Our final week in the field!

It's amazing how quickly the last 3 weeks flew by.  This last week in the field was an absolute blast.  It started out kinda crappy because we had a 0400 formation Monday morning to get on the buses.  That was a bit early.  Other than that, we had amazing training that really helped us understand how medicine is delivered on the battlefront. 

Monday morning was spent in a mock-up of a Combat Support Hospital.  The ICU has 12 beds (which are nothing more than cots) and would be staffed with only 4-5 nurses.  We pulled a PA from the OR and asked him to act like our Intensivist.  He really didn't have any ICU experience, but we did our best getting him up to speed.

Battlefield Life Support System!

Our ICU Team.  We had fun teaching the PA about the ICU.

On Tuesday, we learned about loading blackhawk helicopters with litter patients.  That was pretty darn cool!  We also did an exercise in level 1 care, which is almost the closest you can get to the front line.  I was selected as a patient and was about to be loaded on the chopper when one of my new friends got too hot.  She has been a near-heat casualty multiple times, so I felt it was more important for her to get to an A/C building than for me to ride the blackhawk.

Wednesday was Level 2 care, and I was part of a litter team.  Talk about an amazing work-out.  The sweat was rolling down that day.  It was crazy hot and running all over the place to pick-up casualties and carry them on a litter was quite the work-out.

Of course, we still had time for some fun in between all of the work we did.

We had chow detail and decided to get creative with the cups!

You don't want to mess with a psychologist who sleeps with a knife and a water gun!

Don't we look tough?  Don't mess with these 2 chicks!

I am glad the field is over so I can get back to normal showers, flushing toilets, etc.  I had a blast out there, but civilization is where I prefer to be.  A couple of my new buddies and I drank a toast with some tequila I had brought on our last night in the field.  See, I don't always follow the rules.

I was lucky to have a 4-day weekend so I came home to Wisconsin on Friday.  Unfortunately, Jorge had to work this whole weekend, so I've been doing stuff around the house.  I leave tomorrow morning, to return to San Antonio.  We graduate on Tuesday and then start our job-specific training.  I cannot wait to learn how to be a nurse!  (I hope you picked-up on the sarcasm!)

I hope all of you are having a great Labor Day weekend.

Take care!

--DV