I'll back up to last week, we had Monday off for Columbus day, yay for three-day weekends! That was really great to catch up on sleep and take care of a few admin items that had been put on hold while in the field. I also went with a friend to one of the local malls for a little while. Didn't buy anything but it's always nice to get off post for a bit.
Tuesday: Our wake up call was set for 0200! We didn't actually have to do anything until 0900 that morning however the contract buses we use to get to the field were already book for 0500 so we had to leave earlier. At least we were all able to get several more hours of sleep once we reached the FOB. The rest of that day was spent in our role 1 scenarios. Role 1 consists of 'in the field' medical treatment. We were out on our convoy and got a radio in that there were casualties that needed medical attention. We stopped where we were, jumped out of the trucks, secured the area and set up a triage, treatment, and evacuation area and within 4 minutes we were ready to accept patients. We then had another truck roll in with 5 patients. I was the triage NCO for the simulation. It was a lot of work but at the same time was exciting to be practicing what we might actually experience with our jobs. On our way back to the FOB we had one more run through in which we pulled over and had 4 minutes to set up the site but that was it. We didn't get more casualties, we just got set up then packed up and headed back for the day.
(Sabs taking a nap...I mean defending...our convoy)
(We were waiting for our simulation to start so we decided to bury Slack in the rubber pit)
Wednesday: In the morning we had a company run at Camp Bullis, about 3 miles or so, not too big of a deal. After we got back, our platoon had our Role 2 simulation training. Role 2 consists of a FST (Forward Surgical Team). Our platoon started out in the hospital, I was working as a nurse in the Patient Holding Area. After patients were seen and treated, either by the treatment team or the surgical team (or both), they were brought to patient holding tents until evacuation. We initially had 4 casualties brought in by ambulance, then another 3-4 casualties, also brought in by ambulance. Then as we were slowing down, there was a mass casualty, IED exploded and we were flooded with 21 more patients (all being played by members of 6th platoon). Despite not be able to take full advantage of our resources, they did bring in a blackhawk helicopter to simulate evac. It was pretty sweet. Then we had a lunch break and switched places. 6th platoon set up to care for patients and we got to be the casualties. I was given a patient card that said I had a gunshot wound to the right thigh with a comminuted fracture (which means the bone splintered in many pieces) and arterial involvement. If I didn't receive care within 15 minutes I would bleed out and die. It was really interesting to be a casualty because it was the first time I was able to follow the entire process of treating a patient. Previously, I had only seen what came through my tent, this was a way to go from start to finish. My situation was prioritized as urgent surgical, so I was taken from treatment into surgery and then transported to patient holding for evac. The whole day was a great experience!
(The Nurses of the Patient Holding Area)
(The Blackhawk they brought in)
Wednesday evening we headed back to Fort Sam as we had completed our field training.
Thursday morning we turned in our field gear at CIF (Central Issuing Facility), turned in our text books at the classroom, and had graduation practice on the parade field. Mom and Dad came to visit as well so I met up with them in the afternoon! We had lots of fun together! Thursday night my parents and Kinsey and I went to dinner at a restaurant called Saltgrass on the Riverwalk. Delicious food and they had Beergaritas too! Then we wandered up and down the Riverwalk for a while before we decided to take a guided riverboat tour. The Riverwalk actually is a loop and is about 1.8 miles long. The city is able to lower walls and drain the river, which they do once per year to clean it.
(Dad's Beergarita at Saltgrass)
(Headed out on the Riverboat tour)
(San Antonio Riverboat Tour)
Friday: We had an admin day to take care of stuff on post. I didn't have anything to do so I was able to give my parents a tour of post and BAMC (Brook Army Medical Center), we went to the AMEDD Museum on post, got some Taco Cabana for lunch and then went downtown to tour the Alamo. After the Alamo we got dinner at Waxy O'Conners Irish Pub on the Riverwalk and stopped for some ice cream at the shop next door.
(An old ambulance in the AMEDD Museum)
(A MASH Helicopter!!)
Saturday: We ran some errands on post in the morning and toured the Fort Sam Houston Museum and then headed out to the Natural Bridge Caverns just outside of San Antonio. Very cool caverns, we went on a guided tour (military get a complimentary ticket on the Discovery Tour) and it lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. The tour guide talked about how the caverns were found by some college students who crawled through holes that were 11-22" in diameter. The first tunnel they crawled into was a dead end and had a family of raccoons living at the end and the second one uncovered one of the several huge cavern rooms. I have to say, I don't think I would have ever crawled into one of those tunnels and especially not after I found raccoons at the end of the first! After that, Kinsey and I introduced mom and dad to Sonic happy hour! (half off all drinks from 2-4pm) and then we headed out to find dinner. We ended up at a restaurant called The Hofbrau Beer Garden at the Quarry Market. Amazing food, great outdoor seating and they also had Beergaritas, though they didn't have much alcohol in them. 
(Me in the Caverns)
(Family time in the Caverns)
(Kinsey and I with our Beergaritas at the Hofbrau Beer Garden)
(BELUGA WHALES!!)
(Pacific White Sided Dolphins)
(Shamu and BABY Shamu!!)
(Shamu doing back flips)
Around 1400 on Monday afternoon, Mom and Dad decided it was time to start heading back to Wisconsin so we grabbed a quick bite to eat and they took off.
Tuesday: We started Nurse track today. It's a long day of briefs starting at 0800 and going until 1700. We were briefed by several top leaders in the AMEDD department, including the 3rd highest ranking nurse in the Army who is stationed here at Fort Sam. Because it was a day full of important people, we had to wear our dress blue's. Needless to say it wasn't the most comfortable day of sitting around in skirts, heels, and jackets but we survived. Most of the briefs covered the same topics so it wasn't very interesting.
Wednesday: Our second day of Nurse track. We started off with PT this morning, it was pretty relaxed PT, we went on a 20 minute run with just 5th platoon nurses and then headed back to the hotel for breakfast and a hot shower. Temperatures down here are finally cooling off, we're down into the 50's in the early morning so PT is pretty cool, and today we only made it to about 76! My favorite weather! Today was another long day of briefs, haven't really learned anything new but at least we got to be in ACU's for the day. After our long day, Kinsey had an equally long day in her track so we decided we needed to hit up happy hour at Taco Cabana and get margaritas! Yum! And only $1.50 too!
Thursday: Another morning of briefs. After lunch wasn't too bad though. We started off watching the movie Baghdad ER. It's an HBO movie that documents life in a FST (Forward Surgical Team) in Afghanistan. VERY intense movie and definitely not for the weak-stomached person but we finally got a good look at what we might encounter. After that we had a LTC speak to the group about her experiences on a FST, she had some incredible experiences and I was definitely interested! I want to get an ER specialty and this would top the cake for experience!
Tomorrow we have the day off! Those that need to get BLS recertified have that, there is also a tour of BAMC and the Center for the Intrepid...a state of the art rehab facility at Fort Sam. I've been to both already and don't have to go tomorrow, nor do I need to recertify my BLS but I'm going to tour CFI again because of how cool it is. I'll post pictures on that later.
That's all for now!
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