Time is flying...

By so fast, I didn't realize how long it had been since my last post! Strange how fast the time goes, even when you don't really do a whole lot with your days, except work, eat, and workout...

So, we have been here for 10 weeks now and we are already starting to wind down... I can't believe that it is already time for me to find some boxes to send stuff home, and that the cut-off for sending mail here is two weeks from today! Alright, onto the good stuff...

I guess starting where I left off is appropriate... Ha-ha. So a few days after Nurses' Week ended, we had our patch ceremony. It is the ceremony where you are recognized as now being a part of a deployed unit, and you get to wear their patch on your right shoulder as a permanent part of your uniform. For most people, it wasn't their first deployment patch, but for me it was a pretty momentous event. Now I get to say, "Been there, done that." Here I am cheesing it in front of the flags, showing off my patch, and a photo with one of our four FLAs... I think it was Brokan, but I can't remember for sure. I certainly won't miss the FLAs... All they do is bring us patients that don't speak English!

About a week after our patch ceremony, we had our PT test in the heat of the morning at 0530 and as always I was the first female across the finish line, and the third overall, for the run... COL Keen (our Deputy Commander for Nursing) was out cheering us on, but said to me as I ran by, "Now CPT Richert, you be nice to the boys this morning!" My reply was, "Well Sir, I just don't think I can do that today... But maybe tomorrow!" He is a riot and a pretty good role model too.

So, as for the ER goes, we have a pretty good time and it has been moderately busy for a four-bed ER. It waxes and wanes, but this one particular evening at the end of May, we were busy and I was passing out a lot of narcotics... And realized at one point I had Demerol and Dilaudid taped to me, and Percocets in my pocket... Every Joint Commission surveyor's worst nightmare! So, of course, I had to photographically document it and broadcast it to the world! The funniest part is that I am the Joint Commission Officer... I guess I had better clean up my act! Ha-ha. We also had a replacement doc for awhile due to one of our docs taking emergency leave, so we had to initiate him appropriately with a little "surgilube-on-the-earpiece-of-the-phone" hijinx... And here is one of our nurses doing the deed! Lastly, I transitioned to evenings about a week ago and it has been rough... It has been about nine months since I have had to interact with the daytime work world and I fear I am not making the transition well. :(

To round out this entry, a group of us went on the Camp Slayer palace tours a few days ago. We were able to tour Uday Hussein's palace, the Victory over Iran palace, the Victory over America palace, the Ba'ath Party House, and the last mural of Saddam Hussein still standing on VBC. It was amazing to experience a part of modern history, and mind blowing to see what firepower can do! This photo was taken from the veranda of Uday's palace, looking at where a JDAM (Joint Attack Direct Munition) hit the roof of the palace. None of the palaces have been cleaned up at all, so their post-bombing state has been preserved for the most part. It was pretty awesome to see and somewhat eerie at the same time, almost like someone's ghost was going to jump out at you from one of the dark rooms, especially in the Ba'ath Party House where 200 people were killed when we bombed it with a Tomahawk missle. And here I am with a very young, dapper-looking Saddam... Who was never in the military by the way, so disregard all of the combat medals he had painted on himself. Ha-ha.

Well, that brings us up to the present date! I hope you have been enjoying the updates from Iraq and there will be a few more to come, but we are hitting to home stretch and the 14th CSH should be here soon to take over for us... Yeah!

66HM5 out...