Groundhog Day: The "Real" One

So.....Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow? Bastard! Who gave him the glasses anyway???

Analogous to 6 more weeks of winter back home, I am also stuck in my own "groundhog day" here in Afghanistan for 6 more weeks or so. And it has been gloomy, wet, and cold weather here lately.

However, I am planning on bringing some Arizona sunshine to my experience here and am looking forward to working on making the transition to a new rotation of trauma teams a positive one. I will be busy helping with orientation, teaching, and training up the new group. It should be challenging yet fun.

I was, once again, amazed at the recent teamwork in the trauma bay here in Kandahar at the Role 3 hospital. The week prior to our MASCAL Drill, we had 2 "real" multi casualty events that everyone pulled together for and performed flawlessly. So, when the drill came up, it was a piece of cake for us. "Just another day at work doing what we always do" is what the Chief of Trauma said at the beginning of the drill. "Tru dat" as Morgan would say! We had one of our "dead" moulaged victims want to come in and see the drill so we chanted "Dead Man Walking" as he came through. I guess my trauma team figured we are so good we can "raise the dead" as we brought him into our bay. Our last picture as a group (the trauma teams) ended in plates of shaving cream being smashed in a few faces. Not as tasty as whipped cream, though. Fun times!