Hello all, I am having issues with my pics so please be patinet and will hopefully have them up soon.
Thanks!!1
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Fort Bragg, NC
I have arrived here at Fort Bragg on March 24 and reported in. I really don’t think that it has still sunk in that I am here and in the Army. I had to in process the post first. They gave me a list of things to do and people to visit, all of who had to sign off on my paper. It wasn’t very hard, just time consuming. We were given 72 hours and finished in 48. I have decided to live on post with a friend from OBLC for the couple months I am here prior to deploying. As many of you know I will be deploying this fall some time and as I get information so will you, the joys of the military is that they don’t tell you much, you’re on a need to know basis and I am at the bottom of the totem pull!!
I knew I would be asked about jump school, where you jump out of airplanes and get certified but I did not think it would happen in my first hour on post, we went to the 28th CSH head quarters and meet my commanders and was asked when I would be ready to jump, I said not quite there but am working on it, let alone want to do it for fun and not sure want the certification, however it would be pretty cool on the resume!!
The first shock I learned about here on post is there are constant background artillery rounds going most the time; it was my second night that it was so heavy my walls in my hotel were shaking. I learned that this is VERY common and to get used to it, fun fun!!
Fort Bragg is huge, 19 square miles with a couple semi highways where you can drive 55 miles an hour. Most the side streets you can drive 35, it’s nice over the 15 at Ft Sam. We have a north and side PX (shopping center) and commissary (groceries). There is really no reason to leave post except for sanity. We have swimming, rec centers, schools, gyms, shopping, theaters, lakes, trails, shooting ranges, tanks, and convoys, what more could you ask for!! We are also right next to Pope Air force Base where there is a park you can sit and watch the plans fly in and out, it’s pretty amazing how big some of them are. I have so much to learn and see here.
On my 4th day here on Fort Bragg I was able to attend my first dining out. It was pretty cool, very happy I went. Meet lots of people who I don’t remember a lot of names but am sure I will soon and learned a lot. We were blessed to have the 82nd airborne choir to sing to us which was very impressive; we had toasts and saw my first fallen solider tribute, very impressive. It was a pretty cool event and happy to put my dress blue uniform to use.
Currently I am in processing my unit (28th CSH, B Company). I have to meet lots of people and taken several on online tests. Once I am done with this than I will in process at the hospital and hopefully start to do some nursing.
Since I am at Fort Bragg, home of the airborne, I have set some goals for myself. I am very thankful I am assigned to an airborne unit and given the privilege of wearing a red breat, it’s pretty cool because I fit in. if you’re wearing a black breat you kinda stand out. I feel being able to wear the red breat I should also meet the airborne standards. So I have to past my APFT at 80% which means I have to do 34 push-ups in 2 minutes, 64 sit-ups in 2 minutes and run 2 miles in 18:12 along with be able to run 4 miles in 36minutes. I have a lot of work to do and hope to achieve this goal for my fall APFT giving me about 6 months, mind over matter!!!
I will post again soon when I get into the hospital.
Miss you all!!
I knew I would be asked about jump school, where you jump out of airplanes and get certified but I did not think it would happen in my first hour on post, we went to the 28th CSH head quarters and meet my commanders and was asked when I would be ready to jump, I said not quite there but am working on it, let alone want to do it for fun and not sure want the certification, however it would be pretty cool on the resume!!
The first shock I learned about here on post is there are constant background artillery rounds going most the time; it was my second night that it was so heavy my walls in my hotel were shaking. I learned that this is VERY common and to get used to it, fun fun!!
Fort Bragg is huge, 19 square miles with a couple semi highways where you can drive 55 miles an hour. Most the side streets you can drive 35, it’s nice over the 15 at Ft Sam. We have a north and side PX (shopping center) and commissary (groceries). There is really no reason to leave post except for sanity. We have swimming, rec centers, schools, gyms, shopping, theaters, lakes, trails, shooting ranges, tanks, and convoys, what more could you ask for!! We are also right next to Pope Air force Base where there is a park you can sit and watch the plans fly in and out, it’s pretty amazing how big some of them are. I have so much to learn and see here.
On my 4th day here on Fort Bragg I was able to attend my first dining out. It was pretty cool, very happy I went. Meet lots of people who I don’t remember a lot of names but am sure I will soon and learned a lot. We were blessed to have the 82nd airborne choir to sing to us which was very impressive; we had toasts and saw my first fallen solider tribute, very impressive. It was a pretty cool event and happy to put my dress blue uniform to use.
Currently I am in processing my unit (28th CSH, B Company). I have to meet lots of people and taken several on online tests. Once I am done with this than I will in process at the hospital and hopefully start to do some nursing.
Since I am at Fort Bragg, home of the airborne, I have set some goals for myself. I am very thankful I am assigned to an airborne unit and given the privilege of wearing a red breat, it’s pretty cool because I fit in. if you’re wearing a black breat you kinda stand out. I feel being able to wear the red breat I should also meet the airborne standards. So I have to past my APFT at 80% which means I have to do 34 push-ups in 2 minutes, 64 sit-ups in 2 minutes and run 2 miles in 18:12 along with be able to run 4 miles in 36minutes. I have a lot of work to do and hope to achieve this goal for my fall APFT giving me about 6 months, mind over matter!!!
I will post again soon when I get into the hospital.
Miss you all!!
Home Town Recruiting
I was able to come home for 10 days and do some home town recruiting. I am so thankful I was given this opportunity to learn about the non medical and enlisted side of the army and recruitment procedures. As many of you know Iowa City is not a welcoming military town so it was disappointing to walk through the mall in uniform and people either stared or looked away, very sad. It was made up by several people at different places who thanked me for my service.
The sergeants I worked with were great, they welcomed me and let me be a part of whatever I wanted. I made phone calls one day and got hung up on a couple times along with some interesting conversations. I got to sit in a several interviews with prospective soldiers, went on a home visit, and was able to take the pretest for the ASVAB in which I did ok. I was able to help with an APFT (a pt test) for future soldiers; thankfully I didn’t have to run with them. These guys were happy to answer all my questions hopefully I didn’t dive them to crazy. It was another great experience.
The sergeants I worked with were great, they welcomed me and let me be a part of whatever I wanted. I made phone calls one day and got hung up on a couple times along with some interesting conversations. I got to sit in a several interviews with prospective soldiers, went on a home visit, and was able to take the pretest for the ASVAB in which I did ok. I was able to help with an APFT (a pt test) for future soldiers; thankfully I didn’t have to run with them. These guys were happy to answer all my questions hopefully I didn’t dive them to crazy. It was another great experience.
The End of OBLC
After all the excitement of the field we returned to a week and a half of classes again. I was assigned to platoon leader (PL), which meant I was responsible for my classmates regarding their wear abouts and actions. This was much easier said than done, as it was the last couple days together, people started to slack off and didn’t want to be their anymore so everyone was on edge, it was lots of fun (haha)!! Our classes were about leadership, the most important stuff and it was hard to stay focused with the end in sight and eagerness to move into our tacks. Our instructors understood and did all they could to keep us focused but I don’t know what I learned those last couple days.
We hadn’t had a platoon dinner so we set up a simple meeting place to say farewell. We had a blast, most everyone came and it was a great end to the mighty 5th. We cheered to working and meeting each other in the future many times (made for a tuff day after). We continued our celebration back at the barracks (aka hotel, aka 1384) in the hall where we usually hung out, we got kicked off of 4th floor and moved to 5th where we were also kicked out of indicating it was probably time to end the celebration.
The following day we had out briefs and graduation, woohoo!! Graduation was short sweet and to the point. Mixed emotions were going on, we were all happy it was over and ready to move on but sad we were breaking up into our tracks, nobody really said goodbye mostly because we were still living, eating and hanging in the same place.
We were broken up into our tracks, which are specific training for our jobs. We as nurses started right after graduation because our leaders are working on making the Army Nurse Corps the elite Corps of the Army, hooah!! There were 54 for nurses in our class and it was really cool to sit in class and look around and know that we are going to be spread out around the world. I remember sitting in nursing class and thinking how we are all going to be in different fields of nursing and now to know my class is worldwide is a pretty cool feeling. It will be fun to keep in touch with everyone and here about all the different experiences we have.
Our nurse track consisted of several briefs about how the nurse corps runs and who the important people are along with their goals for the future. We learned about all the educational opportunities available to us and I almost was ready to sign my name to nurse anesthesia school program, its free 36 months of intense schooling (only school, no work) and just have to give 4 years. Now who wouldn’t do this, me of course. My fear of anesthesia is I will be get board very fast and there’s not much else you can do but put people to sleep or teach. I haven’t said no but pretty sure it will not be the route I take.
The best part was we were able to go back to Camp Bullis for nurse training day. Our bus ride was awesome; we all had our own seats with space to spare. I was a casualty and we painted ourselves with wounds waiting while the staff got ready for us. We had a couple mental people, several locals including a pregnant woman and many with hidden weapons (fake of course). I wish I could have seen all that was going on, but we kept coming and coming. We slammed the staff with 25 casualties in 30 minutes. They did pretty good triaging and getting us to where we needed to go, it was a fun day!!
We also spent one of our weekends becoming TNCC (trauma nursing core course) certified. It was one VERY long day of lectures over almost trauma that you might see, day two hands on assessing, stabilizing and triaging patients, and day three was testing. I am happy to say that I am now TNCC certified for the next 4 years.
We all left Fort Sam at the same time (March 10) and nobody really said good bye, it was like we were all going to meet again in a day or two. It was so weird but yet I feel several of us will remain friends for some time.
We hadn’t had a platoon dinner so we set up a simple meeting place to say farewell. We had a blast, most everyone came and it was a great end to the mighty 5th. We cheered to working and meeting each other in the future many times (made for a tuff day after). We continued our celebration back at the barracks (aka hotel, aka 1384) in the hall where we usually hung out, we got kicked off of 4th floor and moved to 5th where we were also kicked out of indicating it was probably time to end the celebration.
The following day we had out briefs and graduation, woohoo!! Graduation was short sweet and to the point. Mixed emotions were going on, we were all happy it was over and ready to move on but sad we were breaking up into our tracks, nobody really said goodbye mostly because we were still living, eating and hanging in the same place.
We were broken up into our tracks, which are specific training for our jobs. We as nurses started right after graduation because our leaders are working on making the Army Nurse Corps the elite Corps of the Army, hooah!! There were 54 for nurses in our class and it was really cool to sit in class and look around and know that we are going to be spread out around the world. I remember sitting in nursing class and thinking how we are all going to be in different fields of nursing and now to know my class is worldwide is a pretty cool feeling. It will be fun to keep in touch with everyone and here about all the different experiences we have.
Our nurse track consisted of several briefs about how the nurse corps runs and who the important people are along with their goals for the future. We learned about all the educational opportunities available to us and I almost was ready to sign my name to nurse anesthesia school program, its free 36 months of intense schooling (only school, no work) and just have to give 4 years. Now who wouldn’t do this, me of course. My fear of anesthesia is I will be get board very fast and there’s not much else you can do but put people to sleep or teach. I haven’t said no but pretty sure it will not be the route I take.
The best part was we were able to go back to Camp Bullis for nurse training day. Our bus ride was awesome; we all had our own seats with space to spare. I was a casualty and we painted ourselves with wounds waiting while the staff got ready for us. We had a couple mental people, several locals including a pregnant woman and many with hidden weapons (fake of course). I wish I could have seen all that was going on, but we kept coming and coming. We slammed the staff with 25 casualties in 30 minutes. They did pretty good triaging and getting us to where we needed to go, it was a fun day!!
We also spent one of our weekends becoming TNCC (trauma nursing core course) certified. It was one VERY long day of lectures over almost trauma that you might see, day two hands on assessing, stabilizing and triaging patients, and day three was testing. I am happy to say that I am now TNCC certified for the next 4 years.
We all left Fort Sam at the same time (March 10) and nobody really said good bye, it was like we were all going to meet again in a day or two. It was so weird but yet I feel several of us will remain friends for some time.
Video
Here is a 17 minute video that sums up our 3 weeks out in the field. There are lots of pics and videos bringing back many memories every time I watch it, some of it may not make since so please ask.
Masterminded and created by my friend and fellow soldier 1LT Nong Nopakun.
Hope you enjoy!!
Masterminded and created by my friend and fellow soldier 1LT Nong Nopakun.
Hope you enjoy!!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
FTX 3, Week 3 in the field
Our last week in the field where we put together all the skills we learned the prior two weeks. It turned out to be pretty fun even though we couldn’t shoot blanks and had to say “bang, bang”.
Monday we were briefed and reviewed some important aspects.
Tuesday our group was on convoy where we splint into a MAS and a FAS, in which I was on the MAS. We arrived at our point and set up our treatment area, surprising it didn’t take very long and we were ready to receive causalities. We took a lunch break during which I stuck my hand into a red ant hill and they bit the crap out of my hand, it stung for almost on hour or probably until I got to busy to remember my hand was hurting. Either way it sucked. We received several causalities, performed life maintaining exercises and than evacuated them to higher up. We packed up and moved to a second site where we had to clear the buildings first. I was lucky to be on that tuck and took my best soldiers out and we cleared two buildings without any causality, held cover until troops moved in and started to unpack. Than it got a little crazy with 70 people, who all want to be in charge, trying to run a site that normally would be run by 10 made for some interesting sites. Lots of people died because our cadre stated if we didn’t get along they would kill us off and they did. Over all we did well per cadre and I think we did excellent considering we didn’t really know what to do.
We had to start details tonight and I was assigned to masks, which meant we had to clean all 300 gas masks with a team of 30 and it sucked!! It took 20-30 minutes to clean and dry one mask and we thought we were going to be there forever. Cadre called 30 more people to come and help and it took about 3 hours which was way to long. If they would have been smart about it, each person should have cleaned their own mask but that’s the logical way and we are Army now.
Wednesday we were on the FOB (forward operating base) with a medical site that required defense. It was fun, there were guard towers, ‘police’ at the gate with passwords, and way to many people again. I was blessed to be assigned to the aid and liter team, we took the casualties off the ambulances and triaged them, than when through the medical tents we took them to the choppers (that were stimulated by noise over the intercom). The entertainment of the day was when the gate keepers let a ‘local pregnant women’ come in on a wheel barrow and she made it to our medical tent and blew everyone and thing in a 10 meter radius, it was a disaster. We are taught if we did not create the problem we do not have to treat unless life, limb, or eye site involved. We did NOT create the pregnancy and should not have treated, yes that’s mean but we have to set boundaries.
After lunch we were suppose to change up duties so we weren’t lifting people (mostly to largest guys) all day long and some how ended up on the same duty, I pulled the wrong straw this day. We kept it going and the afternoon went pretty smooth. Cadre said we did very well which is always good even though I think they tell us were doing well no matter what.
This evening we had to clean our weapons which had not been cleaned for at least 3 weeks and we were firing blanks so they were pretty dirty. I almost lost it this night, it was freezing cold, I was dead tired and wanted to go to sleep but instead had to the clean the never clean weapon. I did learn some tricks to cleaning the hard to reach areas and will forever now clean my weapon frequently!!!
Thursday, our last day in the field, which means clean up!!! This is the part they do not tell you about. I feel I got shafted but it only made me stronger!! We started the day with a 4 mile ruck sack march. For the first half I really felt like I was going to fall out and there was no way I was going to make it but after we hit the turning point I was home free and my fellow soldiers motivated me to make it back. The problem is it drained me for the rest of the day. We were soaked from sweat and it was cold out so we were all freezing, I had hot packs in my gloves and shivering.
We were pulled for detail and didn’t know what getting into so we took no supplies (i.e. food). We started by washing trucks, I was already cold and now had to wash tucks with cold water, did not make my day. I was assigned to our CPT who runs the FOB, truck first, one of the guys who was spraying the tucks said get everything wet, especially the seats, that’s what he did. Our drivers seats were soaked, when CPT came out he just smiled and said “the seats are wet?” I replied with ‘it was not my doing’ and he continued to smile and happily got in his truck which I had to guide him to the next step in which I ran aside his tuck instead of walking in front. I ended of soaked, my boots and socks were wet and caused me to receive blisters, in which I had not had any until the last day.
We next went to tour the mock CSH (combat support hospital) which was pretty cool and look forward to seeing what today’s CSH looks like.
Our next detail really upset me, we had to return to gas mask detail. We removed all the masks from their case, replaced missing supplies and signed papers. It sucked!!! I never want to see a gas mask again in my life!! Once we arrived I wanted to scream but when it was over it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
We were than pilled back into the truck and taken back to the FOB where our buses were pulling in behind us. Let me tell you how extremely happy I was about that. As were getting on the buses I was talking to others about their days and some were able to nap and play football and had some free time so I quit asking and got on the bus and came back to Fort Sam.
The field was truly a learning experience; I will not forget it for a long time. I only hope when I go to the field I will work with more people who have a better idea of what they are doing so we are not all running around with our heads cut off. I will miss camping with 25 other females and the baby wipe baths, MRE’s, and hoping I didn’t smell to bad!!!
Now back to the class room, a week and a half part one done and on to nurse track!!
Monday we were briefed and reviewed some important aspects.
Tuesday our group was on convoy where we splint into a MAS and a FAS, in which I was on the MAS. We arrived at our point and set up our treatment area, surprising it didn’t take very long and we were ready to receive causalities. We took a lunch break during which I stuck my hand into a red ant hill and they bit the crap out of my hand, it stung for almost on hour or probably until I got to busy to remember my hand was hurting. Either way it sucked. We received several causalities, performed life maintaining exercises and than evacuated them to higher up. We packed up and moved to a second site where we had to clear the buildings first. I was lucky to be on that tuck and took my best soldiers out and we cleared two buildings without any causality, held cover until troops moved in and started to unpack. Than it got a little crazy with 70 people, who all want to be in charge, trying to run a site that normally would be run by 10 made for some interesting sites. Lots of people died because our cadre stated if we didn’t get along they would kill us off and they did. Over all we did well per cadre and I think we did excellent considering we didn’t really know what to do.
We had to start details tonight and I was assigned to masks, which meant we had to clean all 300 gas masks with a team of 30 and it sucked!! It took 20-30 minutes to clean and dry one mask and we thought we were going to be there forever. Cadre called 30 more people to come and help and it took about 3 hours which was way to long. If they would have been smart about it, each person should have cleaned their own mask but that’s the logical way and we are Army now.
Wednesday we were on the FOB (forward operating base) with a medical site that required defense. It was fun, there were guard towers, ‘police’ at the gate with passwords, and way to many people again. I was blessed to be assigned to the aid and liter team, we took the casualties off the ambulances and triaged them, than when through the medical tents we took them to the choppers (that were stimulated by noise over the intercom). The entertainment of the day was when the gate keepers let a ‘local pregnant women’ come in on a wheel barrow and she made it to our medical tent and blew everyone and thing in a 10 meter radius, it was a disaster. We are taught if we did not create the problem we do not have to treat unless life, limb, or eye site involved. We did NOT create the pregnancy and should not have treated, yes that’s mean but we have to set boundaries.
After lunch we were suppose to change up duties so we weren’t lifting people (mostly to largest guys) all day long and some how ended up on the same duty, I pulled the wrong straw this day. We kept it going and the afternoon went pretty smooth. Cadre said we did very well which is always good even though I think they tell us were doing well no matter what.
This evening we had to clean our weapons which had not been cleaned for at least 3 weeks and we were firing blanks so they were pretty dirty. I almost lost it this night, it was freezing cold, I was dead tired and wanted to go to sleep but instead had to the clean the never clean weapon. I did learn some tricks to cleaning the hard to reach areas and will forever now clean my weapon frequently!!!
Thursday, our last day in the field, which means clean up!!! This is the part they do not tell you about. I feel I got shafted but it only made me stronger!! We started the day with a 4 mile ruck sack march. For the first half I really felt like I was going to fall out and there was no way I was going to make it but after we hit the turning point I was home free and my fellow soldiers motivated me to make it back. The problem is it drained me for the rest of the day. We were soaked from sweat and it was cold out so we were all freezing, I had hot packs in my gloves and shivering.
We were pulled for detail and didn’t know what getting into so we took no supplies (i.e. food). We started by washing trucks, I was already cold and now had to wash tucks with cold water, did not make my day. I was assigned to our CPT who runs the FOB, truck first, one of the guys who was spraying the tucks said get everything wet, especially the seats, that’s what he did. Our drivers seats were soaked, when CPT came out he just smiled and said “the seats are wet?” I replied with ‘it was not my doing’ and he continued to smile and happily got in his truck which I had to guide him to the next step in which I ran aside his tuck instead of walking in front. I ended of soaked, my boots and socks were wet and caused me to receive blisters, in which I had not had any until the last day.
We next went to tour the mock CSH (combat support hospital) which was pretty cool and look forward to seeing what today’s CSH looks like.
Our next detail really upset me, we had to return to gas mask detail. We removed all the masks from their case, replaced missing supplies and signed papers. It sucked!!! I never want to see a gas mask again in my life!! Once we arrived I wanted to scream but when it was over it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
We were than pilled back into the truck and taken back to the FOB where our buses were pulling in behind us. Let me tell you how extremely happy I was about that. As were getting on the buses I was talking to others about their days and some were able to nap and play football and had some free time so I quit asking and got on the bus and came back to Fort Sam.
The field was truly a learning experience; I will not forget it for a long time. I only hope when I go to the field I will work with more people who have a better idea of what they are doing so we are not all running around with our heads cut off. I will miss camping with 25 other females and the baby wipe baths, MRE’s, and hoping I didn’t smell to bad!!!
Now back to the class room, a week and a half part one done and on to nurse track!!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
FTX 2, Week 2 in the field
This week we did lots of waiting. The highlights are we stated with CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear). We learned to put on our JS List in under 8 minutes which includes pants, jacket, boots, mask, and gloves. They say we will be protected by what ever we may come into contact with; I guess I have to trust them. We than entered the gas chamber. We started with our masks on and it wasn’t bad, I could spend all day. Than they made us take our mask off and say our SSN and it was ok but don’t need to do it again. Came walking out and had tears, snot, and drooling along with my face burning but it all went away in a couple minutes. So if they say I have to do it again, I know I will survive.
We learned to clear a building using a four man team. I was rear support-no was going to enter the room! This was the best day, we got to shot blanks and shot them at each other so we had a blast. Lots of officers running around shooting each other, you can only imagine!
We were to run a convoy mission but the day we were scheduled there was a REAL fire that caused us to wait until the next day. Because of the fire we were than unable to shot blanks and have stimulated gun fire in the field so it took ALL the fun out of it. We were sitting in our convoys with our weapons pointed out the windows with no ammo and no magazines even in our weapons. Our instructors would inform us if there was suppose to be people shooting at us and we had to say “bang, bang”. It was so disappointing but it’s done, hopefully next week we can go back to blanks.
We had to test out on a bunch of other simple things and than spent Friday afternoon sitting around for 4 hours waiting for our buses to come get us. It was tiring so I took a nap!!
We only have one week left in the field and its only 4 days. It’s kind of sad that it’s almost over. I have thoroughly enjoyed this, it gives me an idea of what my patients are doing on a daily basis because you don’t want me running convoys and clearing buildings!!
Talk to you all next week and will post pics.
Take care!!!
We learned to clear a building using a four man team. I was rear support-no was going to enter the room! This was the best day, we got to shot blanks and shot them at each other so we had a blast. Lots of officers running around shooting each other, you can only imagine!
We were to run a convoy mission but the day we were scheduled there was a REAL fire that caused us to wait until the next day. Because of the fire we were than unable to shot blanks and have stimulated gun fire in the field so it took ALL the fun out of it. We were sitting in our convoys with our weapons pointed out the windows with no ammo and no magazines even in our weapons. Our instructors would inform us if there was suppose to be people shooting at us and we had to say “bang, bang”. It was so disappointing but it’s done, hopefully next week we can go back to blanks.
We had to test out on a bunch of other simple things and than spent Friday afternoon sitting around for 4 hours waiting for our buses to come get us. It was tiring so I took a nap!!
We only have one week left in the field and its only 4 days. It’s kind of sad that it’s almost over. I have thoroughly enjoyed this, it gives me an idea of what my patients are doing on a daily basis because you don’t want me running convoys and clearing buildings!!
Talk to you all next week and will post pics.
Take care!!!
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