Honoring the California Fallen

Army Sergeant William B. GrossPaniagua, 28, of Daly City, CA, was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, HI. SGT GrossPaniagua died in the Kunar Province, AFG, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

What I Work With

We had been waiting for almost 6 days for a mission. It is a good thing when the emergency medical services are not needed, however, it makes for a lot of down time that needs to be filled...

10th MTN Flight Medic and Crew Chief

One of the Flight Medics documenting on his patient during flight

One of our Crew Chiefs awaiting our morning "spin-up"

The Clouds Rolling In

I highly recommend turning your volume ALL THE WAY DOWN before playing this video. On a flight back to base after a medical flight the clouds started to roll in over some local mountains. There was a little turbulence so the video is a little shaky, but to see gorgeous white clouds against the brown mountains of AFG was pretty awesome! Oddly enough I am looking forward to the snow season...

Where I Live

As the Dustoff Medevac is oncall 24/7 we spend about two thirds of our time at work. Currently we work 62 hours on and have 34 hours off. We have a room (about the size of most of your kitchens) broken up into to 9 sleeping areas. Each sub-room is separated by plywood from the neighboring sub-room. We don't have doors on the sub-rooms so we have hung a blanket at each little entrance to try to keep any extra light out of it. We usually keep the lights turned off and the main door closed to let people sleep whenever they need to. We each try to get a nap during the day as we never know if there will be a call in the middle of the night and how long we will be out on that call. Here is a glimpse of the sleeping room that I share with the other nurse CPT Boatwright.

When I am not on duty, I have another room a little but bigger back in our LSA. It too is separated from my neighbor with plywood and the exterior walls, well, it is a huge tent. Thankfully it is air-conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter. We don't use the main lights here either in case someone is sleeping, so we each have a reading light that actually works pretty well. Don't you love my comforter?!? I am only here for 6 months so I thought I would find something super random (and on sale). My alarm clock is even Disney Princess!

I know, I am adorable~

Honoring the Paktika Province Loses

Army Master Sergeant Benjamin Stevenson, 36, of Canyon Lake, TX, was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, NC. MSG Stevenson died in the Paktika Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire.

Honoring the California Fallen

Army Staff Sergeant James M. Christen, 29, of Loomis, CA, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, HI. SSG Christen died in the Kunar Province of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

Also killed was Army Sergeant Jacob Molina.

Women's World Cup: Team USA

Team USA v Team Japan in the Championship game

Team USA 2 : Team Japan 2

Penalty Kick Shootout to decide the game

Team USA 1 : Team Japan 3

Congratulations to Team Japan on their first World Championship!

Everyone has their favorite teams. Whether it is baseball, football, hockey, basketball, golf (is golf a sport?), everyone seems to have that one team they root for. Since 1994 I have followed the US Women's' National Soccer Team. Ask my mom about the posters that covered my closet doors, you couldn't even see the doors themselves.

From Michelle Akers to Mia Hamm to Abby Wambach and Ali Krieger, I can tell you all about their game.

This time I watched the World Cup via the internet. While at work (I work 62 hour shifts) I don't have access to AFN (Armed Forces Network) and our internet is shut down after unfortunate events that occur locally. I was able to watch the USA v Brazil game while at the gym. (Who knew I could run for that long?!?) What an amazing game!!! I was bummed to miss the Championship game but read all about it as soon as our internet came up about 18 hours later. While I was bummed that the US did not win I was super stoked that they were in the Championship game. They had not made it to the level of the World Cup since they won in 1999 at the Rose Bowl.

Well played Team USA!!! I am excited to see what happens in London in 2012!

Honoring Paktika Province Losses

Army Sergeant Jeremy R Summers, 27, of Mount Olivet, KY, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, KY. SGT Summers died in the Paktika province after enemy forces attacked his unit with small-arms fire.

Night Vision Goggle Training

Getting fitted with my flight helmet

With SSG Marcel

A view of one of our Medevac's

 

Women's World Cup: Team USA

Team USA beat Brazil



USA 2 : Brazil 2



Penalty Kick Shootout USA 5 : Brazil 4

If you could only watch one game of this tournament THIS WAS THE ONE!!!

Well played TEAM USA!!!

And thanks for giving me something to look forward!

Honoring Paktika Province Loses

Army Specialist Rafael A. Nieves Jr, 22, of Albany, NY, was assigned to 1st Battalion, 506th Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, KY. SPC Nieves died in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires.

Random Pictures

My medic and Crew Chief during our morning "spin-up"

The 10th Mountain Aviation Charlie Company's Second Platoon getting addicted to The Big Bang Theory. And, you're welcome!

A community high up in the montains of Afghanistan

Our water is bottled here by Coca-Cola?!? They are everywhere!

Women's World Cup: Team USA

Team USA lost to Sweden

USA 1 : Sweden 2

Team USA will move on to the quarterfinals and face Brazil on 10JUL.

FOB Sharana

I flew into FOB Sharana today. Some one forgot to reserve us seats to fly fixed wing so since I work for a rotor wing Medevac crew they just flew us down. First class travel!!!

Will get some pics up soon.

Flying to FOB Sharana

We have completed our training here at Bargram Army Airfield. And today we are being sent to our duty locations. CPT Camisha Boatwright and flew to FOB Sharana today. We had thought we would be flying in a C-130 (fixed wing) but instead went as passengers via rotor wing on a tail to tail (patient transfer from a Forward Surgical Team site to a Combat Support Hospital)

And a view out the window of my ride...

Notice the huge weapon for safety...

Honoring the California Fallen

Army Sergeant Nicanor Amper IV, 36, of San Jose CA, was assigned to the 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Knox, KY. SGT Amper IV died in Kwost, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with a rocket propelled grenade.

Dustoff Training

As we get ready to head out to our different FOBs (Foward Operating Bases) the Dustoff Medevac unit we are with is helping us out with some final safety and scenario training. This morning we spent time in one of the Blackhawks learning about emergency evacuation. One part of the training is learning how to evacuate the pilots from their seats. Most of us just went through the motions until the it was Jason's turn. Since he was the last one to train our instructor had him actually pull me off the seat. I am sure hoping that NONE OF US will ever have to actually utilize any of the emergency training we practiced.

Once the sun went down we worked through some scenarios with our pilots, crew chiefs, and flight medics. The pilots spun up the aircraft so we could safely practice "hot loading" the patients with all the monitoring equipment. The crew chiefs and medics helped direct us through some final safety measures while we discussed treatments for our scenarios. Today's training was probably the most helpful so far.

In Memoriam

Two years ago today the world lost an amazing woman and heaven gained a super star.
Carol Ruth (Johnson) Gosline born on 11FEB1959 in Redwood City, CA. The summer after graduating high school in 1977 Carol was crowned Miss Redwood City and Miss Congeniality. Married in 1981 she had two children Kyle and Paige. After suffering a divorce and living two years as a single mom Carol met and married Carl Gosline in 2002. In 2006 Carol was diagnosed with a rare cancer. She fought valiantly for 2.5 years before losing her battle on 3JUL2009. Carol is survived by her husband Carl, children Kyle and Paige, step-children Josh and Brittany, her mother Marilyn, and her brother Stan and his family.
Carol was one of the women I am blessed to call "my other mom". She watched me and mentored me through my last year of high school and my first few years of college. She held my hand and walked me through learning to grow up and was at times my biggest cheerleader.
I am so lucky to have had you not only in my life but also showing me how to live life. I am a far better person for having known you. Thank you for all you did for me. I hope I can continue to make you proud. I love you!

Women's World Cup: Team USA

Team USA beat Colombia

USA 3 : Colombia 0

Training in Bagram

With CPT Jamie Rodriguez testing the communication system in our helmets

Learning to trust the rescue system in our safety vests
(And auditioning for Disneyland's TinkerBell)

Egressing the vehicle during "rollover" training

CPT Rodriguez buckling up in prepatation for "rollover" training