my last blog from iraq

Well, the time has finally come and we are headed home. We are actually training the new unit now to take over. It's mostly admin stuff, the providers have already taken over the clinic. We tried to come in today and offer some help but they told us they have it under control. Our hands are washed of this clinic and I have seen my last patient. Well, that's not entirely true our supply Sergent wants me to see her for something because she feels more comfortable with us verses the new providers. So I will see what's up with her but that will be my last patient in Iraq. We have about a week to go then we fly out of here only to sit in Kuwait for days. Then we will finally get to fly home. It will be nice to set foot on US soil again. This time for good. What a great feeling. I really, really hate this sand and heat.

Well, to update you all on the soccer season (I know all of you have been waiting for me to post the results) we won it all! We had a controversy lost to the Puerto Ricans and I severally pulled my hamstring but we earned enough points throughout the season to win the season. There was a post-season tournament which we won as well. Oddly enough it was us (the number one ranked team) verses the last place team. The game went into penalty kicks. We won 1-1 (2-0). Would it be bragging if I said I scored twice in the championship game and with a torn hamstring? Those two goals help me to tie Mike Roscoe for the scoring record. We each had 4 goals for the season (and I missed the last game and a half due to my injury). Believe me I hate to mention that but Mike was not letting me live it down when he was 2 goals ahead of me. Now I do have to mention that I missed about 6 legitimate chances on goal, about half of which were from Mike and it was Mike's shot on goal that I caught the rebound and put it in the net. It was a good season overall and we had a blast... we got a first place trophy and I am still nursing a torn hamstring. I will post pictures of the trophy and our championship team when I get them. My internet has been severely reduced now that we are living in transient housing.

I can't wait to see all of you. Thank you for all you thoughts and prayers during this deployment and thank you all for your thought full packages and letters. I am so blessed to have people in my life that care for me the way you all have. Thank you again. See you soon.

the last days

Well, the time has finally come. We are in our last days here and the new unit is coming in tonight, late tonight. So I have to move out of my tin box and into a tent so the new group can have a place to live for the next year. I do have to admit, this is the most exciting move ever! Although, under any other circumstances it would absolutely suck it is a great, great thing because this means we are for sure on our way home. Our plan is to get the new providers in and give them a few days to realize they are actually here then do the ceremonial washing of the hands to rid us of this clinic. We will probably finish out the week working in the clinic, dang and I am oncall Thursday, then next week we will be free of all responsibilities.

We have actually had a good year working at the clinic and working with all of our medics. There are obviously stronger medics than others but overall they worked very well and they seemed to learn a lot. Their skills certainly improved and our trust in them grew exponentially. We are overall proud of the medics and the work they did. Hopefully one or two of them will pursue careers in medicine, if not then I am sure they will do well in whatever field they choose.

Well, to fill some time during this last month, myself and Mike Roscoe (one of the other PAs that works with me and was one of my instructors at Butler for the PA program) joined a soccer team to represent the great USA and our clinic. Mike is our only divison I soccer player. He play his undergraduate years at the great Butler University. So although I have the Evansville Courier and Press saying that I played 4 years under the great Yeagly, Mike is the only one to have actually played Division I soccer. There were several teams that were made up of different national groups, the Ugandans, the Brits and a Puerto Rican team that's actually US Army. As I said before we have been playing for the past month and the season is about to come to an end. The standings as of right now are.... Yours truly is in the #1 spot, the Puerto Ricans are in second and the Brits are in third. The Ugandans dropped out but would have been a really good contender. We scrimmaged them at the beginning of the season and tied 1-1. There are two other teams in the league but let's just say they are not that good. As of today we have 4 wins, no loses, and 2 draws. I am not sure about the exact record of the Puerto Ricans but I believe they have all draws, no loses. They might have a couple of wins but two at the most. The Brits have at least 2 loses. That puts us in the lead.
Below are a few pics of our team and the first game we played against the Brits. We won 3-1. They were not too happy about that. They beat us about two months ago in a different league, 3-0 So this was our revenge. Now we played the Brits last night and tied them 1-1. I have to say that we were short a player the entire first half and I was dying! I was pleased to come away with a 1-1 draw. The Brits certainly had multiple chances to open up a big lead but blow them all. We too also missed a half dozen or more opportunities to put the game away. I think both sides were pleased with the result although both sides would have liked to win, obviously.

Now there is something to say about playing soccer out here. This place is obviously a dessert so the playing field is nothing but sand and rocks. It sucks to play on. The ball bounces like we are on the moon and the ball rolls like you are putting on the fastest green imaginable. It's like the laws of physics do not fully apply on this field. Now what does apply is the tremendous amount of sand/dust that you inhale thus decreasing the oxygen-carrying capacity of your red blood cells They seem to have a hard time attaching to and carrying sand granules. We all have our cuts and bruises from this field but in spite of it all it really has been a fun time once we are out there playing.


Here's our team from left to right: top row (Gabe, Rieger, Edwards, Kim, Richmond, Owen), bottom row (Mike Roscoe, myself, and Ashley---the officers)

Here's just a close up of some of us before the group photo. We are ready to play the Brits.


Here's our first match against the Brits. Did I mention we beat them 3-1! That's right. We sent them home crying. They were all about 6 feet tall and weighed about 200+. So it was a tough game.

the little things that make our days

On a day like this it is hard to have high spirits (the picture above is DAYTIME). The air is so thick with dust that you can literally taste it. When you walk outside and are physically covered with a fine mist of sand/dirt it's hard to say that you are having a good day. Never mind that it was another scorcher today, a lovely heat category 5 (120+°F) . Now what exactly is a heat category 5 you ask? Well, first we must understand how to calculate it. It's really simple to calculate the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). Simply use this formula:

AverageWBGT	=	(WBGT1)(t1)+ (WBGT2)(t2)+...+(WBGTn)(tn)
		(t1)+(t2)+...(tn)

Now I don't mean to get all scientific on you but I'm just saying this formula just came to me. Now once you have determined the WBGT you can use that information to determine how quickly you are going to melt. Actually the heat categories are to suggest how long you can work outside in a work to rest ratio calculated in minutes per hour. In a heat category 5 you should only work 10 minutes with 50 minutes of rest. Hell, I think most Americans use this work to rest ratio on a daily basis, regardless of the outdoor temperature (especially those smokers). Gotta love that sense of entitlement.

Sorry, I kind of got off on a little tangent due to the lack of oxygenation going on inside my lungs because they are now sand pits! As I was saying, in spite of crappy days like this there are always those diamonds in the rough that we find that brighten our day. My sister-in-law (I hate saying that because I think of her as my sister but it would really sound weird if I were to say my sister whose married to my brother...), Susan, sent me some pictures that her students had made for me (now I know this is July and school let out sometime in June but it's a little hard to come by a scanner here). As I have said before I appreciate all of them but there are always one or two that really stand out. They stand out because of some prophetic picture or deep, inspiring words that were spelled out in a letter or it could be just one of those "Darndest things kids say" type of letter. And here are a couple of them:







I also wanted to thank a very special niece of mine, Stephanie, who wrote me a letter and drew me a picture. It was fairly straightforward but I know how sincere she is and how much she cares for me. Her parents have reared her to be a very thoughtful and caring young lady. I am very proud of her and it comforts me to know that my little girl has such a person to look up to in a world that seems to be spiraling out of control. I just pray that I can be as good of a dad to my little girl as my brother has been to his little girl. I just want my niece, Stephanie, to know that your uncle Bryan loves you and is grateful for the pictures you sent me, oh and don't be afraid to take the car out he won't mind. Thank you.

letters from home

As I have mentioned before, it is so nice to receive letters from home. I have received letters from my wife and even some from my daughter which I have hanging on the wall in my estate room. I have received letters and cards from the rest of my family and friends that I too have hanging on my wall. I have also received letters from school children that made it a group effort to write me even though they do not know who I am, and in those letters they tell me about what they are doing in school and about their friends and family. It's like they are writing to a friend. They have asked me questions about what I am doing, how I like it over here, if I have any pets, what my house is like here, and if I have any friends here. Some have even drawn me pictures of what they think it's like over here or their idea of what I am doing here. Most are with guns and tanks as they have probably seen on TV or in the movies. I absolutely love them all.
But out of all the letters and pictures that I have received there's been one that has touched me the most (now let me say this, the stuff from my wife and daughter are THE most precious stuff I have received and what I am talking about is out of all the other letters and pictures). Just recently my brother sent me a couple of pictures his son, Sam, had drawn about me. I am not sure I can poetically describe what these two simple pictures mean to me so here take a look...



How great it makes me feel that my nephew thinks this about me. How great is it that he not only thought that about me but also took the time to put his pencil to paper and come up with this. This deployment has been hard on everyone. It has been hard on me because of not only being away from my loved ones but also for obvious reasons of where I am. It has also me been hard on my wife and daughter. They are probably stronger than I am and have handled this deployment very well. In spite of the difficulties associated with being apart and being in a war torn country, my nephew has given me a new step to my gettyup. Thanks Sam. Thanks for thinking of me. Thanks for making me into a "superhero". I love and miss you.

time spent at home

Well, I have returned to where the military is making me call home for now. I know home is where the heart is but since my heart is literally here in Iraq I guess I have to call this home. I would have left it at my real home but modern technology has not shown us a way to effectively do that yet and since I am just an ortho dude I wouldn't know where to start. We had an awesome time together and it was so hard to say goodbye.
Now that I have been back the only difference I have notice is Dr. Jones is gone. He was our primary care doc from Indiana and his tour is over. We will miss him but we will see him again soon since all the PAs here drill with him when we are home. The other thing I noticed was the temperature has gotten a little hotter. Especially since it was in the mid to upper 60's while I was home. I like to say the temperature here has reached a nice state of HELL. Look at the thermometer below. That was taken during the day at around 2pm Local Standard Time. 2pm I said! 2pm and it's still 120 degrees! Now this is an outdoor thermometer that does get exposed to the sun light after the sun reaches it's highest point. But then again we get exposed to the sun the moment we leave the safety of a building. Lovely huh? And the chow hall is 1/2 mile away and we actually have to walk to it. Where's my civil rights? I should be entitled to some sort of covered transport that has AC, right?


This is a video I took of my sweet, sweet baby girl dancing while I was skype'ing with them one night. This is so sweet to see her just going to town dancing and singing. What a lovely sight. She is growing up so fast.

vacation III

Well, the time came and went that quickly. I cannot believe it. I was so happy to be home with my two girls but the sand of time just slipped between my fingers. I couldn't stop it. Damn, it's that sand again. If it's not the sand of time then it's the sand of this god-forsaken land that's bringing me down. I have had enough of that "sand". And to make things worse it's hotter than hell here.

The time spent with my wife and daughter was absolutely wonderful. I truly feel recharged. I was about to blow a gasket just before I left to come home. Everything was making me mad. I am just glad I didn't bring that home to my house.

When Steph and Brianna first walked up to me I fought back tears. It was the most wonderful site I had seen. Now I have to hand it to the Army/military for their expediency in getting me home (I am sure they did it just for me but Joe Biden's son was on the same flight as I was so he can thank me later). I just wish they hadn't brought all those people to meet me in Atlanta. It was so embarrassing. You would have thought I was something special like the Vice President’s son. Funny though out of all those people there no one talk to me??? Well as I had mentioned, I got to Atlanta much quicker than expected, like several days earlier. I wasn’t able to tell Steph I was coming home sooner than expected so I had to wait till I got to Atlanta. Did you know that from the airport in Ireland they charge $14 (or it could have been euros) per minute to call back to the states? Well, I wasn't going to pay that so Steph just had to wait till I got on US soil to call her. I called her when I hit Atlanta and told her I was in the states and was about to catch a flight home so she had about 2 hours to come pick me up from the airport. This again is with her thinking she wasn't going to come pick me for another 48 hours! Surprise!! To say the least she was in panic mode. She had arranged for a photographer to take our pictures when we met at the airport. She wanted to meet me while I was deboarding but as luck would have it I got home quicker than expected. Yeah, I had to call Steph and tell her I was already home at the airport and that I would be waiting for her outside. She was probably freaking out at this point. Now one thing I can say is that people are still genuinely thoughtful and truly support our troops. While I was waiting outside the airport for Steph I had no less than 3 different people come up to me and ask if I needed a ride somewhere. They didn't want me to have to pay for a cab or wait for someone to come and pick me up. I thought about taking one of them up on their offer but I don’t think the wife would have liked that idea. Instead I thanked them and told them the story about me getting here earlier than expected and that I was waiting for my wife to get out of bed and sober up to come pick me up. Just kidding.

So, I was sitting outside waiting when this guy came up to me and asked if I was Captain Bryan McFarland. I said “no” of course because the military commercials we have been watching over the past 8 months have been non-stop about conspiracy and protecting your identity. I think that guy was the photographer and he had his wife with him. Steph was pretty mad that I denied who I was. Just kidding. I told them that I was indeed him because my name and rank is ON MY UNIFORM! They were really nice people. They waited with me till Steph and Brianna got there. When I saw them coming up the stairs I left my bags and took off toward them. I guess the whole idea of not leaving your bags unattended didn’t matter to anyone at that point. Stephanie had this yellow dress on and a yellow flower in her hair. She had Brianna dressed in yellow as well. They were such a beautiful site. When I saw Brianna she had this look of "Is that you daddy? No it can't be you, you are on the computer" and covered her face into Steph's leg. I can't lie it was a little hard to take. I wanted her to come running into my arms and for me to snatch her up. Instead it took about 5 to 10 minutes for her to warm up and realize that I was really there. After that it was like me and Brianna went together like peas and carrots. I couldn’t go outside without her screaming “daddy, daddy where are you going”. Now tell me how am I supposed leave that? To say the least the plane ride back to this god-forsaken wasteland was very difficult for me. Brianna on the other hand seem to handle it pretty well and when Steph returned home she had her mother waiting on her. I can’t thank her enough for spending the time driving down there to be with Steph. Thank you Dinah!

I will be back home soon. I love you both!

vacation II

Hello, everyone. Well, the time has come for me to actually get up out of here. I am ready. I'll be leaving here real soon to embark on the long journey home for my R&R. Due to hodji monitoring this site and since I am sooo high profile I can't give too much info about my travels. Yeah, it’s tough being so important. It’s just a burden I must bear (long sigh). I guess no one is really buying that last bit but it sounded good.

Anyway, I’ll be posting more pictures and info about my time with my two sweeties. If I don’t get to see you when I am home please for give me but there are a couple of other peeps that want that time reserved for them. Hope you understand. Thanks for all your support.

Oh, for the politically aware/concerned check out Jeff’s new blog: http://usbestinterest.blogspot.com/. I have a link to it on the list of blogs I am following as well.