Hanging Out In CA

I love vacations!!! I spent 4 days in Santa Cruz with friends. Went sailing with friends in the Monterrey Bay with friends. It was gorgeous! A birthday celebration on the sailboat that then extended to the Crow's Nest Restaurant lasting until the wee hours of the morning.

The next morning I went hiking with Kim up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I feel so at home and safe there. I cannot wait until I am done working and can retire out there. You know...20 years from now...

Duck Bowling Anyone?

Amy and I after a rough start to our day today decided to have a little fun this afternoon and went bowling. But not just regular bowling, we went Duck Bowling. The ball is a lot smaller and you get three chances each round to knock down the pins. We played three rounds and then tallied up the scores to learn that we tied. Not a Frontier Ranch tie, but an actual tie. Why aren't at the bowling lanes more often?

Happy Memorial Day

I was tasked today to provide medical support to the Memorial Day Service at Arlington National Cemetery. Walter Reed supplied the ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) Team consisting of 1 Emergency Physician, 1 ICU (ALCS/PALS) Nurse, and 3 Combat Medics. We worked with the Regimental Aid Station Medics to set up stations around the event to provided any emergency care needed. The Emergency Physician Dr Heavy and I were placed in a central location in which we could "quickly respond" if needed. Thankfully, we were not needed during today's events.

Dr Heavy is pushing our gurney back towards our ambulance. Behind me is President Obama. We were roughly 20-30 feet away from him at our closest. (Thanks to my new former Air Force Secret Service friend!)

And holy heck was it hot in those jackets. I all showed up in our Class B uniforms (dress pants and dress shirt without the formal jacket). I was hoping for a nice cross-breeze to help keep us cool. When we arrived we learned that we had to wear the black jackets with a red cross on our shoulders. Those jackets were crazy hot in that heat. While we all looked sharp, I feel really bad for the 1LT that I borrowed the jacket from.

A shorter than normal day as it started at 0400 and I was home by 1400. A mere 10-hour day. What great day!

Almost Took Flight

Today we got to go play on a CH-47 Chinook. We brought two fully packaged "Rescue Randy" mannequins to allow us to see what loading and unloading would be like with this particular airframe. First off it was LOUD!!! The little foam earplugs didn't do as much as I had hoped.

As we watched other Chinooks take off and land the excitement level continued to grow. Once we had our "patients" loaded and secured we all gathered for our safety brief from the Crew Chief. We then all sat down and buckled in as the engines started. Soon after the engines started the rotors began to spin. That is a cool feeling as that helicopter is so huge. Not long after the rotors began to spin we all could feel the rotors slowing down and eventually stopping just before we heard the engines turn off. Our helicopter broke. Yup, it broke. (Although I would rather have it break before taking off then while we were in the air...)

Sad day for me as I did not get to fly. But I had a blast getting to be so hands-on with our helicopters and getting to talk with the pilots in training that will soon be deployed with us. And the huge bonus was that the weather agreed with us for a change. It was only

in the 80s and oober humid and not the 90s. It is the little things that I am often the most grateful for.

Scenarios and Dakota Holes

Today was our big test day. It was a 100-question multiple guess exam. And yes, I passed (thanks for doubting me...) Afterwards we went to the Airfield to get a hands-on tour of a UH-60 Blackhawk. It was pretty cool to watch all the pilot students flying around checking off their required skill sets. After lunch we returned to our training site to run through some more scenarios inside our helicopters. It is so small in those cabins and so amazingly hot!!! Just before being dismissed to head home for the night we spent an hour reviewing our survival training. I am now proficient at setting up a Dakota hole to provide fire for heat and to cook food. Ah the things I learn while at military training.

Work Hard, Play Harder!

We spent an outrageous numbers of hours in the classroom this past week learning about military flight nursing. It was a great week, but an exhausting week. So this weekend we decided to play even harder than we had been studying. I went with three fellow classmates and one of their cousins to Florida to hit the water. Jetskiing, parasailing, and some really good company. What a great weekend. I have the sunburn to prove it!

Week One of JECC Done

I had an amazing day today! It was back to the pool this morning to participate in the Dunker. We started with 15 students being turned upside down while strapped into floating chairs while learning how to "egress" from helicopter seats. Some were with eyes open and some were with blackout goggles. Eleven of us passed the three qualifying events allowing us to to climb into the actual Dunker. We were strapped into the cabin of a helicopter as it was lowered into the pool before being flipped over. While we were upside down we had to find our reference point (wall of cabin) before pushing out the windows and unbuckling our seatbelts. Once we were free of our belts we were able to exit the cabin and swim to the top. (Remember this is all done upside down.) Our first two trips into the Dunker were done with our eyes open. Our third and final trip into the Dunker was done with our blackout goggles on. It was a little scary, but it sure was fun!!

After getting cleaned up and having a quick lunch it was back to the skills training facility. We spent the afternoon reviewing our flight equipment before pairing up and jumping into the back of our simulators to run a flight. Let's just say my patient did not do as well as I would have liked. But on the brighter side...lesson learned.

Day Four of JECC

Today we spent the morning in lecture. A lot of this information is review but there is a fair amount that is new to me or at least presented in a different manner.

After lunch we returned to the skills lab to review a few more lectures prior to lesson on "quick packaging" of our patients. Since I have never packaged a patient for a helicopter ride it was interesting to see different methods.

Day Three of JECC

I left the Army for about 2 hours today and sort of joined the Navy. We took a break from the didactic portion of the Joint Enroute Care Course here at Ft Rucker in Alabama to take a swim test. In a full set of ACUs, a flight vest, and flight helmet we had to swim a lap across the pool. Surprisingly that was easier than I had expected. Our second task was to tread water for two minutes before taking off our helmets and doing a dead-man's float with the helmet under our stomachs. The helmet provided an amazing amount of flotation. After a 10 minute break I was then back in the water to learn how to inflate a life vest (the kind that sits under the seat of your plane.) We had to inflate the vests while under water because it would be far too easy to attempt this with our heads above water...I had a blast!!!

We then headed back to the classroom for a few more hours of lecture before heading for some skills training. The skills training is going to be pretty sweet. They have a UH-60 and an HH-60 (two different types of medical helicopters) with a Sim-Man in each. I am really looking forward to what they are going to throw at us.

A glimpse at my timeline today:

0515 report to class

0530 lecture begins

0730 report to swim training

0900 brunch

1000 lecture resumes

1230 report to skills training

1800 end of day

Yup, my days are super long. In the long run they all these hours of class and skills lab will be worth it when I am helping to fly our Wounded Warriors out of Iraq.

Safe in Alabama

I finally arrived to Ft Rucker's lodging facility at 0030 on Monday morning. Yup, that is right, MONDAY MORNING!!! I got settled in my room and was able to go to bed around 0130. When my alarm went off at 0445 to get me up to go to class I was not in a happy place. Thankfully I made to class on time and have met some really cool people. The former Head Nurse of the ICU I work in is in the class with me. While I think I have a fair amount of studying ahead of me I am stoked to be here. Will update with some pics soon!

Still waiting

It is now 6 hours after my original flight was supposed to leave Atlanta for Alabama. I am starting to get a little too cozy on the airport seats. I am stretched out over 4 seats watching Chuck online and chatting Facebook. The only aspect of this 24-hours that is not exciting me is the 0530 signing in tomorrow morning. I sure hope my luggage shows up in Alabama at the same time I do...

Unexpected Layover

As I write this I am sitting in Atlanta International Airport's USO. I am in the middle of flying from the DC area to Dothan, Alabama. My flight from DC to Atlanta took off about 40 minutes late giving me a mere 20 minutes to get from the back of one plane to the gate of my next. Yeah, did not make it. The people with Delta immediately booked me on the next flight to Dothan (2130!). So I have a little time to kill.

I am enroute to to Ft Rucker for to attend the Joint Enroute Care Course. Their mission is to provide concise, realistic, relevant and current enroute trauma transport team training to Joint and Coalition Forces Flight Medics, Registered Nurses, Physician Assistants and Physicians conducting aeromedical operations in rotary wing [helicopter] platforms to ensure optimal enroute patient outcomes.

While I am looking forward to the course, I am currently very grateful for the USO!