I got my medic bag in the summer of 2008 from the medic from the 3rd ACR in FOB Caudwell , and it helped shape how I operated as a medic in the field. So a year and a half later with 100+ convoys, a minor IED attack and several rips/tears made along the way it has become a very sentimental item for me. Today I let it go. More like passed on to the new medic in our unit who could use it. Because the medic bag is what you center around everything you do outside the clinic. It is hard to work...read more

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Most of the time there are plenty of reasons to say why they do not like their jobs. but yesterday was different. I got a chance to work with someone that was having a hard time with the sticking some one with a needle. Not to mention that he never used the type of needle that day. So after talking with him, explaining how the needle works with a dummy artery, and seeing him make that stick on the third try when it was about to give up give a huge sense of...read more

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Orginally posted on Jul. 10th, 2008. I have seen a few things here that anybody else would say that is crazy as hell. I have two examples of this; the first one was when we found a pair of anti-tank mines a few days ago and the second was a yesterday when we where inspecting a blast hole. Well common sense would say that if you found any explosives to leave it alone and call the bomb squad(EOD), here we had a IA dig both of the anti-tank mines up and carried them in one hand like he...read more

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Well I have been active in the past few days. The first was when we went to a Iraqi primary school to help with some needed repairs. It seemed that some of the doors and windows were damaged and broken. We did managed to replace one door and completely re-framed at the same time. But because all of the other doors where metal and built into the building they could not be replaced. We did manage to get some of the windows replaced too. But that is not what made it different this time. The place...read more

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One of the posters was showing a photo of a MRAP, but they where replaced with the 6 wheel version. But I did get a few photos of MRAPs that the Iraqi Army used.     So has any one here had a chance to ride in one of these and is it any different then the 6 wheel version?  

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This was originally post on October 17th of 2008, so the number of people at the gas stations went down a few months after this. But the number of people selling fuel on the side of the road was the same as of June 25, 2009 when I did my last convoy. One thing that I have seen here is that despite the image that gas is cheap and readily available because of the many oil wells. But it seem that this is quite different. There are few gas stations here that are open and when they are open they...read more

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In one of the other post on this blog, the author talks about a area that I have been also. It is along the Iraq-Iran border. The thing about this place is that it is a lot of exploded munitions form that war laying around to the Iraqi Army tries to clear that area as best as they can. So when we come to each post they have several UXO just laying there waiting for their EDO team to blow them up. Also what is crazy is that the places we where finding them where not far away,...read more

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This story is part of another one that needed it’s own post to talk about. This one I think it the first story that I have written about Iraq that is not from my blog. I wrote about is briefly in my first post on the website. Here is the full story. Every time it seems that I talk to the Iraq Police or Army there is always medical issues people are dealing with. For the most part it is simple problems such as bug bites or a common cold. There are a few times that have been more...read more

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Post dated on Nov 2, 2008. We were out on a quick mission to clear a road so thing people can pass on the road near the Iran border when noticed that there was this large building that looked like it might have been a Iraqi army base at one point. It looked very abandoned so we figure that we might take a close look. Well closer look turned into going into the place and I think that is was then that we realized that there could be the possibility of finding something or someone in there that...read more

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This is one of my first posts that I made in Iraq. Also included a photo that is a reminder that now matter where or who you are, there is always a place for laughter. You know one thing that keeps going through my head while I am on these convoys when I look over at the vacant seat on my right is "what if I could take someone for a ride along for one day". I try to take photos to give a feel for what I see on a daily basis but those photos are a glimpse at best. What you do not see...read more

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