New Email Address

Hi all,

 

here's the email address that is easiest for me to check: rhett.larsen@iraq.centcom.mil my others still work but this one's easiest. 

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.    

July

Here it is at the end of July and I hope this place doesn't get any hotter.  I really think I forgot what it feels like to have 120 + degree heat day after day for the entire summer.  Add in some blowing dust..OK, a lot of blowing dust, some random explosions, the constant sound of aircraft both large and small taking off and landing and then you pretty much have the experience of Balad Iraq.  Since I last posted I was supposed to take my little team to visit two of the outlying locations but both trips fell through.  First, we were scheduled to go to Ramadi but the Marines could only get us as close as a place called TQ, which is somewhere around 40 miles west of Falujah.  Not wanting to get stuck somewhere in Anbar province without a way back, I decided to not chance it.  Next, we were scheduled to go to Warhorse, where my good friend MAJ Shea is right now but will be returning to the States soon as his application to resign his commission was finally accepted following many email and phone calls to his Congressman, who just happens to be the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee.  Anyway, he has had some bad luck with the Army as well as in his personal life due to his three deployments since 2002 and I'm happy it looks like he will finally win this one.  He initially applied to resign his commission over 20 months ago and the Army have been dragging their feet with him...not giving him an answer.  I guess the Army needs mental health professionals.  I wonder why!  Right now, the Commander and Det Sergeant are gone to a conference in Baghdad, which leaves me in charge of the unit.   So far the only thing that has gone wrong is out AC seems to be out.  Not too much excitement around this place but every week when I attend the Battle Update Brief over at Battalion, I am reminded that people are still dying here just like they were when I was here last time.  Today, I finally heard some "in coming" mortars and it reminded me of the "good old days".  I don't think anyone was hurt.  It's my new goal to make more posts to this blog; so I'll try to do better.  I still cannot log on to look at it but I did figure out how the comments posted can be sent to me via email.  Thanks to everyone who emails, comments, and sends me stuff (Liz, Mom, Sandi)    

Balad

Not much has happened.  Here's a picture of me by one of the beautiful Iraqi sunsets

The Latest

Sorry to all for the long time it has been since I last posted on this blog.  I guess you could say a lot has happened but for me one day seems very like the last.  My three teammates and I have been moved to the Unit's head quarters on Joint Base Balad, previously known as LSA (logistical support area) Anaconda.  I guess the Air Force recently took over the base leading to the name change.   This place is huge.  There are about 29000 service members on the base and we are pretty much the only mental health assets.  Our unit operates a fitness program here, which is a short term (1-3 days) in-patient program geared towards helping service members get back to their units as fast as possible.  In addition to the Fitness program, we have a prevention team as well as our unit Head Quarters, which brings me to the reason I am here.  LTC Banuelos, the unit Commander has appointment me the Chief of Clinical Services for the entire unit, which puts me second in command and in charge when the commander is not here.  Medical Detachments don't really have XO's (Executive Officers) like Medical Companies do but, my job is basically the same.  I do not get to give up my Prevention OIC job either, lucky me…I get to do both.  My prevention OIC job requires me to visit all the other locations where we have teams, so I'll be going to Ramadi first, then to a place called Warhorse, which is just south of us, then on to a camp called Hammer, which is southeast Baghdad, and finally back to Taji, my old duty station.  I like traveling around out here because it means more Blackhawk helicopter rides for me.  My teammates basically came with me to help out with the fitness program and to assist in tracking our prevention stuff from this end, plus, we all get a long and I asked that they come with me.  The junior enlisted girls are not incredibly happy here as they now live in a very small CHU (containerized housing unit) together and have lost a lot of their space and privacy.  I too have a roommate, SSG Kolar, the Detachment Sergeant.  We get a long very well as we did some combat missions together on the last deployment, the first of which was the first combat mission anyone from the 1835^th ever conducted back in late June of 2004.   My new job unfortunately takes me away from clinical work for the most part so there are fewer solder stories for me to report.        

Rhett has moved

Liz here--Just wanted to give a quick update on Rhett. He has moved from Taji to Balad. I have his new address if anyone wants to send packages or letters. He loves getting DVDs or magazines. Just email me or call if you want the address. He is trying to get settled and figure out the phones- he did report good internet service. I sure miss him and feel so lucky to be married to such a wonderful and honorable man.

Update from home

Hello Everyone-

Everyone keeps telling me I need to start a blog, so I have decided to give little updates on life here at home on Rhett's blog. Jacob is growing like crazy. It seems like time goes so fast yet feels like forever until Rhett comes home. Jacob has 2 teeth on the bottom. He wasn't fussy so I was shocked when they broke through. I can only hope the non-fussy will continue. He is rolling over like crazy and wants to crawl. He gets up on his elbows and kick his little legs. I guess I should start thinking about baby proofing the house. We go for his 6 month check up on Monday. It is always fun to send Rhett Jacob's height and weight so he can try to imagine how big he has gotten. I am trying to be better at taking video of Jacob to send to Rhett so I can capture as much as I can on film. I cannot imagine how hard it is to miss all of Jacob's firsts.


Work is going really well. I had to cover the ER last week and while it stresses me out, it was fine. I only had to call my backup physician twice. I am enjoying the clinic and being back in primary care. I miss the free laser hair removal treatments but I really don't have that much hair left anyway. I had surgery on my hand a couple of weeks ago to remove the hardware from my fracture 2 years ago. It is healing quickly and without problems. I still have a weight restriction and cannot put myself in a position where I can fall-- does walking count?!?!? My family and neighbors have been a lifesaver while I had my surgical dressing. How do you give a 6 month old a bath when you can't get your hand wet? Thanks Natalie and Mom!!!!

Rhett is doing really well. He is moving to a new base soon so he is busy packing up all his stuff including his bike. I know he is busy and will post more soon. -Liz

Travels

I'm finally back from my travels to Balad. The flight back from Balad was pretty cool. We rode the little bus to the flight line where our UH-60 (Blackhawk) was parked in its little stall. The crew were still doing their pre-flight checks and we were just waiting there in the dark. Soon we boarded and strapped ourselves in and then the turbine engines start up. The rotors start spinning slowly at first and then gradually speed up. As you sit there the aircraft starts to rock with the spinning rotors until they speed up to a certain point. This experience never gets old, I don't care who you are. Just when you think the rotors couldn't possibly go any faster they seem to shift gears and double their speed. The hour long flight was uneventful for the most part with one exception. As we flew pretty low to the ground some type of street lights came on in the distance, which caused our countermeasure system to fire off two flares. At first I didn't know what was happening it was just a loud pop and then I was blinded by a fire ball slowly descending to either side of us. I literally could not see for a little while. I landed at Taji and was picked up by SGT De Luna and was happy to be back with my team.

HOT

Check out the thermometer, I think we maxed it out.

Bike!!!

My Bike has finally arrived with all its pieces.  I have had a great time watching my old Tour De France DVD's and riding along on my trainer.  Thanks Liz.  She was able to get me it through the USPS this time for substantially less money than FEDEX cost us to Kirkuk last time.  This time I also have a good 9 months to ride it.  Another little piece of info coming in yesterday was that the unit has tentative dates for our two week leave.  It looks like mine will likely be the first two weeks of January 2009.  I'm pretty excited about it even though it is almost 7 months away.  Liz tells me that she will hold off on Jacob's first birthday for a few days and then we should all be together for it, which will be fun.  I requested one of the last slots for leave as it is so hard to go back to Iraq after spending some time with family.  This way, I'll only have two months or so after I get back here until I get to go home for real.  I am planning some travel soon to our unit HQ in Balad and the helicopter situation here is always frustrating.  I woke up this morning thinking that I would be leaving but once I saw the sky I knew I wasn't going anywhere.  I'm told that the helicopter pilots need three miles of visibility to fly and I always wonder how they are able to fly at night but not in the dust.  Anyway, not much I can do about it.  I'm hearing some rumblings that I may need to move my team to Balad to be closer to the unit commander so I can keep up on the other prevention teams as I am in charge of all of them.  I originally thought that I could just fly around wherever I am needed but boy with these dust storms, it's getting harder and harder to plan travel. 

"J" with my boonie hat

I love this picture Liz had taken of Jacob

MRAP

I took these pics of the MRAP we rode in while we were stuck at War Eagle waiting for rout clearance.

COP Apache

It's Monday, June 09 and I arrived back at Camp Taji this morning at 0130 following an interesting and somewhat frustrating trip to COP (Combat Outpost) Apache. What I have been doing to this point is to trade off with the prevention team here on the base. I take two of my soldiers out to meet the units and soldiers on and around the base while the other team comes to the clinic to work. Due the "troop surge" part of the new strategy is to push out from the larger bases into more neighborhood based small out posts called COPs and JSS's (joint security stations). The Cops and JSSs are very small, some having only one platoon or so at them. Last Thursday, I took my two teammates, SGT DeLuna and SPC Antonich to COP Apache, home of Crazy Horse and Apache Troop of the 3/7 CAV. Tankers and Cavalry scouts by trade, these guys took over the neighborhood from the 1^st ID (my combat patch) about 15 months ago and have done incredible work since. Falling in on an area where the previous unit lost almost 30 of their men at a time when the war still seems almost lost, the Cav troopers as they are called worked very well with the local population and to this date, have not lost a soldier of their own. We boarded a U-H 60 Blackhawk for the short trip over to Apache at around 1300 on Thursday and were treated to a first hand look at the Baghdad outskirts from 100 feet or so from the ground. There were lots and lots of palm trees and way more vegetation than people think of when they think of Iraq. In addition to the green plants, the sand colored buildings were a little different to what I'm used to. Baghdad is pretty big and it was interesting to me to see bridges over the Tigris, businesses, homes with swimming pools (most did not have water), and large buildings. Once we landed at the COP, we exited the helicopter, which promptly took off and we soon found ourselves in what appeared to be the middle of the city with a much different look and feel than the big army FOBs I'm used to. The CAV troopers had a couple of HUMVEEs there to pick us up and drove us to the main area of the COP and we later found out that the heli-pad was not even on the COP. So there my two teammates and I were in the middle of a Baghdad suburb not on an army base, which was way cool. Once we arrived at the COP, we soon found out that it was much smaller than we expected and had virtually none of the "comforts" of the army bases that I have stayed at in the past. Instead of KBR contracted food service, these guys had actual Army cooks that were able to serve two meals per day, with lunch on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday s. The Cav troops were doing pretty well all things considered but it might have had something to do with them being almost done with their deployment and are heading back to Ft Stewart Georgia very soon. We had planned to stay approximately 24 hours and return to Taji the next day again by Blackhawk. We saw several soldiers and met with the Chaplain and medical people and found us a place to stay for the night. They ended up putting the three of us in some type of overflow room that had several very run-down bunk beds. With SPC Antonich being female, we had to take special measures to make sure that she was never alone during our trip. In spite of then extra work for SGT DeLuna and me escorting her to the bathroom, she proved to be a valuable asset for us. Imagine 200 male soldiers spending 15 months on a very small COP and then we show up with a 22-yea-old girl wanting to talk about stress. We had no shortage of people wanting to talk. Well, Friday rolls around, we pack up our assault packs and we go down to the heli-pad to wait for our bird, which we soon found out was grounded due to a weather hold. Central Iraq has had a lot of killer dust storms this spring and when they get bad, the helicopters do not fly. So there we were, stuck out on the COP with only enough clothes for two days now looking at spending a third. Our third day came and went and we were still at COP Apache being told that no flights were coming. On the fourth day, it looked like our only option was going to catch a ride on the CLP (pronounced "clip" but stands for Combat Logistical Patrol a long military name for convoy) leaving sometime after dark. Usually, ground convoys require a special risk assessment submitted to my unit leadership long in advance but I just made the call as I needed to get my team back and this our only viable option. We loaded up our stuff and walked off the COP down a long road to what we were told was motor pool 6, where the Bradleys were parked. I remember it being humid and still hot at 2130 and my body armor felt especially heavy, laden with my 210 rounds for my M-16, my advanced first aid kit complete with my tourniquet, special blood clotting agent, Israeli bandage, and my nerve agent antidote and valium auto-injectors. I also carry water, a flashlight, a couple of knives, a strap cutter, gloves, eye protection, and my very dirty fire-resistant ACUs as I spent four days in my uniform that was supposed to last two days. Once at the motor pool we found out that my team would be riding in an MRAP, the Army's new answer to all the IED deaths over the last 5 years. It's a very large vehicle that carries four passengers and is crewed by a driver, TC, and gunner. Inside was illuminated with red for night vision purposes and there were a lot of electronic counter-measure devices. We rolled out of the COP and drove the streets of the city for about 2 hours with a stop at a place called FOB War Eagle and one other right on the road that we later found out was because the lead vehicle spotted an IED and we had to wait for EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) to blow it up. We rode the rest of the way to Taji and were dropped off at our little home away from home this morning at 0130. All in all, it was a very interesting experience for us. We ended up seeing quite a few of the soldiers on the COP struggling with mental health and combat and operational stress problems, we rode on our first convoy in the combat zone for this tour and I think we worked well as a team. I came back to find that I have all the pieces of my bike except my actual bike meaning I have the trainer, wheels, tools, pump, clothing, etc and I am excited to get the rest. Thanks Liz! I found out this morning that I may have to take my team to Ramadi to open up CSC services there. More to come on this in the future.

so many soldiers so little time

We have been pretty busy lately. It seems like we have had an influx of soldiers coming in for a variety of reasons. I have quite a few sexual assault victims (yes, female U.S. soldiers being assaulted by male U.S. soldiers) and it is un-imaginably difficult for them as these are the people they were supposed to be able to trust. In addition, we have seen quite a few members of the mortuary affairs unit as well as the members of the unit clear teams, who's job it is to clean up the body parts from the vehicles of their unit members who are killed by IEDs. Most of these soldiers have no special training they are just identified for this job as an "additional duty" and attend a short training session. I can't imagine being the one who has to collect the personal effects of my own friends as well as clean up inside the vehicles after these events take place. Still not much in the way of attacks on our base aside from some gun battles that we hear nightly as well as the occasional out-going artillery shells from my fellow 13-B's set up on our base. I plan to take my team out to one of the small FOBs some time in the near future to check on the soldiers out there and will no doubt report on my activities after-the-fact. Liz tells me that she almost has my bike ready to send out here, which I am so excited for as the cardio equipment here is not as good as in other places. I miss everyone from home and appreciate the email that I receive. I am still unable to view the comments on the blog on a regular basis but I can at least post to it via email.

Spring time in Iraq

I took this photo yesterday right in the middle of our little CSC compound.  I can't wait for June, July and August. Today, the dust storms are back.  It looks like something out of a sci fi movie outside.  You literally can only see about 50 feet.  I guess no helicopter flights today, which makes it a good day to attack us.  It's amazing how much deterrence is provided by a few AH-64 Apaches flying around.  

me on the Blackhawk to Taji

a quote I ran across

To Live As A Warrior
So live your life that the fear of death
can never enter your heart
Trouble no one about their religion;
respect others in their view,
and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life,
beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long
and its purpose in the service of your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day
when you go over the great divide
Show respect to all people and grovel to none.
When you arise in the morning give thanks
for the food and for the joy of living.
if you see no reason for giving thanks,
the fault lies only in yourself.
Abuse no one and nothing, for abuse turns
the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
Live right so when it comes your time to die,
you will not be like those whose hearts are filled with
the fear of death, who weep and pray for a little more
time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
--Tecumseh, Shawnee warrior and statesman

A tough job

I met with a soldier today who is a 30-year-old staff sergeant crew chief on a medivac blackhawk. His initial complaint is that he and his wife are having trouble. Specifically, he tells me that his wife has always wanted breast enhancement surgery and that one of her co-workers offered to pay for this for her as some type of no interest loan. One can imagine how this soldier feels about the situation and what's worse, is that his wife doesn't seem to think that there would be anything wrong with her accepting the money. He tells me that he has come to realize that there is only one reason men go to "help" wives of deployed soldiers. He goes on to tell me a little about his job here in Iraq. This is his third deployment as a crew chief, which is kind of like a flying mechanic/medic. He tells me of many instances where his "bird" will be called out to pick up wounded American soldiers and how after performing first aid on these guys in the air, he finds out from the CSH (combat support hospital) that they did not survive. He also tells me a lot of horrible events involving Iraqi civilians that his helicopter has picked up. He denies most of the PTSD symptoms but I of course offered to document them for him should he have trouble in the future. I came to find out that this guy's section was stationed with me in Mosul in 2004 and he knows a few of his friends that I personally helped back then. I remember one guy from back in 2004 who had just found out that his wife was cheating on him and was understandably devastated by the news. After working with him for a few weeks he was doing much better and I remember going down to the flight line in Mosul and hanging out with his squad to see what their job was like. Fast forwarding to the present, the staff sergeant tells me that the guy from 2004 is here on this base and he invited me to their BBQ that they have every Friday night. I' think I'll go.

Today in Taji

Well, working in the clinic here is not unlike my job back in Ephraim with a few obvious exceptions. First, everyone comes in with a loaded automatic weapon. Second, everyone wears the same clothes. Third, we all have a lot in common. Finally, the issues people deal with out here are different. I haven't noticed much change in what I'm seeing here relative to my first tour. I think I have seen 5 patients now mostly for home front stuff and some that are just tired of being here and want to go home. The first guy I saw is right at the end of his tour and just recently lost his father for which he went home on emergency leave and is now back in country and feels like a different person. He presents with initial insomnia and a depressive-type symptoms, which I feel are normal given his situation. One change this time around is that the old way of deferring diagnosis has changed and the Army now wants me to use them; so his is pretty simple, "Bereavement." I've seen him twice, got him some help with his sleep by way of one of the psychiatrists I work with and he seems a lot better. This situation hits a little too close to home for me but I don't have anyone I can refer him to. I saw a 27-year-old active duty female yesterday who has been here for 10 months and has five more months to go. She tells me that she became pregnant before her deployment and that her boyfriend at the time convinced her to terminate the pregnency, which she did, only to find out that he was cheating on her all a long. Her situation is complicated by the fact that she has always wanted children and feels like she missed her opportunity. She also has some trouble out here with one of her co-workers and the fact that she works nights and only gets two days off per month. I got a call yesterday from my Commander telling me that one of the Division Surgeons is requesting a combat stress team for an up-coming infantry mission where mass casualties are expected. Of course I won't say anything about the details other than I asked my young teammates if they wanted to go and they both told me yes. It's hard for me to ask these two to risk their lives like this knowing that they are both single parents of small children. I am amazed at their courage and commitment. More on this to come.

Taji

I seem to be able to email to the blog but have not had success actually logging on to it.  Basically, I cannot read comments or even see how it looks but I can post to it.  The downside, is that I do not remember what I may or may not have said so I apologize if I repeat myself.  Email seems to not be a problem for me as our office has multiple computers all hooked up to the Army-controlled internet.  Taji seems like a pretty cool place to be deployed to.  We're about 15 miles north of Baghdad and we are operating an out-patient mental health clinic serving about 25000 soldiers.  Living conditions are good for Iraq standars.  The gyms leave something to be desired so Liz is working on sending me out a bike to ride.  I can be reached at either my gmail account or my army email