April 23rd, 2014
Fort Irwin, CA
People in medicine are very superstitious. I learned as a student never, ever, to use the word “slow” in an emergency room. Not unless you want all the nurses to hate you.
Category Archives: Medical
Full Parking Lot
Fort Irwin, CA
February 16th, 2014
i arrived at work today to find a full parking lot. I’d ask for a reserved spot, but people who drive armored vehicles don’t pay much attention to such things. Besides, my boss would laugh at me. More than usual.
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.
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.
Rescue Near Horsethief Creek
January 1, 2013
RMRU write-up of rescue is here.
On New Year’s eve RMRU was called out to search for a hiker missing overnight in rain and snow storm east of Toro Peak in the area of Horsethief Creek. Two field teams (Les Walker, Ralph Hoetger, Lee Arnson, and Helene Lohr) spent most the night out in difficult conditions searching for the lost man. About 10 p.m. a CHP helicopter spotted the hiker, but could not effect a rescue.
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…
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