Category Archives: Army

Long Day On The FOB

August 16th, 2013
FOB Freedom, Fort McCoy, WI

[Note:  All patients mentioned here turned out to have no suicidal intent.  All are now safe and have had appropriate counseling.]

About 2200 I had updated my briefing slides for the next day’s command brief in the CP tent and headed back to the Aid Station, thinking I would shower and hit the rack.  Might even get 6.5 hours of sleep which would be nice.  One of my medics told me LTC T (Deputy Brigade Commander or DCO) was looking for me, so I went to his office in the TOC. He was there with COL S (Brigade Commander) and asked me to shut the door.

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In Uniform in Wisconsin

August 10th, 2013
FOB Freedom, Fort McCoy, WI

I got back from Nepal in late April and started working back at Fort Irwin.  Due to budget cuts, a number of Brigade Combat Team training rotations at Irwin were cancelled, so they put me working at the Troop Medical Clinic (TMC) for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.  I work with Army medics and treat soldiers just like in the Dustbowl, but in a regular building with a nicer environment.

cstx - 2587

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Medics Behaving Badly: Fun With the Mouseketeers

March 22, 2012

I work at a small leased double-wide in an unpaved area of the “Dust Bowl” at Fort Irwin.  Technically, this is called the Rotational Unit Bivouac Area (RUBA) or Logistical Support Area (LSA) Warrior.  There is a different set of medics here each month supporting whatever Brigade Combat Team (BCT) is rotating through Fort Irwin for training.  The BCT is here for about a month, but I am only here fourteen days each month, when the BCT goes into the field, aka “The Box.”

Last night was entertaining.  It is late in the rotation, we have all been working two weeks straight (the medics a week before I got here), and, after sick call was over, it was slow.  Junior enlisted get more goofy than normal when bored, so…

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My Clinic In The Mojave

2 February, 2012

I’m working a kind of odd job doing two-week stints once a month as a contract civilian PA at Fort Irwin supporting Brigade Combat Teams that rotate through there for pre-deployment training.  Not your typical PA job, but the best hourly rate I’ve made since I worked in IT.

I have to admit that it seems a little odd to (knowingly) treat patients carrying automatic weapons.

Aid Station at the Rotational Unit Bivouac Area

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