15 April 2007
Well I think I'm mostly recovered from my 'field' exercise (FTX). Our 1SG wanted to go to the field last week to do our final train up on tasks we'll be tested on during the Expert Field Medic Badge (EFMB) testing the first two weeks of May. Now don't get me wrong, in the Army we're all about going to the field, but this was not a typical field exercise, or experience in any field type of way.
Our 'field' was located about 2 miles from our company area, still within the limits of Casey which is pretty impressive considering Casey is only about 4 miles at it's longest stretches. We basically camped out at the air assault tower or Rappelling tower. Due to our battalion commanders request we still had to put camo netting over our sleep tents, yes we had to have sleep tents we couldn't rough it, and we had to surround our sleep area in barb wire - to keep the bad guys out. So we spent the better part of our first day in 'the field' setting up camp...in the rain since it's now the beginning of monsoon season.
We spent, or really I should say the soldiers spent, the next two days going over the tasks for the EFMB. We actually did get a company commander - a real Captain who is a medical service officer and is actually going to be around for a year!!!! He has to sign for all the equipment in the company by the end of April so instead of staying in the field and learning the tasks, I spent my first two days as a real platoon leader and developed a plan for my platoon to lay out all the equipment.
It rained every day on us, and it's not warm rain yet, it was cold windy rain. I got the flu which sucks but since there's a risk for some pretty nasty bugs out here that are pretty lethal and have flu like symptoms I was more-less forced to go to the clinic and get tested for all the bugs. I have the flu...like I told everyone. But, the one good thing about being in a medical company is that I have it in with all the providers, so CPT August, one of the PAs hooked me up with all sorts of drugs that I don't know what they do and lets face it, I don't take them all. She put me on quarters which meant I literally wasn't allowed to leave my room all weekend. She gave me stuff to help me sleep and I actually slept which I'm not known to sleep well so that was nice. The next two weeks are devoted to layouts of all the equipment, then it's right into EFMB.
I'm sure time will fly now that we have so much on our plates. I'm more than a quarter through my time here in Korea, two more months and I have to decide where I want to go next and ultimately what I want to do in the Army. Well...maybe not ultimately, but it's something I personally want to figure out soon. I'm looking into New York and Alaska, two cold places where it most likely will not snow while I'm there because I will be there, but a girl can dream.
Our 'field' was located about 2 miles from our company area, still within the limits of Casey which is pretty impressive considering Casey is only about 4 miles at it's longest stretches. We basically camped out at the air assault tower or Rappelling tower. Due to our battalion commanders request we still had to put camo netting over our sleep tents, yes we had to have sleep tents we couldn't rough it, and we had to surround our sleep area in barb wire - to keep the bad guys out. So we spent the better part of our first day in 'the field' setting up camp...in the rain since it's now the beginning of monsoon season.
We spent, or really I should say the soldiers spent, the next two days going over the tasks for the EFMB. We actually did get a company commander - a real Captain who is a medical service officer and is actually going to be around for a year!!!! He has to sign for all the equipment in the company by the end of April so instead of staying in the field and learning the tasks, I spent my first two days as a real platoon leader and developed a plan for my platoon to lay out all the equipment.
It rained every day on us, and it's not warm rain yet, it was cold windy rain. I got the flu which sucks but since there's a risk for some pretty nasty bugs out here that are pretty lethal and have flu like symptoms I was more-less forced to go to the clinic and get tested for all the bugs. I have the flu...like I told everyone. But, the one good thing about being in a medical company is that I have it in with all the providers, so CPT August, one of the PAs hooked me up with all sorts of drugs that I don't know what they do and lets face it, I don't take them all. She put me on quarters which meant I literally wasn't allowed to leave my room all weekend. She gave me stuff to help me sleep and I actually slept which I'm not known to sleep well so that was nice. The next two weeks are devoted to layouts of all the equipment, then it's right into EFMB.
I'm sure time will fly now that we have so much on our plates. I'm more than a quarter through my time here in Korea, two more months and I have to decide where I want to go next and ultimately what I want to do in the Army. Well...maybe not ultimately, but it's something I personally want to figure out soon. I'm looking into New York and Alaska, two cold places where it most likely will not snow while I'm there because I will be there, but a girl can dream.
1 comment:
I'm sorry to hear that you had the flu. It was definally something nasty here in the states, and I'm sure it is worse over there.
I like the idea of New York!! But I might be considered partial. This girl can dream too of seeing her cousin more.
Post a Comment