Hello there readers of my blog been quite some time since I've connected with the group here, but inspired by a good friend of mine Shawn to update my Blog, I decided to do it. So far I've been deployed in Afghanistan for 31 days, and I've thrown up twice, and had the shits for 48 hours now. Average night of sleep is relatively good whilst back here on the main bases (8+ Hours, usually), however while out on the Patrol Bases sleep is somewhere around 4-5, which isn't terrible, so I've got nothing to complain about there. So far I've gone on a handful of patrols into towns and villages, I've seen Marijuana fields that would put any High Times submission to shame (20+ acres of pot) and as a highlight to the 9/11 tribute we decided to climb the highest mountain peak down in our AO in hopes of finding some people doing some not so good things and sending them out in a ball of fire just like their fathers had done to ours.
Overall though the deployment is going by with some good bit of speed, it's hard to imagine that in 38 days I'll be 21, I would enjoy my first legal beer on that day but oh well, I'll save that for another time. I must say, Afghanistan is not that hyped up as everyone seems to make it, and being in one of the more dangerous places in Helmund Province, I can say first hand that I think the enemy doesn't have much else to throw at us besides having their children throw rocks at our armored vehicles as we drive through the bazaars. Obviously the IEDs are still hitting around here quite frequently, but the enemy lacks courage, they know if they try to stand toe to toe and fight us they'll be squashed like bugs, to be honest, that's probably how I would fight if I were in their shoes as well. The small arms fire attempts to lure you in, but you've gotta be smarter than that because they've got IED's waiting for you on that wall you want to run to.
As far as the actual ways of 8404 life goes, I've done a minor surgery on a guys face that had an ingrown hair and I've handed out maybe a handful of meds while here. My main job now is to take care of the Afghan soldiers here, but it disgusts me that I literally had to stand there and listen to a guy asking for meds because he has to burp and fart after he eats food. I shit you not.
Well, that's about all for this (Enter week/month/some other time line I probably will forget to fulfill). I'll try and update this thing more often, please note that if I'm not doing weekly updates it's likely because I'm out at other locations with no internet or something to that effect.
-Michael
Overall though the deployment is going by with some good bit of speed, it's hard to imagine that in 38 days I'll be 21, I would enjoy my first legal beer on that day but oh well, I'll save that for another time. I must say, Afghanistan is not that hyped up as everyone seems to make it, and being in one of the more dangerous places in Helmund Province, I can say first hand that I think the enemy doesn't have much else to throw at us besides having their children throw rocks at our armored vehicles as we drive through the bazaars. Obviously the IEDs are still hitting around here quite frequently, but the enemy lacks courage, they know if they try to stand toe to toe and fight us they'll be squashed like bugs, to be honest, that's probably how I would fight if I were in their shoes as well. The small arms fire attempts to lure you in, but you've gotta be smarter than that because they've got IED's waiting for you on that wall you want to run to.
As far as the actual ways of 8404 life goes, I've done a minor surgery on a guys face that had an ingrown hair and I've handed out maybe a handful of meds while here. My main job now is to take care of the Afghan soldiers here, but it disgusts me that I literally had to stand there and listen to a guy asking for meds because he has to burp and fart after he eats food. I shit you not.
Well, that's about all for this (Enter week/month/some other time line I probably will forget to fulfill). I'll try and update this thing more often, please note that if I'm not doing weekly updates it's likely because I'm out at other locations with no internet or something to that effect.
-Michael
Just checking to see if you are still kicking. No blog for 6 months. That a long time even for Helmand.
ReplyDeleteStill alive and kicking, made it out of there reletively safe. Going to update a new post tonight. Thanks!
DeleteI'm in the Army and very interested in getting into the Navy as an 8404 Corpsman. What would you advise me as far as the Doc life goes and being Greenside with the Marines.
ReplyDeleteIf you're a 68W be prepared for more dynamics as far as job scope is concerned. Having prior experience puts you leaps and bounds ahead of your peers though, and you shouldn't have a hard time by any means adjusting.
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