From Scott

Friends and Family,

First of all let me say I apologize for not doing a better job communicating with everyone this deployment. The differences in deployments to Afghanistan vs Iraq greatly outnumber the similarities. Our BN has been on a nomadic quest to finally get to a place we can call home….at least the closest we have right now.

We first arrived in Kandahar (southern Afghanistan) in late March. Our job was to be the Theater Task Force (TTF) for southern Afghanistan, sort of like a quick reaction force. Basically if there was a hot spot, we were supposed to mobilize and move to that location. The unit we replaced had been doing this for 15 months, and had only actually been at Kandahar 30% of the time. We were only able to do one mission as the TTF. It was an interesting one in which we air assaulted to 5 different very small towns. We would basically air assault to a town, clear the town, pay some local 150 bucks to live in his mud hut, and then move out in a few days to air assault to another town. We did 6 Medcaps (medical capability assessments) and saw over 800 local nationals, mostly women and children. I was only able to evaluate the women in one town, all the others required me to ‘evaluate’ them through my female medic. I wasn’t allowed to see the women or talk to them.

Once we got back to Kandahar, we found out we would be leaving and moving out east. Since we had a ton of equipment that needed to be moved, we had to do a series of large Ground Assault Convoys (GAC’s). The one I was in took 5 days and 4 stops. It was long and painful….but thankfully we did not encounter any IED’s. Our final destination of this leg was at a place called Salerno where we staged in preparation for another mission before we could move east. This mission took me to the Naka District Center where we occupied the town and did leader engagements with the District Governor and local elders. (This is the mission where my treatment team did most of the cooking/grilling/coffee making). We also did a Medcap in this town in which we treated 160 men/boys. This town was very conservative and we were not allowed to treat the women.

Long story short, I am finally at what I hope will be my last ‘home’ in Afghanistan, FOB Tillman. Yes it is named after the football player that lost his life in here. After basically not having a home for 6 weeks, it’s nice to be able to unpack my gear and sleep in an actual bed. The FOB itself is very small, but nice. After being at a very large FOB like Kandahar, it’s nice to have everything located close by. My aid station is very nice and again, it’s great to have something that for the time being is mine.

We have been pretty busy here seeing Local Nationals. I run a Local National sick call everyday and see mostly children. They are great and really make the day go by a little quicker. One little boy in particular. He was side-swiped by a tractor a couple of weeks ago and he has been coming in every day for dressing changes. We have to scrub pretty hard and debride the wound, and he just lays there taking it. I ask him if it hurts and he always says no….but I know it bothers him. He’s a tough kid. He even impressed one of our hard core NCO’s…who walked over to the dining facility and got him an ice cream sandwich.

Our clinic, even though it is Level I (no lab, no X-ray, one provider), represents the closest thing to an Emergency Room for the locals. The other night they brought in two brothers that were involved in a land dispute. They traveled two hours on actual beds tied to the back of trucks. One guy was shot through the back of the knee, the other had shrapnel wound from a grenade. And last week the locals brought in a 1 year old girl that had ingested rat poison 5 hours prior to coming into the clinic, we worked hard on her for a couple of hours before we were able to get a MEDEVAC helicopter, and she wound up dying at the Combat Support Hospital.

Today we had quite the little morale booster. The USO tour stopped by our little FOB which was quite the surprise. It consisted of:
1. 2 Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders
2. Drew Brees (Saints QB)
3. Roger Goodell (NFL Commissioner)
4. Osi Umenyiora (DE for the NY Giants)
5. Jack Lengyel (Man who coached Marshall University Football after the plane crash, recently made into a movie)

It was very interesting to talk with Drew Brees and Roger Goodell, they were both very much in awe of their surroundings. Drew kept saying, “We are only two miles from the Pakistan Border”. They also couldn’t believe how beautiful it is here. Many of the guys made the comment….”Yeah it is beautiful, until somebody takes a shot at you”. Another interesting note, turns out one of the Cheerleaders is living in The Colony right now. I asked her if she expected to run into someone from The Colony in eastern Afghanistan….of course she said no.

Not much else going on, we are settling into a routine which is good. I have two medics here with me. We made some changes to the existing Aid Station and I am very pleased with the outcome. Hopefully it won’t get much use this year. Our BN has had one soldier killed in action, and two evacuated for very serious injuries…..which means we have been pretty lucky.

The main bonus of being here is that I have my own room in the aid station and I am able to talk to Nikki and the kids everyday…which is nice after having to go weeks at a time without hearing their beautiful voices.

I appreciate all the prayers and emails of support. I may not be the best at returning emails, but know that each and every one is very much appreciated.

Continue to pray that all deployed troops will come home to their families alive and well. And please pray for the families that were left behind in the states. Compared to what they do our job is easy.

Scott


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