So what was Thanksgiving like in Iraq? A little different and a lot the same would be my answer. We had a patient scheduled this morning. So although we had the day off, I didn't get to sleep in. The kicker was that he didn't even show up. The rest of the day was similar to a day I would have spent at home. Surfed the Internet, watched some TV, called home and talked to family, and ate a lot of good food. I had a chance to help serve Thanksgiving...read more

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I was able to link to the other artwork barriers that I had taken pictures of while in Kuwait. You can find them here. It was interesting to see that the unit represented were from other countries (Australia, French Foreign Legion, UK) as well as barriers painted from just about every branch of the US Army (finance, artillery, aviation, medical, transportation, engineers, etc...) Enjoy!

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We arrived in Iraq in style on a C 130. We will be working at Camp Speicher near Tikrit, Iraq for the next little while.

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Greetings from Iraq. We have hit the ground running and I have a couple of cases we did to post about. The previous dentists that we replaced had done a great job. In particular was this challenging case that they had identified and I began working on. The patient had external root resorption. It was only visible on the x-ray until you pull the gums back. Notice the dark oval looking area on the 2nd tooth from the left. It was a pretty large hole...read more

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There are some places you don't expect to find artwork - on a military base in Kuwait was one for me. Since Kuwait is used as a place when troops come in and go out, many of them want to leave their mark. The following are some of my favorites - of course the 2 dental units I found are among them. In all I took pictures of over 50 - if armystrongstories can let me know where I can place those pictures, I will link to them so you can see some of the hundreds I saw. I...read more

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The 2nd half of the week seemed to go by just as quickly. We had a chance to fire our weapons and qualify at the range. We learned about our protective body armor. We had additional classes that were mandatory prior to departure, and then the big day came. For most of us the day began around 5 am when we started to turn in our linens, got breakfast, packed, and organized everything else we had to finish up. When the time was ready we...read more

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We spent some time in Kuwait completing some additional training and catching up on some much needed rest. I was amazed by the things that were available to us at the base. These tents were pretty cool. They had plenty of room, were air conditioned, and were used for multiple purposes around the base. Since there weren't drinking fountains, water points were everywhere with plenty of bottled water. Outside view of the commonly used tents....read more

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I can't say that the flight over was the most enjoyable thing I have ever experienced. It was long!!!! Since I had gotten up at 5 am, by the time I was in bed in Kuwait, I had been up for close to 38 hours, and traveling for 27. I was ready for bed when we arrived at our camp. Once we left Ft. Benning, we flew to our first stop to refuel. The layover was about 5 hours, and most people took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep. We then...read more

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We are about half way done at CRC (Conus Replacement Center). There were 3 of us that left from Ft. Belvoir together. Most of the Soldiers in our unit were at the airport waiting for us when we arrived. They visited with us for a while, and in the end they lined up and made a tunnel for the families to go through. We had a chance to visit with our families at the gate before we left, and then we were off to Ft. Benning. We arrived and got checked into...read more

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So in the spirit of sharing aspects of the deployment and the preparation for it, I chronicled the smallpox vaccination for you....enjoy :) It starts out with 15 small pokes with the vaccine. Nothing more then a little redness at first. Then it starts to look like a small pimple. Then it just keeps getting bigger and you begin to wonder when it will stop. When I would air it out it would scab up a little. And finally done -...read more

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