Going to the Desert - Part I

After finishing 6yrs of General Surgery residency at Walter Reed, I was ready for my first assignment as an Attending Surgeon. For those of you who don't know, this is a time to spread one's wings for the first time and see what happens when you flap them really hard. If everything has gone right, then you should fly. Otherwise, you end up in a heap of blood and feathers.

It's also nice to have an "adult" bird around to help you out when things get a little tougher than you thought. Someone to help guide you through that tough crosswind that just took you by surprise. In the Army, there are a few such places with Neophyte surgeons just out of residency paired with a more senior, established surgeon to provide the necessary guidance when the hatchling bites off more than he can chew.

Ft. Huachuca, AZ is NOT one of those places. Raymond W. Bliss Army Health Center is a clinic. It is not a hospital. There is no ICU; there's not even a ward to admit patients to post-op (or pre-op for that matter). And so, my illustrious career as an Army surgeon was off to less than stellar beginnings. My one salvation in this situation was that I was set to deploy overseas in December. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know what to expect, only that I'd finally have the chance to go "over there" and help out our boys at the point of injury.

July 11, 2008. 

I am awakened at my Sister's house in LA at 7:30am on a Saturday. I chose not to answer the phone because it was not a phone number that I immediately recognized. When it finally hit me that I should recognize it, I realized that it was my now-former Program Director. This call could not be good news. I discovered via voicemail the my deployment had moved up to August - one month away. I was now to deploy with the 115th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) to Camp Bucca, Iraq - one of two Theater Interment Facilities (TIFs) in theater. Think prison camp. I was tasked with performing elective surgery on Iraqi detainees (suspected insurgents). Thank you, Uncle Sam. I would look forward to this opportunity, except that it's not far enough in the future to look FORWARD.

More to Follow . . . .