36 Hour Vacation into Theater

14SEP2014
I got a  good 8 hours of sleep although the room had an arctic chill temperature. It amazes me how strong the ac is in these buildings in the middle of the desert. I don't even have an ac unit in 29 Palms! Since we are transients here we slept in a trailer that could be described as summer camp with bunk beds that housed over 40 per trailer. The closest toilet and shower is a good 100 yards away as they are communal for all the other residents to use and are maintained pretty well.  

Attended the 8AM mass here which was nice as they had music to make it feel just like OLMC. If there's one place to escape the hustle and bustle of life or in this case military life it's mass. As routine and repetitive as it may be there's always someone there to listen and give you a sense of peace. Again in church I was freezing my butt off and the instant change of cold room to entering outside is like night and day.

Grabbed some breakfast and was able to wash my uniform that I traveled in for 25+ hours. Took care of the type of financial card we'll be using which is called a Eagle Cash Card. Pretty much a gift card used for purchases linked to your account to load funds. It's a way to protect your identification and any fraudulent activity towards the bank. Took a quick hour nap as the jet lag caught up to me and chilled out for a little bit. Ended up going to the pool again and it felt like LV in terms of the sun basking on you while in the water minus the endless alcohol and edm music.

Ventured out to the bigger exchange to see if I could grab souvenirs but held back. The plan was to sleep early as we had a call time of 145AM! That didn't happen so got a quick workout in showered and headed to the bar to watch the Chargers game. AFN (armed forces network) is pretty awesome,  they are able to show the football games and I even saw commercials for WWE's next pay per view.

The time in Qatar was short and sweet but much needed. This base can be compared to Las Vegas in similarities of climate, way busier in the evening than day time, and 24 hour town.

*Journey into theater

We all bitched and complain about the early call time of 145AM when our flight wasn't until 0800 a good 6 hours before take off. After going through the process we understand now why it's safe to go that early unlike a civilian airport, military has a slower process and unreliable computers. We loaded a C-17 plane which is an enormous plane but cramped spaced. I literally had no space for my knees and had to squeeze them in along with my body armor (40 pounds) on top of my lap. Due to no sleep I luckily pushed through the discomfort and cramped space and was able to sleep most of the flight. We stopped in Bagram Air Base to drop off some AF personnel and there I was able to move to the side of the plane with unlimited foot space. 

We arrived the afternoon on 15SEP2014 into Kandahar Air Base walk off the C-17 and my first impression of my site of AFG is "Am I in Las Vegas?!" Not in terms of casinos and lights but the terrain with rocky brown hills/mountains in the horizon look very similar to LV. After scanning the landscape I start to observe the rest of my surroundings and here again is my "stop and take in the moment" type situations and was like "I've finally landed in theater after a month long journey, now the real work will begin."

Processing was simple and finding our bags wasn't too bad. We were welcomed by the current staff of the hospital at the air field and the rest when we arrived at the barracks. Now let me say how excited these people were to see us or at least some of us. The Chaplin made a joke on how the staff prayed for us at each part of training sites to make it through so that we'd make it into theater. We are the replacements for the current staff who have been here for the past 9 months so when they saw us they were cheering. Nice enough to unload all of our bags and our sponsors and people we are reliving were all pretty much there.

The barracks are a rocket proof dormitory style building, bathrooms in the middle and a long corridor of 2 persons per room. Met my LPO (leading petty officer) and he helped me into my room. Who do I find to be my roommate (who I woke up since he's on nightshift).....a guy named Yeon!! So Charles Yeon was my co-worker/roommate back in 29 Palms and he told me his brother was out here deployed but I didn't think I'd run into him maybe he was at a different location or something. Turns out my roommate is Charles Yeon's older brother James Yeon!! Small effin world I couldn't believe it. Went to the hospital to meet my pharmacist  and had a "shit just got real moment" when I loaded my M9 pistol with live ammo  walking to the hospital with it. Had dinner with my pharmacist and the quality of food blew me away! It's way better than dormitory food and I've had my share of dorm food from UCLA, UCI, UNLV, and Cal Poly Pomona. Better than chow hall found I've had at other military installations and even Qatar. I'd say it's on the same level of quality as a local LV buffet like Southpoint or Green Valley Ranch and it is like a buffet since it's unlimited.

My pharmacist and the outgoing pharmacist took me out for some flavored iced tea on the boardwalk. The boardwalk is a square of retail and food stores with a soccer field, roller rink, and basketball court in the middle of it. Gyro, pizza, burger, and coffee are the selections for food. Part of the pharmacists routine is to grab their flavored iced tea (reminds me of boba flavors without the tapioca) sit and watch the soccer games. We sat enjoyed our beverage and appreciated the level of skill on futbol we were watching. Being a NATO base there are over a dozen different military personnel from different countries here (Romania, Belgium, Great Britain, Slovakia, Australian to name a few). Considering futbol is the most popular sport in the world it didn't surprise me to see the level of skill on the field. Got to know my pharmacist a little bit and we exchanged 29 Palms stories as he did some work there a few years back and knows some of the techs that are still there. Grabbing iced tea is there way of decompressing from work and just relaxing for a  moment to enjoy a nice beverage and be entertained with some live sports.

Settled into my room and unpacked what was needed. Tried to go to the gym but forgot to adjust my watch and instead of being 10PM it was already midnight so decided on some sleep.

16SEP14

Pharmacist had requested to have breakfast so had a 0800 meet with him although I wanted to sleep in. We went to a Chief pinning ceremony after and it was humbling to watch. I could see why people aspire to make that rank as it is a tight knit fraternity that some like to call the greatest rank in the military.

Next was indoctrination for our roto (rotation, we are the lima roto). Death by power point as we were introduced to the outgoing staff and took care of admin stuff. We were technically free the rest of the day but pharm had requested I stop in and start my training. Luckily the outpatient portion is exactly the same as 29 so there is no learning curve here. One thing I did train on was DMLSS which is the ordering system for supply. Cut out early and walked the boardwalk with my buddy. They have knock off stores here that have fake dvd's, fake beats, and fake music for purchase that are tempting to purchase.  Still jet lagged or lack of sleep was catching up to me and tried to call it a night early.

17SEP14

Started and worked a full shift today 0700-1900. I worked with my relief today and he showed me the ropes a little and the daily routine. Like 29 Palms it's very similar again if I take care of daily tasks early I have the rest of the day to do what I want. Inpatient orders are exactly the same as well as narcotic controls are similar. Like I mentioned before the learning curve isn't much it's just about learning the little things that are done here different. I will have to occupy my time or challenge myself in other ways to keep busy since pharmacy work is looking light.

18SEP14

Today I was on shift with the pharmacist all day long and he trained me on a few things that he felt might me useful. We did some EVOC training (don't know the acronym is for that) but to sum it up it's emergency vehicle training similar to EMT in the states. In emergency cases we'll be going out to the flight line or other sites to pick up the injured.

After eating dinner knowing I didn't have work or have any commitments the next morning I stayed out on the boardwalk and watched some basketball. Turns out there is a ABL or FBL (Asian Basketball League/Filipino Basketball League) here and there were well over 100 Filipinos out there from military personnel majority contract workers, and TCN's (third country nationals). It was a delight to see as it reminded me of Mira Mesa and seeing all the Filipinos around the Starbucks or rec center. No matter where I have been I could always count on seeing the tight knit Filipino MAFIA/group around. If only I could speak Tagalog I could become an official MAFIA member. Maybe with all them around I could learn in the next few months here from them.

19SEP14

I pretty much caught up on sleep if that's even possible. After countless hours of lost to no sleep I slept for 16 hours with piss breaks here and there but skipped breakfast and lunch to just sleep. It felt amazing and hopefully it will get me on track to some sort of a routine and regular schedule here. Went to dinner before my night shift and sat with a few of the other people in my roto. Our kilo group is about 38 who have been together since the start of training and we've grown close along the way. Sat with an LT who is a nurse prior enlisted he relates to all of us enlisted and even sat with the CO (commanding officer). It's a unique environment being deployed because you'd never get the chance to eat with the CO but being in a small roto group you recognize everyone and it's nice to have a hot meal with them. We're all we've got out here, we are each others family and shoulder to lean on when the going gets tough. No one wants to be on the outside looking in when shit hits the fan so you've got to make that effort and get out of the comfort zone to interact with everyone.

 

Our CO is a professor for industrial hygiene and she has a great sense of humor who likes to joke around and isn't afraid to interact with everyone. It's a delight to have her around and she seems genuinely engaged when you speak to her on top of that she's a big sports fan.

Went in for my first night shift and it was everything I expected it to be. Had a total of 2 patients the whole night was entertained with social media, surfing the web, and listening to podcasts/howard stern. I made my first call back tot he states since getting here and was able to speak to my mom and auntie yolly. Chatted with a few people on gchat and fb chat as well. Did some research on progressing my career in the navy hopefully into an officer if I decide to stay in. I definitely need to get the ball rolling on this as there isn't much time left on my current contract.

 

There are chances to sleep on shift surprisingly since there is a cot in the pharmacy but it's too weird for me to do that right now, feels uncomfortable. A lot of the cleaning crew people are Filipino and they brought me dishes to eat on my shift like adobo, pancit, and spaghetti. They call me "kuya" for some reason although it seems I am younger than them, I don't know what to say back so I call them "Ate" (A-tay).

20SEP2014

After a small breakfast headed back to my room to sleep. Was supposed to wake up for lunch to meet up with a few people and try the Asian DFAC (dining hall) but ended up sleeping longer than expected. 

 

There are 3 different DFACs to choose from the Cambridge is British ran obviously everyone says to get the fish and chips, there is far east DFAC asian themed and stir fry is the go to meal, and Niagra is the general one American style with themed dinners. I am hoping to get my BMW a.k.a. my bike from the person I am replacing. A bike is as good as a car as it cuts a 10 minute walk from the hospital to 2 minutes. It's not that bad of a walk but after working a shift you'll want to get back as fast as you can.

Made my way to the gym and got a good workout in. The NATO gym is literally 30 steps right when you step out of the barracks building. It's an adjustment to use the metric system for weights and treadmill. I'll have to memorize the conversions of kilos, kcals, and km's. 

The hospital hosted a pizza party and a majority of the outgoing rotation along with our current roto made it out. Another nice event to mingle with current and outgoing staff. Met someone who is a mutual friend with my friend Sean's roommate Jamil. After pizza party hung out in the boardwalk again with 2 others from my roto to relaxa little. Since I slept all day trying to keep the night shift schedule I am here at the MWR (morale wellness recreation) tent using the wifi and trying to catch some college football. After reliable free wifi at each training site here in theater is not the case. We have to pay for wifi in our barracks and it's no hi speed

The week has come to a close and I am still taking everything in. It's an interesting situation here as I have mentioned everyone walks around with weapons. It's like a wild wild west kind of feel everyone with their guns sling-ed or holstered. Only difference is that everyone is a NATO friendly and fighting on the same side. At one point this base housed 38,000 personnel and the numbers have dwindled to more than half. Many of the boardwalk shops are closing is this foreshadowing the future of the deployment? Many people predict we may be cut short, I hope not because it's not bad at all out here. Workload is nice, accommodations are liveable and our pay checks are tax free. Who knows what will happen but like the old sports cliche goes "We'll take it one day at a time."