most recent mission

Hello all (I say that like I really have anyone reading this, but it makes me sound important). Anyway, I just recently returned from a mission I was assigned. A doc (Dr. Lechner) who is at a small FOB nearby needed to come here for a conference in which he gave local national doctors a lecture on pediactric nephrology (yeah, I don't know much about that either). So he came here and I went there. I got to spend a day or so with him and his crew before he left to come here. As I said before he is from a small FOB and their life style is a lot different than ours. Very laid back. Very laid back! Unlike here where everyone is so high strung and the upper enlisted and officers have nothing better to do than look for minor, insignificant infractions. Someone correct me but I believe there is still a conflict going on, right. Yes, I believe that's right but these people have nothing better to do than to tell someone they need different socks on. REALLY! The funny thing is these guys that go around looking for things to complain about are not the ones going out on the missions. It's the guys who are at the smaller FOBs who should be much "higher" strung because they are the ones in harms way everyday sometimes twice a day, not sitting behind a desk. Ironic isn't it?

Well, Dr. Lechner is a really great guy. He showed me around and introduced me to the medics that work with him. Once he left, his crew took care of me and made sure I had what I needed. So thank you to those guys and gals that supported me while I was there. Here are a few pictures that I was able to post.

Here are a few pictures of the clinic I was at. The outside doesn't look much different than ours. Once you see one T-wall you have seen them all.






Here's more of an aerial view of the clinic. I would like to say I was controlling a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) but unfortunately I had to stand on top of a building to take this.








This is a picture of a couple of the medics and the "terp". On the left is SGT Hume. On the right is SPC Etta
and Linda is the interpreter. They were really great to work with. Thanks for your help!




This is what we had to work with when a trauma came in. Not a whole lot but it's enough.






Below are a few pictures of the city of Balad. It really was just outside the FOB. It was pretty neat that the doc that I substituted for had close contact with all the local medical professionals.
























These are some more pictures of Balad and the mosques. The picture on the left is of a mosque that was just outside the FOB. The other picture is of another mosque that's actually a little bigger but further away. And yes, we got to hear the very annoying (at least to me) singing of the prayers from the minaret.