These come from one of those sons although he's a full bird Colonel and older so he'd be in the "dad" range for some of you. He's a surgeon so his perspective is from a MASH type unit in Iraq. I found them interesting and neither positive or negative so they might give a little insight about how things are over there.
Dad,
The weather is cool, but it is not too cold. The climate is very similar to Las Vegas this time of year, but when it rains, as it is doing now, the area gets really muddy, and it is difficult to get around. It feels like the mud is made out of clay, and it tries to suck the boots off of my feet. The security forces guys tell me that is good because it makes it difficult for the bad guys to get into position to launch on us out in the perimeter. I live in a trailer that is well bunkered with sandbags and ten foot high concrete barriers. The roof only leaks when it rains. Our infectious disease doc lives in the other side of the trailer. There is no phone, but it has a pretty good heater, and when I am in a sleeping bag, the cot is quite comfortable (or I am too tired to care). E-mail access is fairly easy; we have terminals in the recovery room and the ER. We have at least one hot meal a day, and sometimes we get midnight dinner if it is not too busy. We have all gotten a little jumpy when we hear loud noises, but except for the war, the place is much better than I thought it would be. I really look forward to your E-Mails, thank you.
I wish all the people in America could meet the Iraqi’s. They are mostly good people who have had a very tough time. The Iraqi National Guard troops are all extremely brave, and they are thankful for all the care we give them. They always take me by the hand and say thank you when I am making rounds. The Iraqi colonel that I operated on last week went home, yesterday. As he was leaving, he asked how to care for his wounds as they continue healing; I told him not to get shot anymore. He assured me he would take care, and he said, “Now, I am going to be returning the compliment.” I think there are going to be some bad guys out there who will regret they tangled with him.
Love,
Brett
Dear Dad,
Did you ever see one of those Southwest Airlines commercials where somebody does something incredibly stupid and the announcer says, “Want to get away?”…
There I was… walking to the ATT phone trailer to make a call to the kids- about a mile walk from where we are, and I arrived at the same time as a Marine rifle company was unloading to do the same thing. The phone trailer has about 20 phone cubicles on each side, so all of us arriving at the same time meant there was an overflow, and the line of troops waiting to use the phones went out the door. These young men looked like they had been through Hell, and I was not about to pull rank and cut in front of them- I felt proud just to be standing among them. Anyway, the line moved forward at a fairly good clip which was good because it was cold outside, and I soon was standing on the inside of the doorway waiting my turn.
It had been a long day in surgery, and I leaned back against the wall to relax, and in doing so depressed the power switches for both the lights and the phone lines. The trailer was suddenly blanketed in total darkness, and 40 angry Marines rose as one to rip me asunder. The vile curses coming from them were profound, and understandable, to say the least. In a moment of terror, my whole life flashed before me (I even remembered where I lost my skate key when I was six years old). I managed to fumble in the darkness and get the lights on just as a huge Gunnery Sgt grabbed for me. Fortunately, he saw the eagles on my collar, snapped to attention and said, “Begging the Colonel’s pardon, I meant Mother F_ _ _ _ _ _, sir!” Adopting my best command voice and trying not to squeak, I replied “Why are these switches not guarded?” A look of alarm came over his face, and he said, “With the Colonel’s permission I will see to it right away… Corporal … Post a guard over these switches!”
I tried to tell him, “No Gunnery Sgt, that is not what I meant… in Air Force planes we have covers for important switches to keep them from being thrown at the wrong time. These switches should have covers on them to guard against accidents.”
“Colonel,” he said, “I don’t know nothing about no Air Force planes, but no plastic or metal can stand guard as good as a United States Marine can, and I guarantee no one will come near those switches for the rest of the night.”
“Yes, Gunnery Sgt,” I said, “I will bet you are right about that…carry-on.”
“Sir, what about your phone call?’” he said.
I told him, “It’s getting late back home; I will try some other time.”
He called the trailer to attention as I left, “Semper Fi, Colonel”.
Thank God for the Marines
Love,
Brett
Dear Dad,
And then there is the twelve year old Iraqi boy who had shrapnel injuries to his legs last week. The kid would not eat his breakfast and he complained bitterly that he hated the hospital breakfast here at Balad more than anything else in the world. Finally, our dietician was summoned and through the interpreter the boy asked why Americans had such rotten bread in the morning, and could they mix the bad medicine with something to make it go down easier. Our dietician was puzzled because he was not getting any medicine in the morning.
So, taking the initiative she personally saw to the preparation of the kid’s meal the next morning to make sure there was no rotten bread. When she delivered the breakfast to the kid, he turned up his nose and in tears reminded her that she had promised to make it better, and he asked her to take the bread away and not make him drink the medicine. The good Captain was confused until the light went on, and she explained that the “bread” was called pancakes and the “medicine” was called maple syrup. She then provided instruction on how to properly consume pancakes. The Iraqi boy is all smiles now.
I am going to put the Captain in for a commendation.
Love,
Brett
Dear Dad,
I hope all is well over there in Florida. It is cold outside, and I am hoping the bad guys will stay inside by the fire. The Medical Group commander came by the operating room today and gave us all a pep talk because there are still a lot of long faces from the other day and the car bombing victims. He said, “The first rule of war is that young people die; the second rule of war is that surgeons cannot change rule number one. You do not have the luxury of feeling sorry for yourselves or your patients. The patients do not need someone to feel sorry for them, they need professionals to help them…It is time you people start keeping score by the number of lives saved and not the lives lost.” Good speech.
Today, I am winning 3 to 0.
), they both really enjoyed them, and so did I. Thanks Winnow!
