Serious Incidents

Another long hot day has almost come and gone here in Iraq.  I expect to see the Commander and Det Sergeant back either today or tomorrow so I can then concentrate on making my travels around our area to visit the teams.  I have one already scheduled but as most know, will only talk about them after the fact so we don't increase the chance of our helicopter being shot down since this connection is not secure.  I just heard word from our Ramadi team OIC, CPT Lanier that a Marine Colonel just shot himself in the head down there and has been evacuated to Balad.  Luckily, or un-luckily this guy did not come into contact with our combat stress team so we don't know much about his situation.  The Air force hospital here in Balad is one of the biggest in country with specialty surgery and all the bells and whistles of a civilian hospital.  Unfortunately it is very busy.  I see the medivac Blackhawks flying in multiple times per day.  The dustoffs (medivac helicopters) are named from the call sign of a famous medivac pilot in Vietnam who flew many courageous missions into seriously dangerous places and was always heard saying "I'll turn around when I have your wounded" when told he should not attempt a landing.  I always see these helicopters coming and going in two's and they never seem to be grounded by the weather the way the regular Blackhawk flights are.  Our AC was finally fixed today so at least this afternoon we have been somewhat cool.