A Little More Rain

Well... good news. Other than the fact that I am headed home soon, it has only rained a little bit more out here. I was a worried the rainy/cold season would catch us here, but it doesn't look like it. That is great news because if you know me, you know I hate cold weather! Unless I'm on a snowboard. Then and only then is cold weather a LOT of fun. It is snowing in Manas however so I am not looking forward to traveling through there. And it better not delay our flight out.

I helped a little boy out today. It felt great too. We got a call from one of our southern patrol bases that said a station wagon was on its way up to the FOB with a boy that had been shocked by telephone wire. Being that he was completely clothed, they thought it was just his hand, but when he got up here it, the boy was burned on the entire right side of his body. We searched the vehicle to make sure it was clear and I showed them on the FOB to the aid station to get further care. (By the way, when I say showed, I mean I drove in front of them on our new Polaris Rangers which are $13,000 a piece. And they are wicked!) Because the burn was so bad, we requested an immediate air evacuation and I escorted the locals down to the LZ with a corpsman, interpreter and local police officer. Once we got to the LZ, I helped the Doc with the patient. He was just 11 years old and completely blistered from his right ankle all the way up his leg, hip, ribs, and right arm. It looks like he grabbed the wire with his right hand and the shock ran all the way down that side of his body. But you know what? Not one tear. It was amazing. I cry when I touch a burner. You could tell that he was in a lot of pain... he was clinching his teeth and flinching every now and then and his right leg was twitching too. Impressive. Kids here are a different breed in more ways than one though. They also work from the time they can walk. It is normal to see a 5 year old boy leading a donkey down the road with hay on its back. It's crazy. And this kid was probably helping with running electric wire. What are our 5 and 11 year olds doing? Anyway, as the bird approached I threw out the smoke for a mark to let the bird know where to land and we turned the kid over to the MEDEVAC crew.

On the topic of helicopters... last week I got to help out with a HST lift. We had some big refrigerators that were broken and needed to be flown out. IT WAS SWEET. Let me tell you why. Basically, you get to stand next to the reefer (fridge) with a chain in hand. The bird hovers right over your head with a wire hanging down and a loop on the end. All you do is hook up the chain to the loop. But having a machine so big flying right above your kevlar is a cool experience. Maybe it doesn't sound as fun written out... but I promise... good time.

Other than those two bits of news... I'm in the process of turning over all of the Battalion and Regiment gear to the next unit. I am so pumped about this. It has been my biggest headache the entire deployment. I don't think anything has been more exciting to think about than turning this gear over. And the time has finally come!!!

Alrighty then, hope everyone is doing well! Hawaii bound soon! Love you guys.