaming in your ear!

The Journey Begins...

I am currently stationed in San Diego and my journey began with a week's worth of paperwork and processing called NMPS which was thankfully also in San Diego.  This is mainly the starting ground where they collect a group of deployed persons to make sure all labs, diagnostic tests, and necessary paperwork are in order to prevent you being deemed not fit to deploy later on.  Because it was in my duty station city, I got to go home to my husband each day!  Yea!!

After NMPS, the next step is combat weapons training at Ft. Jackson in Columbia, SC.  But, because the dates on my orders were incorrect for this next step, I got a two week "stay of execution" before I had to officially leave home.  Yea!! (note the pattern of yea's)


Two weeks later, I arrived at the airport for my flight to Columbia.  This was the line to the security gate at 6:00am.  Yes, we have looped all the way OUTSIDE of the airport!!!! (My flight was for 6:30!!!!)

Luckily, they allowed all active duty passengers to go to the head of the line, so I made my flight:)